July/August 2024

Double issue!

July 19, 2024

Your latest local news on sustainability and climate change action
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IN THIS ISSUE

Progress toward a new Chief Climate & Sustainability Officer
Farley solar design study approved; we want more!
Climate Action Plan coming soon
Future geothermal projects eyed
First person: Attending a U.N. climate conference
FHS students urge banning black plastic | Adding teeth to the recycling ordinance
Dunning’s composting pilot a big success | Reducing food waste at McCarthy
Questioning artificial turf for Mary Dennison Park 
General Chemical clean-up
Upcoming events | In the news

ANNOUNCEMENT

Volunteer at the Farmer’s Market!

Energize Framingham could still use a few volunteers to represent us at the Farmer’s Market this summer and early fall (up until October 10) -- Thursdays, 2:30-7:30 p.m. 

We'll provide all the materials and what you need to know. Beyond that, all you need is a smile and a willingness to chat with the public. Choose a slot here. Partial shifts welcome!

CITY CLIMATE ACTION

City Charter: Progress toward a new Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer

EF’s Aimee Powelka pitched the Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer role to the Charter Review Committee in March

In 2018, when Framingham became a city, a City Charter was created outlining our government structure. A review period is now underway. Energize Framingham participated in the Charter Review process and proposed that a Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer position be added to Article III of the city charter.

As we argued in this February op/ed, we feel strongly that Framingham needs an executive-level staff member who is empowered to work across all city departments and bring climate into all aspects of government decision-making. The role would be in addition to the current Sustainability Coordinator position, held by Shawn Luz. 

The City Council is now considering the full set of proposed Charter revisions but can approve them individually. 

Positive support in subcommittees

  • The Environment and Sustainability Subcommittee (Councilors Adam Steiner, Leora Mallach, and Noval Alexander) adding a Chief Climate and Sustainability Offier in a 3-0 vote June 3. (Discussion begins at around 3:18.)

  • At the Public Health, Safety, and Transportation Subcommittee meeting June 24, Councilors Tracey Bryant, Christine Long, and Leslie White-Harvey all expressed support. However, Byrant and White-Harvey noted that some of their constituents are concerned about the cost of the position. (Based on our own city record, we think this position will more than pay for itself; see below.) (Discussion starts at 1:06:08.) 

  • The Rules, Ordinances, and Ethics Subcommittee (Councilors Bryant, Long, and Philip Ottaviani) voted 3-0 on July 8 to recommend the Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer to the full Council. (Their initial discussion, on May 13, starts at 1:11:58).

Full City Council discussion August 6: Show your support!

The Charter was on the agenda for the July 16 meeting of the full City Council, but the councilors deferred it to the August 6 meeting, wanting more time to consider it. Councilor Michael Cannon expressed reservations about the costs of adding a Chief Climate Officer. Councilor George King agreed it needed discussion because it affects the budget.

This could be our chance to get a Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer position in Framingham! Please try to attend that meeting in person or on Zoom and show your support. (Things can always change, so check the city Public Meeting Calendar to confirm it’s on the agenda.) 

If approved, the full, revised City Charter will then go before the voters, either at the general election in November or in a special election. Voters must vote for or against the Charter as a whole.

Why do we need a Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer?

  • Coordinated planning: A Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer would enable the city to take a long-range approach to curbing carbon emissions, investing in sustainability initiatives (tree-planting, solar panels, and much more), and helping adapt to the climate impacts we’re already feeling. They would help get more climate and sustainability projects into Framingham’s next five-year capital plan and drive a vision for the city, rather than piecemeal measures here and there. 

  • Executive status: The current Sustainability Coordinator position is entry level and reports to a single city department (Capital Projects and Facilities Management). We have had a sustainability coordinator for five years, yet do not have a plan to install solar on all our public buildings or take other important climate actions. The new officer would have a leadership role and the authority to work across all departments and across the city. 

  • More grants: Federal and state grant money this officer could bring into Framingham would exceed their own salary. Framingham is an area of priority for many funding initiatives due to our economic and demographic diversity. In his five years in Framingham, Sustainability Coordinator Shawn Luz has brought in more than $2.48 million in direct grant fundsto the city and over $4.5 million in business and resident benefits. But there are more grants than one person can apply for and lots of money is still being left on the table. 

  • Avoiding missed opportunities: During cost-benefit analyses, this officer would present the costs of inaction and underscore long-term cost savings and health benefits. For example, the Farley school administration building has been the “next” public building solar project since 2021. Yet its construction still hasn’t been put in the budget, and the city is losing out on reduced electricity costs every year through its inaction. (With an estimated 4.9-year financial payback period, this project could be largely paid for by now!)

