It’s been a difficult year for climate activists and everyone concerned with the evolving climate crisis. As extreme weather, droughts, floods, and heat waves occur with ever increasing frequency, the federal government is doing everything it can to deny the existence of climate change and prevent action to reduce the impact of this self-evident disaster.

As our federal government is working to increase production of fossil fuels and turn back the clock on phasing out coal and adoption of clean energy, other countries are moving ahead with their efforts to fulfill their climate commitments. The U.S. is the only democratic, developed country to turn its back on the global movement to avert a climate disaster. 

We are not only abandoning our allies and harming the environment, but creating a backwards looking economy that will leave us poorer and uncompetitive. After the progress of the last administration, it is natural to be disheartened by what has happened.

Every state is impacted by this turn against decarbonization and Massachusetts is no exception. Our climate plans depend on federal support. But we know that we can’t allow this turnabout in climate policy to discourage us. We must continue to find ways to make progress.



We are fortunate in Massachusetts to have a legislature and administration that have committed to ambitious climate goals and that will look for ways to fill the gaps in federal funding. The challenges are many, but we should stick to our ambitious state climate goals and aim to continue to be a leading role model for other states on how to decarbonize energy, buildings, and transportation and implement natural solutions. We will succeed with our continued commitment and our capacity for hard work and innovation, driven by our insistence that our grandchildren and all future generations inherit a livable earth. 

ECA Mass Leadership Team

Starting this month, ECA Mass monthly Chapter Meetings and Deep Dialogues will require registration to attend. This is already done for Zoom meetings by most other groups and we think you'll find there are valuable benefits. Note: You can register at the beginning of the meeting and still be included.

• After registering, you will receive an email with the Zoom link to the meeting, as well as the option to add the event to your electronic calendar.
• On the day of the meeting, you will receive an email reminder.
• After the event, you will be sent an email with a link to the recording and presentation. This can be particularly helpful if you were unable to attend at the time of the meeting. All chapter meetings and Deep Dialogues can also be viewed on the ECA Mass website.

“Save the Date” notifications will include the registration link to use for the meeting. 

Arnie Epstein

Dr. Phillip Landrigan

Don't be Duped by Ridwell!

Why care about plastics? Plastics contributed 3.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 (Ourworldindata.org), and that only stands to grow, with plastic production expected to triple by 2050.  

That’s why it's important to beware of plastic greenwashing coming this week to Massachusetts, by a company called Ridwell. It's a venture capital-backed mail-in program that preys on eco-conscious consumers by suggesting they can buy their way out of non-recyclable plastic waste. But since most plastics are not recyclable, or even downcyclable (only 5-6% of plastic was recycled in 2021), these claims of diverting plastic waste are misleading at best, fraudulent at worst. 

For more about mail-in waste programs, see "Recycle" By Mail is a Major Climate Fail. In the meantime, don’t believe marketing claims that seem too good to be true—instead, follow the money.

Susan Abrams, PhD, Plastics Working Group

DEEP DIALOGUE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

4 - 5:30 PM on Zoom

Register here!

Sukesh Aghara

What’s Happening with Nuclear Power?

Nuclear power is in the news. Particularly small modular reactors (SMR). Governor Healy includes new nuclear reactors as a part of an “all of the above” approach to meeting the state’s energy needs. But what is the reality behind this renewed interest? Will new nuclear reactors be safe and economical?

To help answer these questions, we've invited Sukesh Aghara, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell to speak. He is Director of the Integrated Nuclear Security and Safeguards Laboratory (INSSL), Co-Director of the International Nuclear Institute (INI), and served as Director of the Nuclear Engineering Program from 2017 to 2024. Professor Aghara is a subject matter expert on small modular reactors, energy economics, and workforce development in the nuclear sector.

Governor Healey has expressed interest in small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) as part of an “all of the above” approach to meeting our state’s energy needs, and ECA Mass has endorsed legislation calling for a study of a possible role for SMRs. But nuclear power remains a controversial issue within ECA Mass and in Massachusetts. 

