A sampling of news from Mass Audubon’s weekly advocacy updates – sign up here
Action You Can Take
New England’s energy system is more polluting and expensive than it should be. Mass Audubon supports the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office’s efforts to improve energy market rules that promote affordable clean energy, healthy communities, and climate protection, and you can too.
Mass Audubon Weighs In
Five years in, the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan is undergoing review to assess progress to date. We helped pass the legislation creating the Plan, and we’re weighing in again now, encouraging interconnected offshore wind planning that minimizes development impacts.
We joined partners in urging President-elect Biden to restore vital protections stripped this summer from the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument – the first marine national monument in the US Atlantic Ocean and home to critical and vulnerable ocean ecosystems.
Our Allens Pond and Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuaries have been awarded an EPA Southeast New England Program Watershed Grant to promote resilient ecosystems in that region. We’ll be supporting local outreach about the role habitat restoration plays in protecting communities from climate impacts.
We submitted comments during the state’s review of the Alternative Portfolio Standard, which provides financial incentives for energy efficiency and technologies to reduce emissions. We recommended more incentives for, and access to, zero-emission renewable heating technologies.
We also commented on a federal study of offshore wind construction methods. Environmentally responsible offshore wind development means avoiding impacts to marine mammals and other species, and the use of updated construction technology is critical.
Climate Central
→ This video explores Mass Audubon’s work helping restore floodplain forest along the Connecticut River
→ Sea level rise and coastal flooding threaten affordable housing
→ On bug boxes, climate grief, and human health