As the sunlight filtered through the paned windows of the Beacon Hill Friends House, a small group of listeners gathered in the old-fashioned church pews to hear the presentation on climate change preparedness and preparation.
The Beacon Hill Friends House identifies itself as “a center for Quaker education and witness, the home of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, and a residential intentional community inspired by Quaker principles” and often hosts events and conferences for the community around them.
The “Community Response to Climate Change: Prevention and Preparedness” event focused on the community’s response to climate change and how individuals can prepare for its effects and play their part in prevention.
First to speak at the podium was Larry French, disaster program manager for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. French shed light on the basics of disaster preparedness and the increasing need to take measures to curb the effects of climate change.
“Get a kit, make a plan and be informed,” French said in an interview. “You can’t pretend like it’s never going to happen to you. You need to know that we all have the chance of being affected in some negative way by disaster.”
French then emphasized the importance of creating a kit with essentials and knowing what to do in case of an emergency, as well as knowing the environmental conditions and risks of their area.
“People think I’m often very paranoid,” French said in his presentation. “But I’m prepared for anything that might happen. I hope I never need it, but I’m not going to wait until the last minute to think, ‘What am I going to do?’”
The second half of the event featured Muriel Finegold, a Beacon Hill resident and an active volunteer in Mothers Out Front, an organization dedicated to climate change prevention.
“We are a movement of mothers speaking up on behalf of our children’s future,” Finegold said during her speech. “There is a lot we can do to prevent the effects of climate change, and each of us has a part to play.”
Finegold spoke to the group about the ongoing battle for climate change prevention and what they can do to help. She specifically cited the need to counteract the effects of the abundance of gas leaks occurring around the Boston area.
“The leaks are not due to climate change,” Finegold said in an interview, “but they have an impact on our climate.”
Boston has had 3,300 identified gas leaks, and according to Finegold, the amount of leaked gas would be enough to heat 200,000 homes a year. She said the issue and its environmental effects are not widely known and, therefore, less public efforts are dedicated to address the problem.
“Gas is leaking from the extraction site to our doors,” Finegold said as she continued her presentation.
She urged the audience to take action and spoke of her organization’s movements to try to bring about change for the Boston area.
“We show up, shirt up and speak out,” Finegold said.
She gave a few examples of public movements Mothers Out Front had organized, including one where the group had rallied in front of Boston’s statehouse to help bring about change in their movement toward renewable energy.
According to Finegold, sometimes an action as simple as calling one’s representative ahead of an important decision can make a world of difference for the community.
“The House of Representatives wants to look the other way,” said John Regan, 55, of Methuen, an attendee of the conference. “They want to claim it’s all balderdash. If we don’t bring pressure on them to change, it never will.”
Regan said prior to the talk he had already packed a “go-bag” for his car that contains supplies needed in an emergency, but said he gained more insight after reading lists of emergency supplies and pamphlets with ways to be more environmentally conscious.
Finegold emphasized the importance that everyone takes part in helping the environment.
“Attention must be paid,” Finegold said in an interview. “This planet is our home — let’s take care of it.”
Great article!! Very well presented.
What an informative article.
This article has made me stop and think that I should be more prepared.