Dr. William Moomaw

DEEP DIALOGUE

MONDAY, APRIL 28

4 - 5:30 PM On Zoom

Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3XoMOc8

Why Preservation of Mature Urban Trees is so Valuable

in the Face of Climate Change

Dr. William R. Moomaw has spent decades promoting pro-forestation policies and has devoted the last 20 years to helping develop better local, national, and international understanding of the profoundly important role mature forests play in managing climate. His Deep Dialogue focus will be specifically on the role mature city trees play in helping mitigate the damaging effects of climate change, and why preservation of these stalwart urban climate defenders needs to be prioritized to achieve climate goals and protect urban public health against the worst impacts of climate change.

Dr. Moomaw's message is a critically important one for policy-makers to hear right now. See the Watertown News interview with Dr. Moomaw for more.

Dr. Moomaw is a Nobel Prize–winning scientist and Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy at Tufts University.

Maiyim Baron and Tina Grosowsky proudly carry the ECA Mass banner

ECA members and thousands of others (about 25,000!) gathered on the Boston Common for the April 5 Hands Off! protest to rally against the policies of the Trump administration.

Tina Grosowsky

At night, we use outdoor lights around our homes. But they hurt the insects, bats, and other animals that depend on the dark to live their lives. Well-designed outdoor lighting can be beautiful and functional while also protecting the wildlife around us.

DarkSky and the Illuminating Engineering Society have jointly published Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting:

1. Useful. Use lighting only where and when needed.
2. Targeted. Direct lighting so that it only illuminates what you need it to.
3. Low-level. Make sure your lighting is no brighter than necessary.
4. Controlled. Use timers or motion detectors so lighting is only on when needed.
5. Warm-colored. Limit the use of any lighting that is bright white or blue-ish.

To learn more about these principles and how to apply them around your home, check out this recent talk hosted by Sustainable Stow. James Lowenthal of Smith College led us on a multi-faceted virtual tour of the nighttime environment and how important natural darkness at night is for all species, including pollinators, birds, and humans. Prof. Lowenthal leads the Massachusetts chapter of the International DarkSky Association. 

You can see the talk here.

Rick Lent

The Legislative Team is hard at work sifting through this session's climate-related bills. Check out their update by clicking the button below.  

Roger Luckmann

It may seem strange to be fighting to preserve a livable climate at the same time as we must fight to preserve our democracy. Many of us are devoting time and attention to local protests, letter writing, and other efforts to hold back the tide of changes coming from Washington and DOGE. But as Senator Mike Barrett wrote recently:

"Donald Trump's forces are an army on the march, trampling through Washington-level climate programs and environmental protections and putting the torch to everything they find. But they operate on the surface on things. Deep down, the root system of climate and environmental work remains intact, sustained by the exertions of people at the level of the neighborhood, the hometown, and the home state." 

This month we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our independence from another dictator/king. Let us not give up on our democracy, or on our work for the climate and environment. Our grandchildren are depending on us.

Rick Lent

Please join the League of Women Voters on Tuesday, April 15 at 7:00 PM for Part 1 of our Town Hall Series: How the MA Legislature Works featuring Representative Tram Nguyen.

Rep. Nguyen is the Chair of the House Committee for Climate Action and Sustainability and sits on the Joint Committee on Financial Services. Prior to serving in the Legislature, she worked as a legal aid attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services, advocating for domestic violence survivors, workers, seniors, veterans, and children. Rep. Nguyen authored the law adding coercive control to the definition of domestic violence, one of our priority bills enacted last session.

Register HERE.

Please consider donating to ECA Mass to support chapter activities, educational programs, and materials by clicking on the button below.

Our Small Budget

Our chapter’s expenses are few: for 2025, we estimate our total expenses at about $4,600 – a small increase from previous years. We have no paid staff, no office, and we don’t pay ourselves for incidental expenses. Rather, we have the expected but escalating costs of producing written materials, subscribing to services for our legislative advocacy work, paying occasional consultants for help with our website, and mailing services for our newsletter and other communications. 

Our Fundraising Goal

Our hope is to raise about $3,600 from you, our members, and match this amount with monies donated by the leadership team. If you have attended even just a few meetings which were valuable to you, when you learned something or were inspired, please donate even a modest amount in return to help us carry on.

It’s rare for us to ask for anything from our members, besides your actions to help address climate change. Our actions today are more critical than ever as we enter a dangerous period where hopes of keeping global warming within reasonable limits seem to be fading fast. We’ll need all hands on deck as we push local and state governments to implement the steps set out in the Next Generation Roadmap Bill with even greater urgency.



For more information about Elders Climate Action Massachusetts Chapter, click here.

We send announcements of our meetings and Action Alerts to eca-mass@googlegroups.com, which includes all those on our active list. 

Please contact Dawn Edell if you want to confirm you are on our active list.

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