Massachusetts is a leader in this country and in the world in climate change resilience (coping with the impact of) and mitigation (doing all we can to stop climate change through stopping greenhouse gas emissions).
Resilience was addressed by 80 percent of Massachusetts towns through a planning process called the Municipal Vulnerable Planning process. Many towns on the Cape participated in this.
Working toward mitigation, in 2008, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) was passed in Massachusetts. It sets state-level goals for each decade to achieve net zero energy statewide until 2050.
Letâs explore the meaning of net zero. Global warming results from burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and propane, and their gases are emitted into the atmosphere. An excess of these has formed a layer around the Earth and that causes warming. That is why these are gases called greenhouse gases (GHGs). Science has tracked the increase of these gases back to the industrial growth period i