Elders for Climate Action, Massachusetts Chapter

ECA Mass Meeting Videos

ECA Chapter Meeting – 6/13/23with MA Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer

ECA Chapter Meeting – 6/13/23
with MA Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer

May 25, 2023

Join special guest Melissa Hoffer, Massachusetts Climate Chief, for an update on state climate policy followed by discussion and announcements. Chief Hoffer oversees the integration of climate policy in all state departments.

ECA Massachusetts Monthly Chapter Meeting
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
12 noon
Online event (on Zoom)

To join this Zoom meeting, click here.
Meeting ID: 735 454 252
Passcode: 223189 (You may have to try more than once)

Join us at 11:45am for time to socialize a bit and maybe have lunch together and make sure you’re all set on Zoom. We will start our meeting promptly at noon.

At 1:00pm we will return to ECA Mass legislative policy with reports from the Energy and Building workgroups, Q&A, and discussion on policy priorities.

SAVE THE DATE: The ECA Mass July 11 chapter meeting will be IN PERSON AND HYBRID at the Arlington Public Library Community meeting room. The usual zoom link will be used.

Yes, we record our meetings, and they are usually posted on our web site within a few days. https://ecamass.org/eca-mass-meeting-videos/ is where you can find those a few days after the meeting.

Feel free to invite to your friends, relatives, neighbors, and everyone you want to talk with about the Climate Crisis NOW! Talking with the people around us is one of the most effective things we can do every day to raise awareness of the crisis.

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting – 4/11/23 – Zero carbon buildings with Lisa Cunningham and Logan Malik

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting – 4/11/23 – Zero carbon buildings with Lisa Cunningham and Logan Malik

Apr 25, 2023

Lisa Cunningham (ZeroCarbonMA) gave a presentation on the 10 community Demonstration Program and the legislation to expand the program to any community who wants to join and how this relates to achieving equity and climate goals in MA.  Lisa’s presentation is here.

Logan Malik (MCAN) gave a presentation about the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund (H.3232/S.2365) which will provide for retrofits for buildings/homes in environmental justice communities in Massachusetts. Logan’s presentation is here.

Roger Luckmann reviewed the ECAMass legislative team update with information about the bill priority process.  

Seth Evans led a discussion on the new IPCC.synthesis report.

The video for the chapter meeting is here..

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting – 4/11/23 – Zero carbon buildings with Lisa Cunningham and Logan Malik

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting 3/14/23 – Eileen Ryan of Beyond Plastics Greater Boston  

Apr 12, 2023

Eileen Ryan and the Beyond Plastics crew can give you a thorough education on the horrifying pervasiveness of plastic around the globe, and how the government supports the  petrochemical industry which produces plastics. She’ll convince you that there is NO WAY to recycle ourselves out of the plastics problem, since most of it ISN’T: less than 6% of plastics produced were recycled in 2021. Beyond Plastics says to STOP “Wish-cycling” and focus on upstream solutions: stop making so much of the plastics we do, and work to support legislation to make the change to re-usable and refillable containers. And yes, it does relate to  the Climate Crisis, and ECA Mass will be supporting several bills in our Statehouse dealing with plastic solutions.

For more information go to BeyondPlastics.org or join Beyond Plastics Greater Boston. 

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting – 2/14/23 – Northeast Clean Energy Council and ECA Mass Legislative Update

Apr 12, 2023

The ECA Mass February chapter meeting consisted of three presentations. 

The first short presentation was by Seth Evans about the Third Act Day of Action against big banks on 3.21.23.

The main presentation was given by Michael Meehan, Communication and Outreach Director of the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC). Michael’s slides are saved.

NECEC is the premier voice of businesses building a world-class clean energy hub in the Northeast. NECEC includes the Northeast Clean Energy Council (a nonprofit business member organization), and NECEC Institute (a nonprofit focused on industry research, innovation, policy development, and communications initiatives). NECEC brings together business leaders and key stakeholders to engage in influential policy discussions and business initiatives while building connections that propel the clean energy industry forward. The slides from the presentation are here.

