Opinion: Waltham Stands at the Green Crossroad

Waltham stands at the Green Crossroad

Green Communities

Waltham has entered the Green Communities program run by the state which called for carbon and environmental impact reductions. The Green Communities program offers grant money to communities that reduce their carbon and environmental impacts. Today there are a number of communities that surround us (*Boston, Lexington, **Wellesley, Newton, Cambridge, Somerville, etc.) who have benefited from developing and implementing carbon / environmental reduction solutions. Entering the program is important to Waltham and all cities.

Cities are home to half the world’s population and produce around 75% of the world’s GDP and greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, between 65% and 75% of the world’s population is projected to be living in cities, with more than 40 million people moving to cities each year. That’s around 3.5 billion people now, rising to 6.5 billion by 2050. There are multiple opportunities to dramatically reduce carbon emissions in cities.

The Green Communities program offers a great opportunity to develop a strategic systemic plan for carbon ( energy) reduction. The payback will be invaluable over time in dollar savings in air quality and, I believe in an ability to attract new green startups which in turn would add to the economy and leadership role for Waltham.

Rep. Tom Stanley signed onto a resolution designating October 5, 2018 as Energy Efficiency Day in Massachusetts. The resolution is part of a nationwide effort among business leaders, advocates and elected officials working to educate people about the benefits of reducing energy waste and saving money. Energy Efficiency Day can be approached at the crossroad in two ways. We can either turn off our lights for an hour (s) (silo approach) or we can take the “Road Not Taken” and develop a strategic plan with the help of Waltham’s entire community.

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Waltham has a unique opportunity to bring together the community to help foster actionable adaptation environmental solutions. With extensive input from community members, City staff, industry, experts in the field, and educators and their students can develop and present a set of concrete actions to reduce Waltham’s greenhouse gas emissions. We also have a unique opportunity with the building of the new high school to engage both our talented teaching staff and the student body to investigate green efficient innovations to the building design. Educators, students, business and political leaders could take an active role in the facility’s construction. This would allow students to work on today’s and future issues that they will be facing. (Smart buildings will be the future of new construction and what better way than to have a hand in building the future and think about the learning).

Moving Forward

A Sustainability Manager plays a crucial role within any organization, helping to ensure that the entire enterprise commits to the strategy, bringing innovative ideas forward and communicating them throughout the community. Waltham needs to establish a sustainability office and hire a person who is accountable for the programs results.The office should develop both trendy initiatives so that we get social traction ( recycling, energy audits, LED lights on city streets, water conservation) and stretch sustainability goals to engage government, businesses and the education community (policies, new carbon reduction technologies, education research programs). Another critical issue for the office would be to pull together a sustainability team made up from a cross section of the entire Waltham community.

Waltham has long been a leader in new technology both hard and soft innovations. Let us again, as we have in the past set the standard for others to follow. Waltham is rich with intellectual government, industry, community involvement and educational intelligence ( two leading universities and a number of forward thinking innovative industries).

With the support of practical hands on capabilities ( our public and working community and the untapped residents that have a wealth of knowledge) who are able to offer great insight and support in building a systemic approach to lowering our impacts vs taking a silo issue by issue approach. Waltham needs to create a vision and from the vision develop a strategy for achieving the vision. The “Road Not Taken” has many unknowns but the same road can be much more valuable to our future.

“If you are working

On something exciting

That you really care about,

You don't have to be pushed,

The vision will pull you.”

-Steve Jobs

- This guest column was written by Waltham resident Bob Ferrone

*Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that Boston is a winner in the American Cities Climate Challenge -- a $70 million program to accelerate cities’ efforts to tackle climate change and promote a better future for residents. Boston was selected as one of the winning cities because of its innovative and ambitious plans, such as Go Boston 2030 and the Climate Action Plan, to address climate change.

** Wellesley has created a number of green programs the green schools program is engaging students to think about today and the future