As the climate crisis grows ever more urgent, Watertown is moving to fight it. The town is developing a Climate Action Plan, a crucial step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming. The draft plan is available here.
The need is an urgent one:
- The UN says in its recent report that we must achieve a 45% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Watertown needs a robust plan in order to help meet that requirement.
- However, from the information available to the public, the proposed Climate Action Plan does not indicate what actions the town will take or what the timeline for specific actions will be. We’re in a climate emergency, yet the proposed plan gives no indication of how we’ll get from here to there.
- To develop and implement a robust Climate Action Plan, Watertown needs a full time Energy Manager and an Energy Department that is staffed to lead the implementation of the plan.
- It’s important that the Energy Manager make sure that the Action Plan contains specific action items with timeframes that will get us to a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Such action items have already been submitted to the plan developers by the various Climate Action Working Groups. Each working group focuses on an area like Infrastructure & Waste Management, Buildings & Energy, and Transportation & Mobility.
- The plan should follow the guidance given by the Climate Action Plan’s Working Groups (mentioned in #4.) It should also include suggestions from Watertown’s committees and boards, and from concerned citizen groups.
YOU CAN HELP!
- Contact your district’s town councilor, Resilient Watertown, and town administrators.
- Tell them we need a full-time Energy manager with a staff.
- Demand a robust climate plan that includes specific actions with timelines and dates by which the actions will be completed.
Tell them the plan should include the recommendations of the Plan Working Groups, as well as suggestions from Watertown’s committees and boards, and from citizen groups.
The deadline for people to send comments on the draft is October 8. Please send your emails right away to give people time to send theirs. Thank you!
Email addresses are listed below.
Resilient Watertown: resilient@watertown-ma.gov
Steve Magoon, Director of Community Development and Planning: smagoon@watertown-ma.gov
Town Council towncouncilors@watertown-ma.gov