Climate Action Brookline welcomes Audrey Schulman and Zeyneb Magavi of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) to tell us about their exciting new project. We know about the dangers posed by leaks of natural gas from aging pipelines in the greater Boston area only because HEET alerted us to the problem. HEET, based in Cambridge MA, is a VERY smart and effective advocacy group.Now HEET has carried their idea to its exciting and radical next step: GEO MICRO DISTRICTS.  Rather than replace our crumbling old natural gas pipelines with new natural gas pipelines  – thereby continuing our dependence on a dangerous fossil fuel for another hundred years – why not put in conduits for GEOTHERMAL energy INSTEAD?HEAT AND COOL YOUR HOUSE WITH GEOTHERMAL ENERGY!?!HEET will tell us about their partnership (!) with utility company Eversource (!) to PILOT such a project in THREE NEIGHBORHOODS in greater Boston. The project may begin as early as this October. You may get so excited that you will want to join the pilot. Learn all about it on Monday March 9! 

Location Brookline Town Hall, Room 111

Commit to an Action to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

SELECT BOARD CANDIDATE CLIMATE CRISIS PANEL

Although Brookline has taken courageous steps to address the climate crisis, much more needs to be done. In recent years, the Brookline Select Board has taken a leadership role in many climate initiatives. Will the Select Board continue its positive work? Two Select Board seats are in contention at the town election on May 5. The race will be competitive. Come hear the positions of the candidates on the critical issue of climate change.

To register, use this link.
The Brookline Select Board has taken a leadership role in many climate initiatives. Will it continue its positive work? Select Board seats are in contention at the town election on June 9.  Hear the candidates on this critical issue.  The event is free, but please register on Eventbrite to get a link to the videoconference, or watch it streamed live on Brookline Interactive via local Cable TV in Brookline on RCN and Comcast Cable Channel 3 or on YouTube and Facebook streams. For more stream links, please go to https://brooklineinteractive.org/live/ 

To Register, use this link.

The job of educators is to prepare young people to thrive intellectually, financially, and emotionally in the future. Brookline teachers do an outstanding job of preparing students--but for a future that no longer exists. The future of climate change has arrived and we are living through an undeclared emergency. Should schools play a crucial role in addressing the climate crisis? Increasingly students, teachers and parents/caregivers demand "yes!"

Roger Grande, BHS Teacher, has spent the year working with educators, students, and parents/caregivers to make sustainability a core practice in Brookline schools. He'll speak to why schools must serve as a key institution in addressing climate change, and why they naturally fit in this role. Further, he'll present a blueprint for how Brookline Schools can move forward and adopt a sustainability mission. He is followed by a roundtable of administrators, teachers and a student who will discuss the obstacles and opportunities for our schools.

This event is free an open to all audiences but for security reasons using Zoom, please sign up to get a link to the videoconference. Brookline Interactive Group will transmit the webinar on TV and live steam it on YouTube and Facebook. For more information, please go to https://brooklineinteractive.org/live/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/undeclared-emergency-addressing-the-climate-crisis-in-our-schools-tickets-103285421476

See the elements of a “green” home up close; talk with Brookline homeowners who have lived with and benefited from energy efficient features such as solar panels, air source and ground source heat pumps, electric cars, on-demand gas or electric water heaters, induction stoves (with 2 cooking parties), insulation and home energy use monitors and learn about incentive programs available in Massachusetts for heat pumps, solar, and electric cars.

Learn ways to green your organization and celebrate your success. Open to all Brookline businesses, non-profits, and faith organizations. 

The meeting and self-assessment are part of a larger program designed to engage and celebrate businesses, nonprofits, and faith organizations for their important role in Brookline's transition to carbon neutrality by 2050. THIS MEETING MAY BE POSTPONED. More information is available under the "Go Green" tab on the Brookline Chamber of Commerce website gogreen.brooklinechamber.com

Brookline’s Climate is Everybody’s Business pilot is a collaboration between Climate Action Brookline, Mothers Out Front, the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, the Ad Hoc Committee on Climate Action Business Outreach, and Boyer Sudduth Environmental Consultants and is generously sponsored by The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Eversource, Brookline Bank, Climate Action Brookline, and Chestnut Hill Realty.

Students of Brookline! Register today at bit.ly/YCC-registration

Present your new idea, concept, theory or experiment that pertains to one of these categories: 

Healthy Oceans/Rivers: What solution do you have to alkalize or restore oxygen in the ocean? Or,What solution do you have to remove or reduce plastics/micro-plastics in the ocean? Or,What solution do you have to reduce the impact of melting glaciers on the ocean ecosystem? Or,What solution do you have to protect ocean and river ecosystems from waste or to reduce impact from salt run-off in the winter?  

Eco-Art: Share an artistic expression regarding climate change, adaptation or restoration (music, dance, poem, song/rap, drawings or other);  

Eco-Solution: Present a sustainable solution to an issue of your choice!

Additional resources on the Healthy Oceans/Rivers theme forthcoming.

Plastic is Forever, is a short film made by a talented 13-year-old film maker. http://www.kidscansavetheplanet.com/plasticisforever.html The film explores what happens when you throw plastic away. Dylan D'Haeze, from the San Juan Islands, decides to find out by following plastic trash to its end source which is the ocean. As the "downhill to everything", that great blue expanse serves as an unintentional dumping ground and a transportation system as countless pieces of plastic debris wash up on shores around the world. Marine life often ingest plastic debris which ends up affecting human health as those creatures end up on dinner plates. The film also explores the history of plastics and how they came into wider use due to World War 2 as well as the science of plastics which breaks down the fact that they simply do not break down in nature.

The film will be shown after this year's Youth Climate Adaptation Challenge which has the theme of Healthy Oceans and Rivers, so some of the student science and art projects will reflect themes in the film. Students and adults are invited to attend anf take part of an after film discussion with local actvists and Brookline citizens instrumental in Brookline's sustainability efforts. We look forward to a great event!