350 Mass Greater Franklin Node: Meeting, Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 7 PM

The 350 Mass Greater Franklin Node will hold our next meeting this Thursday, March 7, 2024, 7:00-9:00 pm. 

 

This will be a HYBRID meeting: you can attend in person, or join on Zoom.  

Those of us who have been meeting in Franklin have enjoyed the chance to come together. We hope others will do the same. 

350 Mass Greater Franklin Node

 

·  Location of the in-person meeting: First Universalist Society in Franklin, 262 Chestnut Street, Franklin. 

 

·   OPTION:     

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81930304274?pwd=Tm9VdGxYcDFaVTVDUkwyT3YvUnlFdz09             

Meeting ID: 819 3030 4274

Passcode: 350ma

Dial-in +1 646 876 9923

 

This week, March 7, we'll continue our discussion about working to have our cities and towns adopt the Municipal Opt-in Specialized Stretch Code. Franklin, Sharon, and other towns in our node are taking steps to adopt the bylaw, and spring town meeting agendas are being set now. Here's some background: 

One of the recommended local actions of the 350 Mass Emissions Free Buildings campaign is adoption of the Municipal Opt-In Specialized Stretch Code. This new level of building code pushes new construction towards our Massachusetts state-mandated goals through deep energy efficiency, reduced heating loads, and efficient electrification. Here is one of many online resources that provides helpful information: Mass Climate Action Network (MCAN) and Sierra Club: Fighting for Better Buildings, and Specialized Opt-In Code Toolkit

We will also catch up on legislative action as bills make their way through Committees, the House and the Senate.  

 

For more news about ongoing and upcoming events, please sign up for the Climate Weekly email. Also, check out upcoming events on our website. 350 Mass will hold its annual summit, "Organizing in a Time of Upheaval" on March 16; learn more here.

 

We look forward to another informative and action-oriented Node meeting. We hope you can join us, in person or on Zoom. We will send a reminder on Thursday.

 

Our next meeting after this week will be the 3rd Thursday of the month, March 21. 

 

Thank you. 

 

Node Co-coordinators,

Carolyn Barthel
Ralph Halpern

Ralph Halpern
ralph.halpern@comcast.net
781-784-3839 (h)

339-203-5017   

Ted & I have our climate discussion around my visit to the "pearl of Africa" (audio)

FM #1151 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1151 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares the output of The Climate Minute podcast episode hosted by Ted McIntyre, Franklin resident and climate activist. We met to record in the Franklin TV & Public Radio studio on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.  

The topic thread we talked of as we continued this making sense of climate discussion was the most extemporaneous that we have had. Ted turned the tables around and interviewed me to find out about my trip to Uganda and we discussed the climate implications of some of the lessons or highlights I shared. 

This discussion continues our journey understanding the MA roadmap toward net zero and while it helps me “make sense of climate”, we hope it helps with your understanding as well. 

If you have climate questions or Franklin specific climate questions, send them in and we’ll try to answer them in a future session.  

The conversation runs about 58 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Ted.

Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1151-making-sense-of-climate-39-02-27-24

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Links to references made during this episode

African fragile states are at great risk for climate change

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/30/africas-fragile-states-are-greatest-climate-change-casualties 

Loss and damage

https://www.unep.org/regions/africa/regional-initiatives/responding-climate-change 

And https://eacop.com/ 

Uganda pipeline mentioned

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/10/uganda-oil-pipeline-project-impoverishes-thousands 

Climate colonialism

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/what-is-climate-colonialism-explain-climate-change/ 

** See the page that collects all the “Making Sense of Climate” episodes -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit www.franklin.news/ or  www.Franklinmatters.org/ 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Ted & I have our climate discussion around my visit to the "pearl of Africa" (audio) 

TED-Ed summarizes the climate challenge better than Ted & I have done with Making Sense of Climate

TED-Ed (@TED_ED) posted  Sun, Dec 17, 2023:

"The impacts of climate change are growing, but so are the world's attempts to stop them.

This TED documentary examines the rapid revolution underway — and the real possibility of a better future for all:  https://t.co/5F9Nw03n64"

Shared from -> https://x.com/TED_ED/status/1736423522962972883

Direct link to YouTube for video -> https://youtu.be/oF7UMeVQxHk

TED-Ed  summarizes the climate challenge better than Ted & I have done with Making Sense of Climate

"The US must acknowledge the right to food in order to transform its broken food system"

"The US must acknowledge the right to food in order to transform its broken food system in the post-pandemic era and make it more resilient in the face of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, according to a United Nations hunger expert.

“Whether we’re talking about right to food, food justice or food sovereignty, there has been growing momentum over the last 10 years to understand that food is not just something we just leave to be determined by what is available or by corporations or the status quo,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.