  • This isn’t a radical move: Six of the 15 most populous Massachusetts cities – Somerville, Medford, New Bedford, Newton, Boston and Worcester – have a Chief Climate Officer and/or an independent climate or sustainability department. 

Budget approved for Farley solar design study. We want solar installed!

The City Council approved a design study for solar panels for the Farley administration building on June 4 with little fanfare. The vote was 11-0. And on June 25, the council approved the FY2025-FY2030 Recommended Capital Improvement Plan in a 10-0 vote.

We want more! The Farley vote did not include installation of the solar panels, only the design. In the FY2025 Recommended Capital Budget just approved, none of the following projects include installation of solar.

  • Roof Replacement Construction for the Potter Road and Brophy Schools

  • Roof Repairs/Replacement Design for the Juniper Hill and King Schools

  • Roof Construction Repairs and Replacement for the DPW Headquarters, 110 Western Avenue 

  • Roof Replacement Construction Fire Station 7

But there might be a chance to change that. In the coming months, Energize Framingham will continue to advocate for a Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer to create a long-term strategy that will include solar panels whenever a school or municipal roof is replaced or parking lot repaved. Stay tuned!

Climate Action Plan to be released soon

The City of Framingham could announce its Climate Action Plan as early as this fall. The planning group, including Sustainability Coordinator Shawn Luz and Kat Kobylt & Emma Zehner of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, has gathered community input and drafted a plan outlining a vision for the future, strategies to get there, and priority actions for the city to take. The plan, signed by the Mayor and shared with the City Council, will be announced at a high-profile launch event or series of events. For more, see this discussion at the June 26 Framingham Sustainability Committee meeting.

Future geothermal projects eyed

Mayor Sisitsky speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in June. (Photo: Eversource)

Framingham’s geothermal loop, connecting roughly 135 homes and other buildings on Normandy Road, Concord Street, Lindbergh Road, Berkshire Road and Rose Kennedy Lane, officially went live June 4, with many customers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The loop – the nation’s first to be built by a utility company – is expected to become fully operational this summer. 

At a recent meeting of the City Council Environment & Sustainability Subcommittee, Sustainability Coordinator Shawn Luz noted that the city is looking at a couple of future expansions (jump to 36:22 on this recording). One would expand the existing geothermal loop; under discussion are including more Framingham Housing Authority properties; buildings along Flagg Drive, Warren Road, and Prindiville Avenue; and the Farley Administration building. HEET, a nonprofit climate solutions incubator that supported the initial geothermal loop, will collaborate on the expansion.

The second project, funded in the FY25 capital budget, would create a new Municipal Energy District. This geothermal loop would connect the Memorial Building (City Hall), the Police Department Headquarters, and the future regional dispatch facility at 188 Concord Street, and would be designed in coordination with the future downtown parking garage.

Framingham has budgeted more than $825,000 for project design. Engineering students at UMass Clean Energy Extension helped create a vision for the project; the city then worked with Eversource on a more detailed engineering study. Luz noted that there is a shortage of drillers in the region to drill the necessary boreholes – an area ripe for workforce development. As we transition away from gas, moving to geothermal energy is a natural shift for gas utility workers as many of the same skill sets are needed.

FIRST PERSON

Courtesy Emma Rothwell

Emma Rothwell, former youth member of the Framingham Sustainability Committee and former president of the Framingham High School Environmental Club, last month attended a major U.N. climate conference in Bonn, Germany, part of a delegation from Colby College. She soon learned that Bonn is where “the real climate work is done.” While she didn’t have an official say in the proceedings, she was able to participate in several ways and even met Greta Thunberg. Read her account. 

COMPOSTING AND RECYCLING

FHS students urge banning black plastic

Are black plastic takeout containers proliferating in your home? Did you know they’re not recyclable? As part of a civics project, Framingham High School students Tessa Krejdovsky and Riley Kiklis laid out the case for a city ordinance banning single-use black plastics.

Speaking at a City Council Subcommittee on Environment and Sustainability meeting July 1, they explained that due to its color, black plastic passes through recycling scanners undetected and is diverted to trash rather than recycled. They noted that black plastic can contain toxic chemicals that can seep into the environment and should not come into contact with food.

The students acknowledged that businesses, especially small restaurant owners, might find it burdensome to change their practices, and described how Newton collaborated with business owners on that city’s ban. 

As part of their project, they surveyed 73 FHS students and found that 41 percent had (erroneously) put black plastic in a recycling bin and 59 percent didn’t know if it is recyclable (it isn’t). In discussion at the July 1 meeting, Councilor Leora Mallach said she thought it was important to educate the community.

