The future of Cape Ann will be shaped, in large part, by the effects of climate change. These effects will reach well beyond sea level rise and increased storm events. They will ultimately challenge and disrupt the housing, transportation, public services, and economic health of these communities. In light of these challenges, three local organizations—TownGreen2025, the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, and the Cape Ann Climate Coalition—are joining with the Harvard Graduate School of Design to begin to envision a sustainable future for the region. In recognition of the reality that Cape Ann’s interwoven ecologies, geographies, and economies transcend municipal boundaries, the scope of the project will include the entire region: Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport.

David Abel, Pulitzer-prize winning Boston Globe reporter, will interview Bill McKibbon, environmental advocate, author and founder of 350.org, about lessons learned and future solutions considering the climate crisis.

The Sawyer Free Library will kick off the first annual Gloucester Reads: Many Readers, One Conversation, which will be held from June 22 to Sept. 15.

On Thursday, June 4 at 3PM, Natasha Lamb, Director of Equity Research and Shareholder Engagement at Arjuna Capital, addressed her work with national institution pension funds and endowments to advocate for reduction of investments in fossil fuel companies, for both ecological and rate of return reasons. Ms. Lamb’s work has been featured in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times as well as CNN and NPR.

Welcome to our second Cape Ann Climate Coalition newsletter.  While we are all working to stay healthy and helping others over this difficult time, we need to remember the challenges of our warming climate continue and unfortunately are increasing daily. If you can, D.O.T. for the environment We are hoping that you and your loved ones are doing well and welcome your feedback or input on the work we are doing.

When you see the complexity of the Massachusetts Legislative process it is easy to see why most legislation takes 3 sessions or six years to go from idea to passed legislation. A Mass State legislative session lasts for two years. The current session began in Jan 2019 and ends July 31st 2020.

The future of Cape Ann will be shaped, in large part, by the effects of climate change and how we respond to its challenges. These effects will reach well beyond sea-level rise, ultimately affecting transportation, public services, housing, and the economic health of our communities.

On Thursday, May 28 at 3PM, Larry Chretien, Executive Director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, joined us to discuss how his organization covers both policy advocacy at the state house and launches green energy programs aimed at the community and individual level. Mr. Chretien addressed his lobbying work, diversity, equity and inclusion in climate work, the Drive Green program, and his work on municipal aggregation.

Ken Kimmell, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, joined us for our first Climate Crisis Solutions Webinar Series. Mr. Kimmell spoke on the theme of “Lessons from the Covid Crisis for the Climate Crisis.” The 25-minute presentation was followed by questions from the Zoom audience, and a final wrap up by the moderator, Dick Prouty, and panelist, Candace Wheeler.