ECA Mass leadership believes it is important that we have an open dialogue that fully explores all the pros and cons of nuclear power to inform future ECA Mass advocacy for or against investigating the development of new sources of nuclear energy to power our electric grid. 

Please check out the ECA Mass Survey on Nuclear Power here and let your voice be heard.

Your thoughts and opinions are essential for identifying needs regarding education of ECA members on nuclear energy, SMRs, and related concerns - and to ensure ECA Mass advocacy is driven by the will of an informed membership.

Roger Luckmann

ECA Mass is honored to have a table at Sustainability Day at the State House on Tuesday, September 9. We know it conflicts with our Monthly Chapter Meeting, but we're looking for people to join us at our table. Let MaiyimBaron@gmail.com know if you're interested.

All legislators have received notice of this event - please call or email yours and urge them to attend. We're especially excited about the expert panel, Municipal Best Practices- How to support our communities and plan for a more sustainable future, in Room 437 at 1 PM.

Maiyim Baron

Several Massachusetts communities have passed municipal resolutions either at Town Meeting or at City Councils to endorse the Make Polluters Pay statewide campaign. These resolutions contain the following language:

Whereas, oil and gas companies bear the responsibility for exacerbating the climate crisis, and have consistently misrepresented the destructive impacts of fossil fuel combustion on the global climate; and

Whereas, climate change caused by global warming poses many serious threats to the City/Town of [Municipality Name] and its residents, including extreme heat, flooding, poor air quality, and other extreme weather, which are already impacting the [Municipality Name] community.

If you're interested in leading an action in your town to pass a resolution, please contact Dan Zackin at: dan@betterfutureproject.org.

Tina Grosowsky 

Elders Climate Action is a member of the Climate Bank Coalition. We encourage actively supporting their advocacy on behalf of S.786/H.3937, An Act To Create A Climate Bank in Massachusetts. If enacted, this bill will use a well-established public-private partnership model that uses public 'seed' monies to attract much larger sums of private investment to finance and support climate and clean energy initiatives.

Climate Bank Coalition’s Phase 2 Goals

• Distribute Climate Bank (CB) PowerPoint (PPT) to all Coalition partners and participants. Contact John or Susan below for a copy of PPT.
• Offer to all who are curious, a climate bank bill PowerPoint presentation via Zoom on Tuesday, September 16, 6:30 PM. Register here.
• Encourage participants to use the CB PPT to educate their fellow constituents before holding a constituent meeting with their two state legislators.
• Core Goal: Hold a constituent meeting with your State Rep. and State Senator (September/October).
• If requested, the Coalition has facilitators available for PPT presentations and/or for co-facilitating constituent meetings.
• Coalition will meet with House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on Financial Services.
• Core Goal: Coalition participants submit oral or written testimony to the Financial Services Committee; hearing date to be determined.
• Invite new participants and new partner organizations to join the CB Coalition.

What Can You Do Now?

Climate Bank PowerPoint: Attend...

John Meiklejohn

Preparing for a Blizzard of Hearings and Advocacy this Fall

 Hearings of many of our priority bills will be coming up in September and October, including bills among ECA Mass priorities focused on natural solutions, building decarbonization, and gas system reform. ECA Mass working groups and their allies will be testifying at the State House and calling on all of us to pack the hearing rooms and reach out to our legislators.

The Plastics Working Group, in alliance with Beyond Plastics, is launching a major effort to get the House behind a set of three bills from our priority list aimed at reducing plastic waste:

• Plastic bag reduction (H.933 S.590)
• Reduce polystyrene in the environment (H.912, S.629)
• Update the bottle bill (H.3464, S.2245)

At this month’s chapter meeting, all in attendance will be asked to send an email to their state Rep. at the end of the meeting. If you aren’t going to be there, you can, in just five minutes, send off a message to your Rep. by going here and following the directions to personalize a prepared letter, then hitting send. It is simple and guaranteed to brighten your day.