Last month, Fakhri presented a report on the right to food – which would entail that adequate food be available and accessible to all people – as a means of food system recovery and transformation to the UN general assembly.

“People are really mobilizing around food to say food is political, cultural and social, and we should be able to decide for ourselves what counts as good food,” he said.

The right to food, which can also be characterized as a right to culturally appropriate nutrition that a person needs to live a healthy and active life, is recognized in the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, it has not historically been a mainstream concept in the US."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required) ->  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/09/united-nations-right-to-food-us-hunger

"The Challenge

To recover from the current food crisis, and with an eye to the future, States face three issues. They must:

(a) Respond to the food crisis with national plans;

(b) Develop an international coordinated response to the food crisis;

(c) Transform their food systems to make them more resilient to climate change and prevent biodiversity loss.

States must address all three issues as interdependent. If they do not

cooperate and develop an international coordinated response, their

national plans to recover from the food crisis will fail. At the same time,

how they respond to the multiple crises at hand will significantly affect the nature of their food systems for decades to come."

Read the report summary (4 pages) as mentioned here -> https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a78202-interim-report-special-rapporteur-right-food

Direct link to local copy of the report summary (4 pages) ->   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1chBc1M5yeqQx3IN9Ocy4AuiidVUOlc7t/view?usp=drive_link

Direct link to local copy of the full report (20 pages) ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8mYzjOB4qMifFfJWg4gt-YY_ckAQk_L/view?usp=drive_link

"The US must acknowledge the right to food in order to transform its broken food system"

In this Making Sense of Climate episode we talk about tough choices on the climate roadmap (audio)

FM #1084 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1084 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Ted McIntyre, Franklin resident and climate activist via the Zoom conference bridge Monday, October 16, 2023.  

In this episode we cover the following topics

• Legal challenges tossed

• Inspector General editorial

• Brayton Point conundrum

Links to the articles we talk of are collected below.   

This discussion continues our journey understanding the MA roadmap toward net zero and while it helps me “make sense of climate”, we hope it helps with your understanding as well. 

If you have climate questions or Franklin specific climate questions, send them in and we’ll try to answer them in a future session.  

The conversation runs about 37 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Ted as we help ‘make sense of climate.’ Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1084-making-sense-of-climate-34-10-16-23

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Links to articles referenced:

Legal challenges tossed

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/legal-challenges-by-fishing-groups-to-vineyard-wind-rejected/

Inspector General Editorial

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/government/push-for-electric-school-buses-faces-procurement-bump-in-the-road/ 

Brayton Point Conundrum

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/brayton-point-offshore-wind-prize-in-doubt/ 

Another conundrum arises as we go to press 

EV Charging challenges for condo owners vs. homeowners 

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/my-energy-efficiency-efforts-were-frustrated-by-mass-save/

** See the page that collects all the “Making Sense of Climate” episodes -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit www.franklin.news/ or  www.Franklinmatters.org/ 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

In this Making Sense of Climate episode we talk about tough choices on the climate roadmap (audio)

St Rep Jeff Roy joins Ted & I in this Making Sense of Climate episode talking about Ireland, wind power, & more (audio)

FM #1067 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1067 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Ted McIntyre, Franklin resident and climate activist via the Zoom conference bridge Tuesday, September 19, 2023.  

In this episode we are joined by our MA State Representative Jeffrey Roy,. Jeff provides insights from 

• his trip to Ireland 

• his visit to the offshore wind turbine construction underway

• his efforts with legislation underway 

Along the way we find out about the Northern Ireland Parliament not having met in 3 years and the origin of Robert's Rules of Order in New Bedford.

Links to the articles we talk of are collected below.   

This discussion continues our journey understanding the MA roadmap toward net zero and while it helps me “make sense of climate”, we hope it helps with your understanding as well. 

If you have climate questions or Franklin specific climate questions, send them in and we’ll try to answer them in a future session.  

The conversation runs about 55 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Ted and Jeff as we help ‘make sense of climate.’ Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1067-making-sense-of-climate-32-09-19-23

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Links to articles referenced:

Drone footage of turbine leaving New Bedford harbor  https://youtu.be/4locoph2dMg 

CommonWealth Magazine article on wind power quoting Jeff https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/governors-including-healey-raise-concerns-about-offshore-wind-pricing/ 

New Bedford - Robert’s Rules of Order -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/12/new-bedford-leads-in-value-of-fish.html 

Solar power technical potential map from State of MA  https://www.mass.gov/info-details/technical-potential-of-solar-study#report-and-storymap- 

** See the page that collects all the “Making Sense of Climate” episodes -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit www.franklin.news/ or  www.Franklinmatters.org/ 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Drone footage of turbine leaving New Bedford harbor