The final presentation by Roger Luckmann was a Legislative team update on legislation and implementation.

The video from the chapter meeting is here.

ECA Mass chapter meeting – 1/10/23 – Building Electrification Accelerator (BEA) and Specialized Energy Code

Apr 12, 2023

The BEA is a growing community of municipal leaders and advocates in Massachusetts committed to a Commonwealth of sustainable, resilient, and healthy buildings, affordable and attainable for all. The BEA’s mission is to accelerate equitable building decarbonization in Massachusetts via municipal action. To further this mission, the BEA convenes municipal teams, catalyzes successful local policies and programs, and coordinates state-level action with allies.

 The BEA’s work began in 2020 around the fossil fuel prohibition warrant articles starting with Brookline and Arlington. Subsequently a dozen more municipalities passed similar articles and home rule petitions, leading to the 10-town pilot section of the Drive Climate Act signed by Governor Baker in August.  The BEA’s efforts have since expanded to prioritize collaborative projects retrofitting low-income housing, with a focus on environmental justice communities. The slides for the BEA presentation are here.

Next came a presentation by Arnie Epstein, Chair of the Stow Green Advisory Committee and facilitator of the ECA Mass research team.  Arnie provided an overview of the new building codes and the work being done in Stow to adopt the Specialized Energy Code at town meeting.  The slides for the presentation on Specialized Energy Code are here.

Watch the video here.

ECA Chapter Meeting – 12/13/22 -Representative Meschino

Apr 12, 2023

At the December ECA Mass chapter meeting Representative Joan Meschino reviewed the legislative climate victories of the last year and expressed optimism about another climate bill this coming legislative sessions that could address urgent issues related to decarbonizing buildings, phasing out natural gas and other concerns. The ECA Mass Legislative Team reported on their work on optimizing the management of the many tasks required to support legislative advocacy and their new undertaking to monitor and push forward implementation of the Roadmap and Wind/Climate bills.

Watch the video here.

ECA Chapter Meeting 11/8/22 – Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Nov 8, 2022

At the November chapter meeting we welcomed Larry Chretien, who for the past 23 years has been Executive Director of Green Energy Consumers Alliance, a non-profit based in Boston and Providence that harnesses the power of consumers to speed the transition to a low-carbon future. He highlighted the major energy and climate policy implications of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – plus how the IRA can help with the switch to electric cars, heat pumps, and solar, including new incentives you should be aware of.

Watch the video for this chapter meeting here. The slide deck is here.

ECA Mass Chapter Meeting – 4/11/23 – Zero carbon buildings with Lisa Cunningham and Logan Malik

ECA Mass chapter meeting – 10/11/22 – Senator Creem

Oct 11, 2022

The Senator and majority leader, reviewed the progress made in the last session on addressing climate change.  She stressed the challenge with old approach to climate change, and instead of prohibitions and disincentives to change the focus to incentives. The Committee on Global Warming she chairs will look harder at the future role of gas and how to provide more support to retrofitting buildings. She also highlighted a variety of other priorities including promoting more urban trees and lessening light pollution. When asked about her advice to advocates, her reply is to help educate consumers on the incentives available to car buyers, home owners and others. She stressed that its not too late to save our climate. We must keep working. Finally, she also answered a variety of questions on climate programs and next steps from our members.

In the second half of the meeting, we heard from Paul Dryfoos of Elders for Sounds Democracy discussing 12 actions we could do now to promote a free and fair election.

The video for the chapter meeting is here.

ECA Mass chapter meeting – 9/13/22 – Megan Herzog, Assistant Attorney General for Climate Change

Sep 13, 2022

The September chapter meeting guests were Megan Hertzog and Liz Anderson both lawyers in the Environment and Energy Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General. After reassuring us that they will remain in their positions after the November elections they answered many questions about the role of the Attorney General regarding the Roadmap Law and the new Clean Energy and Off-Shore Wind law as well as oversight of environmental regulations and consumer protections.

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