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A message from Miranda
Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience
| Summer of 2023 on Cape Cod may go down as one of the wettest on record. Along with the record rainfall, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and coastal erosion - the Cape is already experiencing the relentless destructive impacts of climate change that feel increasingly disorienting and existential. | |
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These challenges demand interconnected approaches to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience and everyone has a part to play. This newsletter will continue to highlight what the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative is undertaking on behalf of our region along with our progress on these challenges. We want to highlight our successes related to climate issues - and most importantly we want to infuse the urgent action this climate emergency demands, with hope.
With our collaborators and our partners we are working on sharing even more concrete ways for you to get involved individually and collectively. And please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested.
What a magical spit of land we live on! Nurtured by indigenous communities and early settlers before us, to today’s teachers, businesses, civic and municipal leaders, lawyers, artists, immigrants, and many more - who create the fabric of our communities against a backdrop of dazzling coastlines - to form the beauty and grace that is Cape Cod.
Thank you for the warm welcome from the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative community. I look forward to working shoulder to shoulder with you.
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The Climate Beacon Conference in Boston was a clarion call to catalyze climate solutions in Massachusetts - a state that is leading on addressing climate change and the clean energy transition.
The packed conference was solution-focused, and climate equity was an important through-line. It included presentations by and panels with dozens of Federal, state and local policymakers, nonprofit leaders, businesses, innovators, activists and advocates.
Among the policymakers, US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, US Senator Ed Markey, former White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Massachusetts’ Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu provided bold inspiration for what we can do in the Commonwealth, and of course, on the Cape, with climate mitigation as well as adaptation and building resilience.
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From left: Secretary Tepper announced “ResilientMass” at the conference; Janet Williams was a panelist in a session on nature-based climate solutions; Dorothy and Miranda with Gina McCarthy. | |
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The conference was organized by Climate Beacon CEO Alex Richman as a follow-up to the Climate trip to Denmark he organized in 2022 with multi-sector leaders from across Massachusetts, in which Collaborative President Dorothy Savarese and Board Member Dan Wolf had participated. The Climate Beacon organization will continue to spur climate action programming throughout the year.
The Collaborative’s Vice President Janet Williams was a panelist in a session on nature-based climate solutions and highlighted several Cape Cod projects to restore, protect, and recreate salt marshes, including the Muddy Creek Restoration in Chatham and Harwich. Janet highlighted that the Cape Cod Commission has hundreds of nature-based solutions in the Climate Action Plan – that could be adopted or adapted to priorities specific to each town. Or that can be done in partnership with each other: “Climate change doesn’t care about municipal boundaries,” said another panelist. Many of these problems “require a partnership or regional approach.”
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News you can use
Climate Action on Cape Cod
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PLEASANT BAY
CLIMATE ADAPTATION FORUM
Saturday, October 21
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Chatham Community Center
702 Main St., Chatham
| Learn and engage about ongoing projects in Pleasant Bay, understanding the environmental threats, and how you can provide feedback on the solutions. | Please take the survey before attending (or even if you cannot attend) | |  |
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CLIMATE BOOK CLUB
Climate Optimism by Zahra Biabani
Wednesday, November 8
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Falmouth Main Street
Public Library
meet in the Bay Room
I don’t know if we’re going to be able to overcome the climate crisis, but if we succumb to nihilism, we have no chance. There‘s a good
kick in the pants in these pages!”
— Bill McKibben, Founder, 350.org and Third Act
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MASSACHUSETTS' SOLAR INITIATIVE IS EXPIRING
How this is affecting homeowners
The SMART program associated with solar panels is fading out. CAI's climate and environment reporter Eve Zuckoff explains why, and what it means for the future of solar incentives.
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EN-LIGHTENED LIVING WITH
SOLAR ENERGY
A Workshop for Cape Residents
Saturday, October 28
Workshop 10 a.m. - 1 pm.
House Tours 2 - 4 p.m.
Eastham Library
190 Samoset Rd.
- Find out how rooftop solar could be right for you, and how to get started
- Have your questions answered by independent experts
- A discussion of pending new solar loan programs
- No vendors, no sales pitches
- See how a solar energy system can pay off in 6 to 8 years
- Tour local homes and see rooftop systems in action
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Presented by the Eastham Climate Action Committee and partner organizations
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Regional resources for climate advocates | We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is reduce the Cape & Islands' contributions to climate change and protect our region from its potentially devastating impacts. We depend upon the generosity of our stakeholders to conduct our work. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. | |
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We welcome climate news from your home, school, business, town, faith community, or organization. Please submit your news, events, or article ideas to info@capecodclimate.org. | | | | |
