A Chance Meeting

The Cape & South Shore Team was in Falmouth last week, and the continued cold, wet weather on the Cape was getting us down. Tuesday afternoon, Courto and I were canvassing in East Falmouth, and we decided to follow a street down to the end of the peninsula. We found ourselves amidst old and picturesque shingled homes, just a few steps from the beach, looking across the Sound [pdf] at Martha's Vineyard. People were surprisingly receptive to the petition, though some of the houses seemed to be more like weekend-only homes. It was certainly a glitzy neighborhood.

Then, a car drove slowly by. And stopped a hundred feet or so ahead of us. As we approached, the man inside asked us what we were doing; we feared we might've been breaking some private neighborhood's rules.

But, lo and behold, it was State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), Chair of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change and all-around climate hero. He asked if we were with Powershift - and we were surprised that he'd even heard about it, until he explained his role in the Massachusetts State Legislature's climate heroism. I'll explain:

As you probably know, climate change is a looming crisis. The science keeps getting more and more ominous - projections of warming by 2100 are getting sometimes REALLY SCARY - on a Business-as-usual track, meaning if we continue without doing anything to change our ways. Worse, it looks like we have only a little time left to take meaningful action, since there's a new round of climate treaties being negotiated in December. But we already know what to do: change business-as-usual! Grow our own renewable energy industries here, reduce energy use, stop mining and burning coal, respect people's rights to live pollution-free. This will take legislative progress, of a stricter kind than found in Congress's latest attempt.

And that's where Senator Pacheco, and you and I, can help. Senator Pacheco co-authored a resolution, with Representative Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) and members of Mass PowerShift, that calls on Congress to Repower America with 100% Clean Electricity within 10 Years. (Read the resolution here.) It was passed by the Massachusetts General Court on April 9th this year.

Now, we're asking you to do the same thing.  Sign our petition, either online or when we come to your door, telling Congress that WE DO CARE about renewable energy, and we want it to happen now. And help us keep the pressure on via community action, media attention, events, and more. Join Powershift and become a leader in your community. We can plant that seed, but it's up to you to water and nourish it in your hometown, since we'll be biking away soon!

We thanked Senator Pacheco, he thanked us, and then he drove off in his hybrid. And we got back on our bikes, to head to the next neighborhood.