Perhaps with vivid memories of back-to-back tornado warnings, two hurricanes, multiple heat waves, and higher than normal July rainfall on their minds, Select Board members voted unanimously last week to commit the town to the state’s aggressive climate goals and to ensure that future “purchases, public projects, planning processes, and policies” minimize the environmental impact of town undertakings.
That commitment is embodied in a climate resolution written and vetted by the Community Resiliency Working Group and the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee, and first presented to the Select Board at its Aug. 10 meeting. To ensure vigorous debate and the support of residents, the board voted last week not only to endorse the resolution but to place it before voters at Fall Town Meeting, where it will appear as an article on the warrant.
“This is critical,” said CRWG Chair Ellen Sachs Leicher, who presented the resolution at the Aug. 10 Select Board meeting. “We really need to start looking at what the impacts are, and I think we’ve seen it here, and I think we need to make a stand.”
The resolution acknowledges the local impacts of climate change and Harvard’s dependence on fossil fuels, and it seeks to mitigate these harms and develop climate resiliency through four commitments.
First, the resolution affirms the town’s participation in the state goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Mass.gov website, the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act requires that, by 2050, the state must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% below the amount emitted in 1990. The 1990 emission level was 94.5MMTCO2e (million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent), and the most current data from 2017 shows that the emission level had decreased to about 73.3MMTCO2e. This is 22.4% below the 1990 baseline, putting Massachusetts on track to meet its 2020 goal, which calls for a 25% reduction.
At the meeting, Paul Green, a member of HEAC, said that although the Massachusetts climate goals are statewide, Harvard should still expressly adopt them. “I think that it’s an important statement for the voters and the citizens of Harvard to make,” he said.
Green said that 17% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions are from residential buildings and 27% are from “light duty vehicles,” like cars. “So there’s plenty we can do as citizens of Harvard,” he added. By passing this resolution, the town would be acknowledging the reality of climate change and the importance of reducing Harvard’s carbon dioxide emissions. “The only question going forward is ‘What will we do?’” Green said.
Second, the climate resolution states that Harvard will assess and attempt to mitigate the environmental impact of its “purchases, public projects, planning processes, and policies.” The third clause of the resolution says the town will develop an “environmental assessment process” for this purpose. Fourth, the resolution says town boards and committees will work together to develop a plan in response to the threats of climate change. The town climate action plan and environmental assessment forms that the CRWG is working to develop will be part of the townwide implementation of this process.
“Harvard recognizes that actions taken to address climate change will also benefit our natural resources, be positive for public health, support our quality of life, and assure our community’s vibrancy well into the future,” the climate resolution states.
Select Board Chair Stu Sklar said the resolution “show[s] the state that we do support these goals, and it’s a little more powerful when it comes from the town versus the Select Board, or Planning Board, or HEAC.” Alice von Loesecke, another Select Board member, added, “If we do it and then more towns do it, then collectively we do make a difference.”
Resolution in support of actions to mitigate effects of climate change
To see if the Town of Harvard recognizes the local impacts of climate change and choses to address these impacts by adopting the following resolution:
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a legally binding statewide requirement of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050;
The local impacts of climate change are presently evident and are expected to increase in intensity from more severe storm events, increasing heat and drought, increasing pestilence and disease, increasing impacts to water and soil resources, and increasing impacts to native natural and agricultural flora and fauna, resulting in damage to public and private lands and ecosystems in Harvard, and harming the health and welfare of its residents;
Harvard is dependent on greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels for mobility, heating and cooling, and other basic needs but the availability of energy from renewable sources is growing and becoming more cost effective;
Harvard recognizes that actions taken to address climate change will also benefit our natural resources, be positive for public health, support our quality of life and assure our community’s vibrancy well into the future.
NOW BE IT RESOLVED,
Harvard affirms its support for the greenhouse gas reduction goals established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and for any subsequently adopted modifications of those goals, and affirms its willingness to change its practices, policies, and procedures in support of achieving the goals established by the Commonwealth in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change;
Harvard commits to evaluating and mitigating the potential negative impacts of climate change associated with all purchases, public projects, planning processes, and policies;
Harvard commits to developing and requiring an environmental assessment process to review all purchases, public projects, planning processes and policies and to make this information readily available to town residents specifically on warrants requiring citizen approval; and
Harvard commits to addressing climate resiliency and adaptation by coordinating the work of town boards, committees, commissions, and other entities to plan together how to respond to the threats climate change may have on the built environment, natural resources, and the health of its residents.
To implement the above, the Harvard Select Board will establish the means by which this resolution will be achieved and will provide an update to the town on its progress towards establishing the infrastructure in which to accomplish this resolution within one year of its passage. Thereafter, reports will be made annually at Town Meeting on the progress the Town has made in regards to this resolution.
