By Edward J. Markey and Gina McCarthy, The Boston Globe, April 28, 2022 | Photo credit: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Last year, as families across the country struggled through the coronavirus pandemic, a barrage of crises compounded their suffering: catastrophic megablazes out West, flash floods and hurricanes that decimated the East Coast, and heat waves that killed record numbers of Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 80 percent of all Americans lived through a heat wave last year, and four heat waves in Massachusetts broke records. Climate change costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year — and countless human lives. This is not tomorrow’s problem. It is our reality today.

In addition to exacerbating extreme weather, US dependence on fossil fuels affects Americans’ health, particularly in disadvantaged communities. Read more.

By Andrew Freedman, Axios, April 22, 2022

Why it matters: Earth Day is supposed to be a symbol of the environmental movement, originally born out of air and water pollution. But now it's a reminder of human-caused climate change — which is leading to more frequent and severe heat waves and wildfires, stronger hurricanes and heavier precipitation events. Read more.

As a collective, our organization researches issues, considers multiple viewpoints, and takes considered positions to advocate for legislation, policies, projects, and initiatives that advance our mission to reduce the Cape & Islands' contributions to climate change and protect us from potentially devastating impacts.

Since our inception, we have issued numerous such statements to advance: offshore wind, clean energy, robust climate legislation, natural resource protection, educational programs, environmental justice, and climate-smart policies and programs at local, regional, state

and federal levels. Below are three recent advocacy letters. For a comprehensive list of public comments, position statements, and other forms of advocacy, please visit this webpage.

By Hannah Crosby, AmeriCorps Cape Cod, May 3, 2022

The Climate Collaborative is pleased to announce the launch of three new town-based Climate Action Network (CAN) webpages on the collaborative's website. We welcome Harwich CAN, Eastham CAN and ECO Orleans: A Climate Action Network, as they join our more established network webpages for Chatham and Falmouth.

The Climate Action Network section of our website now hosts five dedicated and independent town CAN webpages, each informed by the work of local climate activists and digitally rendered by the Climate Collaborative. Each webpage provides an accessible platform and forum for local network-building, member recruitment, event publicity, and promotion of climate initiatives specific to each town. Local web pages are also designed to accommodate information presented by municipal committees such as Energy Committees or Energy & Climate Committees.

If your Cape Cod climate group would like more information about launching a dedicated webpage on our website, or if you would like to join or start a CAN in your town, please reach out to us at capecodclimate@gmail.com.

Check out two of these presentations below and contact us at info@capecodclimate.org for more information about our "Speakers' Bureau."

Inspired by the upcoming Climate Emergency art exhibit at Yarmouth's Cultural Center, the Climate Collaborative has launched a new Arts Network to convene artists in all media who share concern about the climate crisis.

Through the "network" model, we are creating a space in which artists can share ideas about using powers of artistic communication to work towards climate solutions. As artists are a large and important population figuring prominently among our regional stakeholders, we aspire to bring a sense of community to artists whose work is often individual and isolated. For more information about the Arts network, contact arts@capecodclimate.org.

The new Climate Collaborative Arts network -- along with our Climate Action and Faith Communities networks -- is a prototype for other organizations and individuals wishing to coalesce, organize, and activate around discrete sectors such as Food & Agriculture, Business, Education, Energy, Waste & Recycling, and the like. If you'd like more information about how to jumpstart a network, contact info@capecodclimate.org.

By Barbara Moran, WBUR, April 19, 2022 | Photo credit: J Sirlin Adobe stock

Massachusetts residents are concerned about the impacts of climate change, with majorities saying that climate impacts like heat waves, coastal flooding and more powerful storms are already or very likely to hit the state in the next five years. But fewer than half of residents list climate change as a high priority; it trails behind worries about health care, jobs and the economy, education, taxes, and fuel costs. Read more/listen here.

By Asad Jung, Cape Cod Times, April 22, 2022 | Photo: Peter Pereira

The Thomas B. Landers Road parking lot in Falmouth, which opened in June 2015, is made up of 18.5 acres of land and has space for about 1,900 vehicles, according to a press release from the Steamship Authority. NextGrid will be tasked with the construction, operation and maintenance of a 5,900 kilowatt solar and 6,100 kilowatt-hour battery storage development, which it aims to construct on the property and make operational by 2024. Read more.

