Worcester City Council adopts Green Worcester Plan, aims for 100% renewable energy citywide by 2045
Updated Apr 28, 2021;
Months after being presented to Worcester City Council in January, members voted to adopt the Green Worcester Sustainability and Resilience Strategic Plan Tuesday night.
The plan, dubbed the Green Worcester Plan, is a comprehensive project that aims to make the city one of the most sustainable and climate-resilient mid-size cities in America by 2050.
The council’s adoption of the plan comes after Gov. Baker’s recent signing of legislation to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in 2050.
“Green Worcester is aligned with the new state legislation, policies and goals,” said City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. “Our city is ready to collaborate with the state to make Worcester a sustainability leader in Massachusetts and the most sustainable and resilient mid-size city in the country.”
Andrew Ahern
On Earth Day 2021, President Joe Biden held a global Climate Summit with 40 countries from across the world. The objective of the summit was to “galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis.”
At the summit, Biden ended up pledging a 50% reduction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 the amount scientists say we need to cut globally by 2030 in order to stay within a safe level of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.
Biden’s pledge is a step in the right direction, but frankly, is not good enough. Scientists, scholars and climate activists are urging for much steeper cuts to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions: at least 70% to ensure we do not cross tipping points and allow other, poorer countries, to develop. In the richest country in the history of the world, there is no excuse why we can’t mobilize to achieve these much needed reductions. In the name of global equity and justice, we must.
Responding to a crisis: How Worcester plans to handle climate change with the Green Worcester Plan
Updated Mar 10, 2021;
The climate crisis.
The portrayal of the effects of climate change are often limited in scope to massive, decimating wildfires in the Western part of the country, but they are also felt locally. Its effects in Worcester can be pointed to in the form of storms, droughts and rising temperatures.
Over the past few decades, Worcester has seen countless storms and environmental events that can be traced back to a changing climate. Residents will recall the devastating ice storm of 2008 that left thousands powerless, streets flooded and trees toppled over onto cars and houses. Practically every inch of the city was covered in ice.
Less is more: Robert Moylan Jr. Water Filtration plant lauded for low electricity use
Robert Moylan Jr. Water Filtration plant lauded for low electricity use
Worcester Magazine
Even before the Green Worcester Plan was implemented, the Water and Sewer Operations of the Department of Public Works was working on conservation efforts and ways to better use technology to improve the city s drinking water.
Those efforts were recently rewarded with a 2020 Public Water System award for energy conservation from the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency. The Robert Moylan Jr. Water Filtration plant was the recipient of the award for innovating practices, and data from the plant now shows 2020 electricity usage has been the lowest in the past six years.
WORCESTER With less than a week before residents 75 or older become eligible to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, city councilors said they have been getting anxious phone calls from residents about the process, and they don t know what to tell them.
At-large Councilor Donna Colorio said that since Monday, when Gov. Charlie Baker announced the change to the state s phased vaccine rollout that will allow the seniors to get vaccinated, she has heard from many elderly residents. She said they are scared and confused, and wanted to know who they can call, or where they can go. She said many residents who have trouble getting out are concerned they will be passed over.