IMPORTANT DATES:

Click here for a handout to give to others.

Keystone XL  Update: The EPA has registered concern about the State Dept.’s Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement, together with over a million citizens.  President Obama has the last word on this carbon intensive project.

You can help.

Your comments to President Obama are essential.

The U.S. State Department released a 2,000-page analysis finding no compelling environmental reason to block the Keystone XL pipeline, the first direct link between one of the largest oil reserves on Earth and the world’s most advanced refining center on the Gulf of Mexico.  The State Department assessment has a number of serious flaws, that include downplaying the direct and indirect climate impact of the Keystone XL.

Thank you to all our attendees and panelists.

Click here for All Summaries of Breakout Action Sessions

Click here for: Federal Action Summary
Click here for: State Action Summary
Click here for: Local Action Summary
Click here for: Investment Action Summary
Click here for: Energy Action Summary
Click here for: Food Action Summary

Watch this Kerry Emanuel and Peter Frumhoff, UCS, about finding common ground on climate action.
Click here to watch the video: It’s Time to Find Common Ground for Our Common Atmosphere

Climate Summer is a  summer internship program for college students, graduate students, and recent graduates. Climate Summer riders travel exclusively by bicycle in small teams across New England and  connect with community leaders that are actively addressing society’s addiction to fossil fuels by crafting local solutions and spreading the information they gather to other communities. Between June 25 and July 1, a group  was hosted in Lexington.

Read Framing the Big Picture by Andrew Nguyen, one of the interns who came to Lexington. (To follow the blog of these interns, go to https://climatesummer.wordpress.com/)

Read More »

Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition is proud to join the Coal Free Massachusetts coalition, a diverse group of statewide and local organizations committed to ending coal fired electricity generation in Massachusetts. The Coal Free Massachusetts Coalition seeks to:

• Phase out all of Massachusetts’ coal-fired power plants by 2020;
• Advance energy efficiency and clean renewable energy like responsibly sited wind and solar to support the transition from coal electricity generation in Massachusetts;
• Partner with and empower community leadership and vision for clean energy and clean-tech development for our host communities, including:
  • robust transition plans focused on the long-term health of the community;
  • innovative opportunities for growing the green economy;
  • transitional support for workers and municipal revenues.

Based on a comprehensive two-year study of hundreds of consumer decisions by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living is a new science-based consumer guide that offers the facts on what decisions make the biggest impact on reducing your carbon emissions and what decisions don’t add up to much. The experts at UCS debunk many eco-myths, like the importance of “food miles” or the superiority of all hybrid cars, as they provide the science behind the right decisions that will save money and help save the planet at the same time.

In conjunction with the publication of Cooler Smarter, the Union of Concerned Scientists has issued a 20% Challenge. Their research has shown that by using the more than 20 methods outlined in Cooler Smarter, you can cut your carbon emissions by at least 20% in 20 days or less.

Read more about the book!

Tree Trouble in Lexington:
Climate Impact Day

Lexington Global Warming Coalition and Lexington Interfaith Environmental Action Team supported the 350.org planet-wide Connect the (Climate) Dots event.  The event focused on Lexington’s trees as an example of how extreme weather can impact our community. During the “Halloween Storm” of October 29, 2011, snow fell on trees whose leaves had not fallen due to the unusually warm fall weather.

On April 2, 2012 we heard from two speakers how recent changes in the solar energy world are making solar affordable for everyone.

The event was taped by LexMedia, look for it on your LexMedia LETV cable station. Click here to go to the schedule of showings, listed as   “Cary Library Lecture, 4/9/2012.

Topics covered:

How has the Solar market changed?

• What are the options for going solar – leasing and buying?

•  Learn 3 simple steps to determine your rooftop’s solar potential

• Solar Power Success Stories

• Powering our Town Buildings with Solar

Speakers

Mark Sandeen, Chair, Sustainable Lexington
Ben Cumbie, Solar PV Director for Transformations, Inc.

To learn more about what was presented:

Click here to see Mark Sandeen’s presentation.

Contact Ben Cumbie at ben@transformations-inc.com.

Click here to see Ben Cumbie’s presentation.

What does environmental devastation actually look like? At TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project — and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.

The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be….

The air is on average warmer and moister than it was prior to about 1970 and in turn has likely led to a 5–10 % effect on precipitation and storms that is greatly amplified in extremes. The warm moist air is readily advected onto land and caught up in weather systems as part of the hydrological cycle, where it contributes to more intense precipitation events that are widely observed to be occurring.

Read the article by Kevin E. Trenberth “Framing the way to relate climate extremes to climate change”