Declaring a climate emergency in Sudbury and taking steps to address it, including hiring a sustainability director, will be up for a vote at Sudbury Annual Town Meeting in May.
Learn more about the warrant article, filed by Sustainable Sudbury, at a virtual public forum, “Why Declare a Climate Emergency in Sudbury?” Monday, April 4, at 7 p.m., sponsored by Sustainable Sudbury and the League of Women Voters of Sudbury. The forum is free but registration is required. Register here https://bit.ly/3qBCrkl . The registration link is also on www.sustainablesudbury.org and www.lwvsudbury.org .
Speakers are Andrea Becerra, sustainability director, Acton; Launa Zimmaro, LWV state specialist on climate and energy legislation; and Dr. Kaat Vander Straeten, co-founder and vice president, MassEnergize, an organization empowering communities to take local climate action.
The climate emergency declaration warrant article will be voted on with any other citizen petitions at the end of Town Meeting, which begins Monday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. The Town Meeting warrant is not yet published, but the text of the climate warrant article and additional information is on the Sustainable Sudbury website, www.sustainablesudbury.org.
The warrant article offers a resolution that Sudbury declare a climate emergency requiring urgent action and a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in town as quickly as possible. To meet that commitment, the warrant article proposes that Sudbury hire a sustainability director, as Acton and Natick have done. It proposes creation of a task force to develop an action plan to address the climate crisis, including specific strategies.
“The declaration of a climate emergency is an official acknowledgment by the people of Sudbury that all of humanity, including Sudbury, is in a climate emergency – a dangerous situation calling for immediate action. To date, 23 Massachusetts municipalities have made similar declarations, including our neighbors, Acton and Wayland,” said Leslie Lowe, coordinator of Sustainable Sudbury’s climate emergency working group.