Category: Comm_Buildings_CN MASS_CN

From a distance, the new skyscraper looks like any other generic glass tower looming over downtown Boston.

But it’s the bowels of the building — in its curtains of glass, in its thickly insulated walls, and in its specially designed ventilation systems — that make it distinct from the others.

The scene at Barnstable High School on a recent Monday night felt like a homecoming rally — all anxious energy, cheers, and hugs. A crush of bodies flooded the hallway as revelers greeted friends and handed out fliers to people pouring into the auditorium.

More than three years after introducing her Green New Deal plan for Boston as a mayoral candidate, Mayor Michelle Wu said in an interview last week that the city will not be participating in a state program that will allow 10 communities to ban developers from including fossil fuels in new buildings. The pilot program is the only way for Massachusetts communities to take this step without violating state regulations.

MASSACHUSETTS IS ALREADY struggling to keep pace with emergency housing needs for migrants, many fleeing unsafe political conditions in other countries. A new report from the state’s climate chief warns that the Commonwealth also needs to prepare to receive climate migrants and refugees from inside and outside of the US as global weather conditions become more unstable.

Massachusetts needs to shift from an era of statewide planning for climate policy to the key details of implementing it, according to a new report from the state’s top climate official, which includes sweeping recommendations to accelerate the state’s progress toward its emissions reduction goals.

Extreme storms, inland flooding, rising heat and wildfires are all among the most significant hazards facing Massachusetts in the face of a changing climate, according to a sweeping new resiliency plan that calls for nearly 150 actions to combat the weather trends — for many Bay Staters, though, these threats have already turned lives upside down.

Every year, people in Massachusetts generate a mountain of plastic waste — 3.4 billion plastic bottles, 2 billion plastic bags, countless takeout containers, shampoo bottles, coffee cup lids, and on and on. Add everything up, it’s bad for our health, clogging our waterways, and contributing planet-warming gases that fuel climate change.

Fifty years from now, Massachusetts could see as much as 42% more winter precipitation, average summertime temperatures in line with North Carolina’s current climate, and a 4.3 feet rise in sea levels along the its coast as coastal flooding inflicts 550% more damage to state-owned properties.

In a typical year, Massachusetts’ state agencies buy roughly 100,000 plastic bottles — water, sodas, you name it. Like other plastic items, these bottles are made from fossil fuels and create climate-warming emissions both when they are manufactured and as they degrade.

The devastating floods in Leominster and surrounding communities hit home for New Englanders this week. After about 10 inches of rainfall in a single day, communities are reeling from damaged roads, schools, homes, and more. The same storm system is the likely cause of a water main break in Springfield , forcing the public schools to close and residents to boil their water. These impacts certainly warrant Governor Maura Healey’s call for a state of emergency.