Climate justice is about recognizing that climate impacts, such as extended heat waves, stronger winds, and intense rainstorms, disproportionately affect marginalized communities. It calls for urgent action to prevent further harm and ensure equitable access to clean energy solutions, prioritizing historically marginalized communities for a sustainable and fair future.
Fixing emergency power outages can cost electricity companies millions of dollars – costs they pass on to their customers. It is time for utility companies to update and reinforce their infrastructure to make it more capable of withstanding these storms.
About 350,000 homes and businesses lost power in early February as a winter storm rolled across the country. The storm was mercifully much less deadly than the one last year, but now is the time to prepare for the next one.
As we continue to reckon with systemic racism in the United States, we must root out the quiet and insidious ways governments and decision-makers sustain racist policies.
No state here in New England has required its utilities to assess their vulnerability to climate change – or take action to prepare for it. With our homes, lives, and livelihoods at stake, allowing utilities to be so unprepared is irresponsible and simply too big a risk to take. CLF is pushing to change that – starting with Massachusetts.
Two years after gas explosions rocked the Merrimack Valley, Lawrence is still fighting to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of its residents. And in fighting for Lawrence’s recovery, we can protect communities across the Commonwealth, too.