Eve Carey, the city’s recycling coordinator, has produced a video instructing residents to put black plastics in the trash. Committee Chair Adam Steiner suggested the students collaborate with Carey on awareness raising. Councilor Mallach suggested the FHS students also reach out to Keefe Tech. “I think we should continue this discussion,” Steiner said.

Keep Framingham Beautiful and Energize Framingham proposed a ban on black plastic three years ago to the City Council, together with a ban on “nips” and styrofoam. That proposal never advanced. 

Trash and recycling ordinance: More teeth wanted

At the City Council Subcommittee on Environment and Sustainability meeting July 1, City Recycling Coordinator Eve Carey called for adding teeth to the city trash and recycling ordinance to ensure that recyclable items and trash are properly separated. She has tagged many heavily contaminated recycling bins but still sees repeat offenders and wants the city to consider a system of penalties. During discussion, it came out that many apartment buildings don’t offer a way for residents to recycle at all; some just have a single large dumpster.

Subcommittee Chair Adam Steiner suggested further discussing the recycling ordinance in August and working to put it on the full City Council’s agenda in September or October. Carey agreed to provide a more refined version of her proposal.

Dunning’s composting pilot a big success

Dunning custodians Jimmy and Jason weigh the trash to see how much separating food waste reduced it.

Dunning Elementary School has officially wrapped up its first year of separating cafeteria food waste for composting.  Energize Framingham is proud to have helped make this pilot happen!  In this inspiring presentation, Shannon Pierson, office manager at Dunning recapped the project for the Mayor’s Composting Task Force. Thanks to Geoff Epstein for posting the video (presentation starts at 3:28). 

Pierson reported that the amount of trash went from 8-15 bags to 2-4 bags per day, and that students were 95 percent successful in keeping non-compostables out of the composting bin. Students were very engaged; for example, a group of fifth-grade girls volunteered to oversee food waste separation during breakfast as an expansion of the original plan. 

While teachers were not officially part of the operation, the effort spawned learning activities: SAGE and Cooler Communities projects around composting as well as a gardening project. Meanwhile, Dunning has received funding to continue cafeteria composting next year.

Reducing food waste at McCarthy: One small step

Wanting to reduce cafeteria food waste at McCarthy Elementary School, kindergarten teacher Tonya Wheeler decided to build on an existing practice in which students put unwanted food from breakfast in a basket. The music teacher then distributes the food to other students after music classes and in the hallway at the end of the day as students are being dismissed.

In May and June, with Wheeler’s help, students in kindergarten, first, and fifth grades are learning to use a “share table” at lunch. They put unopened food like carrots, ketchup, milk, cranberries, and apples in a labeled share box. Students from any grade can freely take unopened items from the share box to eat. If there is food left in the share box at the end of the fifth grade lunch, a student or teacher takes it to the music teacher to distribute. 

The teachers are planning to start up again with the new kindergarten class in September. This share program requires no city funding and could be a first step toward a broader cafeteria food waste composting program when funding is available. 

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Questioning artificial turf for Mary Dennison Park

On June 26, the City Council Subcommittee on Public Health, Safety, & Transportation heard testimony from EF member Larry Stoodt calling for a ban on artificial turf in the new Mary Dennison Park. In February, the City Council approved $23.5 million for renovation and cleanup of soil contaminants in the park, formerly used as a dump.

Artificial turf, made from plastic, is a bad idea for several reasons, Stoodt said.

  • It’s much hotter than grass – as much as 50 degrees hotter – and can cause burns and overheating.

  • The impermeable plastic surface is unsanitary and can transmit germs.

  • Its use means loss of green space, which is cooling and helps absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

  • It contains plastics and chemicals of varying toxicity. These include PFAS, toxic “forever chemicals.” Rainwater will wash chemicals and microplastics into the soil and groundwater.

  • Its plastic blades release methane and ethylene, potent greenhouse gasses.

As Stoodt put it, “It doesn’t make sense to lay a toxic material onto something that was just cleaned up.”

Councilor Christine Long agreed. “‘We just spent so much money remediating that site, I don’t think we want to contribute to re-polluting it.” Councilors Tracey Bryant (chair of the subcommittee) and Leslie White-Harvey also supported recommending natural grass to the full City Council.

A petition endorsed by the 350Mass MetroWest Node is asking the City Council and Mayor’s office to reconsider putting down any more artificial turf in Framingham. 

General Chemical clean-up continues

The General Chemical cleanup site

Back in 2021, the state legislature secured $12 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act for cleanup work at the General Chemical property on Leland Street, next to Harmony Grove Elementary School. At a meeting with local residents in June, Mass. Department of Environmental Protection officials explained that thermal treatment has been carried out to vaporize hazardous chemicals, removing about 4,000 pounds of chlorinated solvents in recent years (see our May 2022 issue for more on this process.) 