Make Polluters Pay and Climate Bank

As a member of the Make Polluters Pay (MPP) Coalition, ECA Mass submitted...

Roger Luckmann

Sun Day is a day of action on September 21, 2025, celebrating solar and wind power, and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. ECA's collaborator Th!rd Act is putting on events around the Commonwealth starting on September 15.

Please see Th!rd Act's calendar of events for all the listings.

Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power on the planet – and gives us a chance to actually do something about the climate crisis. But fossil fuel billionaires are doing everything they can to shut it down. We will build, rally, sing, and come together in the communities where we need to get laws changed and work done.

The clean energy revolution is here. Solar, wind and batteries are the cheapest form of power on the planet, lowering costs, creating new jobs, and strengthening our communities. But some politicians and industries are trying to hold it back.

For more info: SUN DAY on September 21.

Maiyim Baron

Bill McKibben, founder of Th!rd Act has a new book that came out August 19 and he's on tour to talk about it. Here Comes the Sun is available for pre-order now from all major booksellers.

McKibben will be at WBUR City Space on Monday, September 8 at 6:30 PM and the New Marlborough Meeting House in New Marlborough, Mass on Saturday, September 13 at 4:30 PM.

Here Comes the Sun tells the story of the sudden spike in power from the sun and wind—and the desperate fight of the fossil fuel industry and their politicians to hold this new power at bay. From the everyday citizens who installed solar panels equal to a third of Pakistan’s electric grid in a year to the world’s sixth-largest economy—California—nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years, the book traces the arrival of plentiful, inexpensive solar energy.

Maiyim Baron

A former English professor and pastor, Brian D. McLaren is currently an activist and author. This book guides us through some of his own experiences and insights, at the same time integrating relevant and diverse resources.

McLaren pulls no punches, confronting us with four possible future scenarios - Collapse Avoidance, Collapse/Rebirth, Collapse/Survival, Collapse/Extinction - none of which leave us unscathed, and one of which results in our extinction. When faced with these possibilities, what do we do? Many concerned people are stuck in doubt, fear, uncertainty, or even false hope. How do we respond in meaningful ways, not knowing if our efforts will add up?

There is doom but little gloom in this book. To McLaren, this is a meaningful time to be alive, indeed as quoted by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, "a magnificent thing to be alive in a moment that matters so much."

That's not to belittle the challenges, including many tightly held cultural assumptions. McLaren exposes counterproductive beliefs, supplanting them with perspectives from a wide range of activists, indigenous people, philosophers and others.

The book is divided into 4 sections and 21 chapters and can be read straight through or by taking time to address questions at the end of each chapter.

It's clear that our systems are broken and we need new frameworks. Success is not guaranteed but we're encouraged to find our light and let it shine. There's no one given plan but, as with evolution, varied attempts may yield a way forward.

In the end, McLaren, recalling the power of Dr King's "I have a dream" speech, shares his dream of new life-giving connections and renegotiated institutions.

Dare we dream? Dare we act?



Margie Lee

Over TWENTY ECA members gathered in Seth Evans' beautiful backyard on Tuesday August 26 for a delightful BBQ and potluck lunch, and lots of good talk about what we CAN do and how ECA can help. Hopefully we still have a few weeks of good weather.

Want to host a gathering? Let Maiyim at MaiyimBaron@gmail.com know if you'd like help contacting members in your area for a gathering like this in your yard or local green space.

Kudos and thanks to Seth and ECA member "official" photographer Stan Eichner, staneichnerphotography@gmail.com.

Maiyim Baron

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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Did you miss an ECA Mass chapter meeting or deep dialogue? Or do you want to share one with friends and family? 

We have you covered! Videos of past chapter meetings are here and videos of past deep dialogues are here.