Attending were: Jean Devine, Chuck Dickinson, Ernesta Kraczkeiwicz, Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Meredith Fields, Jacqui Gross, Tod Gross, Isabelle Holt, Tony Palomba, Barbara Passero, Deborah Peterson, Pam Phillips, Pat Rathbone, Adam Sacks, Arun Sannuti, Libby Shaw, Jeanne Trubek, Ron Webber, Abby Yanow, Paula Phipps
MINUTES April monthly meeting minutes were made available at a link in the Chat. Approved by the Steering Committee.
ANNUAL MEETING Tony announced our upcoming Annual Meeting, Sunday June 7 from 2-4. The centerpiece is a State Representative Candidate Forum. Candidates who have accepted the invitation: For 10th District Middlesex serving one precinct in Watertown: Incumbent John Lawn and Allison Leary; for 29th Middlesex serving the remainder of Watertown: Mark Sideris and Steve Owens. The working groups have generated questions to ask the candidates. Notices have been mailed and the event is posted on the website.
WORKING GROUP REP
Deborah reported that Watertown Faces Climate Change is celebrating a recent School Building Committee decision to recommend net zero options and town-owned solar for the new construction of the Hosmer and Cunniff Schools. As one of the members said “It has been a long , hard slog often not knowing how this would go. But it went right and gratitude is certainly felt.” Members are looking for ways to reduce reliance on cars locally and have formed an adhoc group with members of WE3C and the Bike-Ped Committee to look for possible targets for local pressure. As a node of 350 Mass, WFCC participates in actions and demonstrations. They have been writing online reviews of Chase Bank (the biggest investor in fossil fuels) and advising people to avoid the bank because of its policies. Members have signed on to get support for 2 state ballot initiatives: to commit to SNE in the next two decades with benchmarks for equity; and to require committee votes in the legislature to be publicly available.
Watertown Citizens for Black Lives described their presentation at last month’s WCPJE Monthly Meeting, about unpacking the white privilege knapsack, and mentioned a follow-up survey to talk about some of the issues raised. At their June meeting they will discuss what they can do about the pandemic’s affect on people of color. They are considering how to do vigils with social distancing.
Pam from Friends of Bees was able to give her Bee talk via Zoom for the April Friends of Bees meeting. The Mt Auburn Cemetery nature walks have been cancelled, but she will be able to do an online Bee talk in June.
The Refugee Support Group has been busy trying to deliver needed things and donated funds to the thirty plus families they work with. Many are in dire straits, especially undocumented residents who lost jobs. Two families also lost everything when their apartments burned down.
PRESENTATION: BIODIVERSITY FOR A LIVABLE CLIMATE and MEADOWSCAPING for DIVERSITY
Adam Sacks, Executive Director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate presented the case that restoring lost habitats can help reverse global warming. He argued that focusing solely on reducing carbon is too narrow a path and does not recognize the power of the natural world and healthy ecosystems to capture and sequester carbon. He described life on the planet as having developed symbiotically, not competitively with plants; and life evolving into complex systems that support each other. He presented many inspiring examples of successful efforts around the globe that have regenerated desertified environments using ancient techniques to bring back life, recharging aquifers, keeping soil moist, rejuvenating hard exposed surfaces, and sequestering carbon as part of the solution. There is so much land that can be turned bountiful again that focusing on this technique must be part of any solution. More can be found at Bio4Climate.org under Resources.
Jean Devine and Barbara Passero spoke to us from a local backyard, and described their program, Meadowscaping for Diversity. Their organization creates gardens not just for show, but to serve as food and shelter in support of a variety of life. Their summer program for teens provides them with an opportunity to earn a salary while learning how to create ecosystems and native plant gardens for customers. This year, they will have to scale back their program, but will be able to offer some virtual training and customer work.
Both sets of speakers were tremendously optimistic about the opportunities for ecological action.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Chuck Dickinson reported that Watertown Walks for Peace surpassed its 2020 goal and raised $3241 to support the work of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, which serves people affected by violence. Chuck thanked WCPJE, who along with First Parish and World in Watertown helped generate donations despite the fact that we were unable to actually walk together this year.
Respectfully submitted, Deborah Peterson