February 2021 Newsletter

– Read the latest updates from Sustainable Plymouth including methods for conserving water, recently filed Massachusetts climate legislation, news from the Town’s Open Space Committee, and activities of Sustainable Plymouth’s various working groups.

Our Next Meeting

March 15, 2021 at 6:30 pm

Learn more here or email sustainableplymouth@gmail.com to receive log-in details.

Plastic/Waste Working Group

The Plastic/Waste working group is pleased to announce that the Board of Health (BOH) responded positively to the presentation by Ken Stone.  The BOH stated that the health and environmental arguments were “very compelling” and the proposed requirements were “quite reasonable”.  The BOH is urging restaurants to consider voluntarily replacing polystyrene with less hazardous options and only giving out straws and utensils upon request.  The BOH will revisit the regulation post-Covid.

Sustainable Restaurant Team

The Sustainable Restaurant team is designing criteria to make it simple and easy to become a “Sustainable Restaurant”.  This program goes hand-in-hand with the recommendations of the Board of Health.  We have included a link to PS free foodware on our website. The restaurant team is in talks with a foodware supplier about lowering their minimum purchase requirements and offering free shipping on sustainable choice items.  We hope to be of service to the restaurant industry while helping them to make more environmentally friendly choices.

Climate Working Group

The Climate Working Group is working with the Energy Committee towards a weatherization program and is also working on a film series.

The first film has been chosen for the film series.  Details will be shared soon.

More details on the weatherization program will be forthcoming.  In the meantime, you can sign up now for a free energy assessment through MassSave by visiting https://www.masssave.com/en/saving/

Join a Sustainable Plymouth Working Group!

To join a working group, send us an email: sustainableplymouth@gmail.com 

Water Conservation

We have created this graphic and shared it on our website and social media to help further the conversation regarding water conservation.

Find more resources here: https://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/  and thanks to the Chair of the Water Conservation Committee for the suggestion.  Feel free to download the graphic from our Resources page and share it.

IN THE COMMUNITY

Citizens Climate Lobby

Climate Legislation in Massachusetts

Linda Lancaster of CCL SE Chapter has shared this information with us regarding contacting your legislators to support the refiled MA Climate Bill.

For more information on the bill’s status or read this WBUR article.

Update from 1/15/21:

Governor Baker Vetoed the Climate Bill, but the Fight Isn’t Over. Last Thursday evening, just hours before the midnight deadline, Governor Baker vetoed An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy.

We are disappointed that Governor Baker vetoed this path-breaking climate bill that included a suite of strong policies to address climate change along with needed environmental justice protections.

But the fight is not over! We are grateful to the thousands of you who contacted Governor Baker and urged him to sign the bill. We are now asking you to take action again.

Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka committed to promptly sending the bill back to the Governor’s desk and it has been refiled in its entirety. Send a message to your state legislators thanking them for their commitment to this bill and reassuring them that getting this bill signed into law is still important to their constituents. 

Town of Plymouth Open Space Committee

The Open Space Committee has added a climate change addendum to their Open Space and Recreation Plan.  We have shared this link on our website under Resources or view it here.

Town of Plymouth Open Space and Recreation Plan Addendum
Climate Change Resiliency

EXPLANATION OF NEED FOR ADDENDUM

The Plymouth Open Space Committee completed an update to the Open Space and Recreation Plan in 2018, as required by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Division of Conservation Services. Updating this plan every seven years keeps Plymouth eligible for grants and other support from the Commonwealth.

During this process, the Open Space Committee recognized the need to address the potential impacts of climate change in an addendum to the Open Space and Recreation Plan before the next required deadline in 2027. This addendum to Plymouth’s Open Space and Recreation Plan seeks to identify the potential impacts of climate change and offer recommendations for strengthening the resilience and adaptability of the Town of Plymouth in the face of climate change.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Climate change poses increasing challenges for Plymouth, particularly within its coastal areas. Sea level rise, storm surge and high winds from more frequent and intense coastal storms, extreme heat, drought, and freshwater flooding are a sample of climate change related hazards that Plymouth is experiencing. These may lead to property and infrastructure damage, interruption of vital services (i.e., energy, food, water, emergency response) and loss of cultural resources. Plymouth could reduce its vulnerability through appropriate planning.

In this document, the effects and impacts of climate change in Plymouth are presented, along with the introduction of a matrix, which is a tool developed by the OSC to examine the relationships between open space objectives in climate change resiliency and the strategies to fulfil them. The recommendations presented here are based on findings from the matrix.