Plenty of work remains ahead. The next major step is to demolish a warehouse believed to be a major source of contamination, at an estimated cost of $450,000. The MassDEP officials said that demolition is slated to start in late June or July and would take four to six weeks. More soil and groundwater research, expected this summer and early fall, will determine the warehouse’s contamination footprint. Preliminary plans for more thermal treatments are set to be drawn up in the late fall and early winter, followed by more thermal work in the spring or summer of 2025. The officials explained that they’d attempt to do that work when school is out of session for the summer.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check our Events page for updates

Wed., July 24, 6-7:30 p.m.We’re All Plastic People Now. Screening of documentary with Ted Danson presented by Oceana, Mothesr Out Frontm and Concord Library. Concord Goodwin Main Library, 129 Main St., Concord. RSVP.

Sat., July 27, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sustainability Day at Ashland Farmer’s Market
125 Front St., Ashland (across from Ashland Public Library)

Tues., Aug. 6, 7-8 p.m.Community Solar – No Roof Required
Presentation by Nexamp. 
Schiesske Meeting Room, Ashland Public Library, 66 Front St., Ashland, also on Zoom. Register.

Thurs, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.Geothermal Networks: A Future for Clean Heating and Cooling Under Our Feet 
Framingham Main Library, Costin Room. 
Learn about networked geothermal technology from Zeyneb Magavi, executive director of HEET, and Shawn Luz, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Framingham. Part of the library’s Sustainability Series.

In case you missed it: Recordings!

More recordings on recycling, residential home solar, battery storage, and Mass Save.

IN THE NEWS

Framingham

Framingham Elementary School Kids Impress on Climate Change Action (Patch)
The Dunning Elementary School composting program shows what can be achieved with enthusiastic kids and a local staff champion.

Arlington Street Park Gets Grand Opening Date (City press release)
Park improvements were made possible in part by a generous $500,000 Community Preservation Act grant.

Geothermal coverage:

Massachusetts

Building & transportation emissions heading in the wrong direction (Green Energy Consumers Alliance blog)
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection reports new partial 2022 and 2023 data showing that emissions went up from 2021 to 2022. (Totals for 2022 and 2023 are not yet available.)

There’s a secret for Mass. cities and towns to win big bucks from Washington: Invest in sustainability (Boston Globe)
Jillian Wilson Martin, Natick’s sustainability director, spends hours writing grant applications, seeking a piece of the billions of federal dollars for climate and infrastructure projects pushed by the Biden administration.

Massachusetts School Districts Win $42 Million in Federal Funding for Clean School Buses (Mass.gov)
17 school districts received awards, going as high as $7.2 million.This round of funding represents the third round of $5 billion that the EPA will disburse over a five-year period. 

Southern Nantucket beaches closed, Vineyard Wind shuts down over turbine damage (Boston Globe)
Debris from a damaged wind turbine washed ashore on Nantucket’s southern shore. The incident is being investigated.

State climate bills

Ed. note: The House and Senate versions, both now passed, may be too different to resolve into a single bill, and it’s feared that nothing will pass this session.

Region

In methane-reducing innovation, New England leads the way(Boston Globe)
Slashing methane emissions could significantly slow global warming, making it an urgent objective for researchers and climate advocates.

Is your air conditioning working? Thank a solar panel. (Boston Globe) 
The regional power grid has performed well through this week’s record temperatures. But it’s been solar’s time to shine.

National / General interest

Don’t blame clean energy for rising electric bills (Canary Media)
A new report links rising U.S. power bills to fossil gas price spikes and fossil utility incentives — not solar, wind, and batteries, as clean energy foes suggest.

For US Cities in Infrastructure Need, Grant Writers Wanted (Bloomberg)
With billions in federal funds at stake, smaller cities are racing to compete for new clean energy and climate projects. That means filling out a lot of forms.  

Recycling Is Broken. Should I Even Bother?(New York Times) 
Recycling is struggling, but still worth doing – if done right: don’t wish-cycle.

It Will Soon Be Easier for Americans to Recycle Batteries (Wired) 
A new program funded by the Department of Energy will prop up battery drop-off sites across the US.

The Weatherman Who Tried to Bring Climate Science to a Red State (New York Times)
In 2021, Chris Gloninger, a Boston weatherman with a passion for climate science, took a job as a chief meteorologist at a television station in Des Moines, Iowa.

ABOUT US

Energize Framingham provides climate education, outreach, and advocacy to promote a healthy, equitable, and resilient community.

Have a tip for us? Email [email protected].
In case you missed it… Back issues!
Editors: Nancy Fliesler and Aimee Powelka