Is it finally time to celebrate? Massachusetts has just passed climate bill H.5060, or “An Act driving clean energy and offshore wind,” and it’s a big one. Despite the boring name, this bill is an undeniably long stride in the right direction for climate legislation in our state. It throws lots of money at clean, renewable energy projects; lays out plans to seriously lower emissions in the transportation sector; and “allows some municipalities to ban fossil fuel connections in new construction through their zoning ordinances and bylaws,” according to Brook J. Detterman and Lauren M. Karam at The National Law Review.
This all sounds amazing and we should be celebrating, especially in conjunction with the massive climate provisions that the Biden administration has given us with the Inflation Reduction Act. But the celebration can only last so long before we have to deal with the harsh realities that this recent victory hides; and of course, this bill is hardly enough to fight climate change alone. Most of the students at UMass Boston, myself included, are young enough that we will experience some of the first total society-disrupting effects of the climate disaster and witness a lot of mass death and forced migration. We are also the future drivers of policy, either as voters or in leadership positions. Older students may be concerned about the world they leave behind for younger generations, and may become our leaders before younger students take the reins. Either way, now is the time to start the fight, and luckily, you have a chance to do that here at UMass Boston!
This chance to start the fight is called MASSPIRG, and it’s a student-run, political activist organization that fights for human and civil rights, public health, democracy, climate change, and against homelessness, poverty and exorbitant academic expenses. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d like to be a part of? Working with MASSPIRG is a perfect way to start that fight against climate change, or any other issue, by directly helping to push important legislation and political policy in your state.
I’ll explain a bit more: Student PIRGs, or “Political Interest Research Groups” are college student-run, political activist organizations that work to push forward important legislation through grassroots campaigning, volunteering and lobbying. Most states have their own student PIRGs at most of their major colleges and universities. The work they do is very, very important and has indeed been effective. According to the national student PIRG website, they have succeeded in getting multiple colleges across the country to commit to 100 percent renewable energy goals; prevented huge setbacks in state climate policies and helped pass important climate legislation; convinced a number of fast food chains to stop buying meat from farms that overuse antibiotics, a practice that helps develop antibiotic resistant diseases; registered millions of young voters; and garnered widespread support and usage of a free, open-source textbook system that now has government funding, among other accomplishments.
Working for MASSPIRG, you can expect to help register voters, take polls, spread awareness through creative and engaging outreach events, directly lobby and meet with legislators and many other activities. They even offer summer campaigning jobs, where you can directly engage with communities in the Boston area to help study and shape public policy. I’ll give you an example of something I did with the organization and talk about one of those “harsh realities” that I mentioned earlier at the same time.
Last semester, I worked with our local chapter at the UMass Boston office to gain support from our state representatives for the 100 percent Clean Act: an act that will, according to a MASSPIRG fact sheet, commit Massachusetts to “100 percent clean electricity by 2035” and “100 percent clean heating and transportation by 2045”. The bill has been introduced by Rep. Marjorie Decker, Rep. Sean Garballey and Sen, Joseph Boncore, and has gotten wide support from most other representatives, but not all. We lobbied hard for Rep. Daniel Hunt—who represents much of Dorchester, including UMass Boston—to sign onto the act. We actually met with him personally, some in-person, others like me over Zoom: However, I regret to say that, evidently, our state representative is unwilling to “sign big bills” and will not support the 100 percent Clean Act along with the majority of the rest of his colleagues.
It’s pretty disturbing to hear that a state representative is unwilling to do his job, and he is unfortunately not the only one. Plus, many of you may be from other states and countries, where even Daniel Hunt would seem exceptionally progressive on climate by comparison. Additionally, the recent Supreme Court ruling, “EPA v. West Virginia,” has gutted the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions: a huge blow to the fight against the climate crisis. And while the Inflation Reduction Act offset some of that bad news, there’s still a long way to go.
This situation is exactly why grassroots political action is necessary for a bright future on a livable planet: it’s up to voters and constituents, more than ever, to push through the necessary changes. MASSPIRG is a great way to get involved quickly, as it’s easily accessible in Suite 3100 on the third floor of the Campus Center, and is always looking for help. Since COVID-19 hit, it has seen a precipitous drop in active volunteers: but prior to COVID-19, it was extremely active and packed full of dedicated students. Now is the time to get back to it and get involved!
Of course, MASSPIRG isn’t the only organization that offers such grassroots political action—there is also the Citizen Climate Lobby, which does very similar work on both a local and national level and is highly respected; and more controversial organizations such as Extinction Rebellion, of which I have produced a radio show for but unfortunately have since soured on a bit, for reasons I may explore in another article. Also, don’t discount the option of starting your own, hyper-local political action organization or club; it is a lot easier than you may think to change local policy for the better!
So, the takeaway from all of this chaos is that we cannot simply celebrate a recent couple of victories among many setbacks and wait for more good news. We all need get involved and push for strong climate policy and legislation now. We cannot rest, else we risk losing the fight for our future.