By Ed Blaguszewski, UMass Amherst News, April 22, 2022

The university is at the vanguard of a big idea, said Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, aspiring to pilot a solution for Massachusetts as it addresses the climate crisis. “Our pioneering work on this complex, large-scale undertaking will have ramifications far beyond campus,” Subbaswamy said. Read more.

In December 2021, Am HaYam Cape Cod Havurah, a Jewish Fellowship, began discussions about developing a climate justice committee. The group held three events prior to the committee's formation and created a mission statement and guiding values to help shape their path. Consistent with the commitment to Tikkun Olam (The Repair of the World), their mission is to raise awareness, and equitably share strategies and resources, toward addressing the causes and mitigating the damage of the global climate emergency.

This new Climate Justice Committee got right to work and is embarking--with the Federated Church of Orleans -- on an ambitious series of three workshops entitled "It's a Climate Emergency! What Can We Do?" The workshops will be held three evenings in May and June. See "Events" below.

The Climate Justice Committee welcomes new members. Please contact Sharon Leder, publicity person, at sharon.teichmangallery@gmail.com for more information. Read more about the committee and workshops here.

Join Joanna Macy, author of Active Hope and Jonathan Gustin, founder of Purpose Guides Institute for a Talk, a Sacred Council and a Personal Action Exploration. Imagine a new future together, discover your authentic place in the world and offer your soul-level purpose as a gift of service to life in this time.

Students from Cape Cod high schools will gather in Sandwich Wednesday, May 18 for a day of learning about responding to climate change and taking an active role in local policy making. Read more.

FOR STUDENTS: High school students interested in attending this year’s Cape Cod Youth Climate Action Summit should contact a teacher or administrator at their schools, or email Morgan Peck (mpeck@massaudubon.org).

The Am HaYam Climate Justice Committee, in conjunction with the Federated Church of Orleans, invites you to attend a three-part series of workshops on Combatting Climate Change.  

7:30 PM to 9:00 PM (for all sessions)

 For more information, contact: dickelkin@gmail.com

Educators from across Massachusetts will come together for three days of engaging and fun energy education training with the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. The conference is fully sponsored and offered at no cost to educators. The conference provides you with the most up-to-date information on all aspects of energy. You will receive the training and materials to implement innovative hands-on energy units in your classrooms, multi-disciplinary teams, and after-school programs. Read more.

Learn more and register here.

By Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network, April 28, 2022 | Photo credit: Creative Commons

The DoubleGreen Solar Loan is designed to serve households regularly marginalized by existing financing options by offering lower interest rates, longer loan lengths, transparent terms, and more flexible underwriting standards. This year, the fund aims to close $10 million in solar loans, with 60% of the funds going to low-income households and homeowners of color. The program works with a network of trusted solar installers to ensure buyers are treated fairly and transparently and not charged hidden fees. Read more.

Thomas Koch Blank, Patrick Molloy, Kaitlyn Ramirez, Alexandra Wall, and Tessa Weiss, RMI,

The Basics - Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe. You may remember from grade-school science that it is the first element in the periodic table — the lightest, consisting of one proton and one electron. Hydrogen is highly reactive and a potent energy carrier. Read more.

By Alan Pollock, The Cape Cod Chronicle, May 4, 2022 | Photo: The Cape Cod Chronicle FILE

"The first briefing was sobering," select board chair Peter Cocolus said. "This is beyond sobering." Read more.

By Keith Kinch, World Economic Forum, April 19, 2022

The recent invasion of Ukraine has pushed many world leaders to work to secure their energy independence from Russia and by rapidly increasing their clean energy initiatives. The war and humanitarian crisis is laying bare what scientists and the United Nations have long warned – the world must halt the expansion of the global gas infrastructure. Read more.

By Jim Robbins, Inside Climate News, March 13, 2022 | Photo credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

A new open pit lithium mine was approved last year at Thacker Pass in Nevada, on publicly owned land managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, to tap into this country’s largest known deposit of the mineral, worth nearly $4 billion. The lightest of the metals, lithium holds a charge very well and is essential for the batteries needed to store power from solar and wind energy sources and to drive the coming tsunami of electric vehicles as the world decarbonizes its economies. Read more.

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.

The Climate Collaborative's Climate Action Alerts newsletter is curated and produced by Fran Schofield.

Please submit your news, events, or article ideas to fran@capecodclimate.org.