Jamaica Plain got a bit cooler with the opening of the new bike parking facility at Forest Hills this fall—another sign of the way we’re all shifting to smarter choices about our energy use. What other ways can we speed up our transition from the last 100 years of petro-addiction to the clean energy future? We’d better hurry, because I do not know about you, but my other planet is not done yet, and JP was under water the last time atmospheric carbon levels were as high as they are today.
The good news is that we have the tools we need to slow down our emissions. The bad news is that the international climate negotiations are faltering and the climate bills being offered in Washington are too weak.
Perhaps the best news is that we can take matters into our own hands: drastically reduce our own carbon emissions and band together with our neighbors and communities to multiply our efforts and to let our legislators know clearly that the future of our planet is non-negotiable and that their future in politics depends on “getting it.”
Together, we can do this. We are in the midst of a major paradigm shift from the death-centered pillaging of the Earth to a common awareness that we won’t survive unless we nurture the Earth and cherish each other. What gives me hope in this crisis are the many ways in which our neighbors and friends are rising to the challenge. Keep on chilling, JP. Keep it cool.
Carolyn Nikkal
Jamaica Plain
The writer is a member of Boston Climate Action Network.