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Building an “upward spiral” of hope

2021 Tree Lighting on the Natick Common, Photo by Natick GIS

Happy Holidays, dear friends!

Today is the winter solstice, a day I reflect upon a lot each year.

Today will be the darkest day of the year, but to me it is a day of hope. Why? Because it brings the promise of more light tomorrow.

I hear from many of you that the future of climate change is a heavy darkness you carry. I carry it too. But I also carry a light that burns with hope.

So much has changed in the conversation around climate change since I started this job (seven years ago!), and the actions we/you are taking locally give me a lot of hope.

In The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, my shero, Jane Goodall, writes that “hope and action mutually reinforce each other – you won’t be active unless you hope your action will make a difference…and taking action helps you generate more hope.” Together they create an “upward spiral”.

I’m all about creating an “upward spiral”, so, as we say goodbye to the darkness and hello to the light, I invite you to join me in reflecting on your 2021 moments of climate hope. Mine are below. I’d love to hear yours too.

Happy Solstice!

Jillian Wilson Martin

Sustainability Director

Town of Natick

PS: Natick and our participation in efforts to regionalize climate action were recently featured by GBH. Check it out here!

PPS: Looking for another positive book to read or a last minute gift? Zen and The Art of Saving the Planet is on my list.

PPPS: Want to work together? Ashland is hiring a new Sustainability Program Manager! Natick and Ashland partner regularly on regional projects. It would be fun to collaborate with you!

In no particular order, below are my top climate hope moments from 2021:

  1. Feeling humbled and inspired by the history and vision shared by Natick Nipmucs as part of the Charles River Dam Advisory Committee

  2. Getting tough questions from Wilson Middle School students during their library’s “climate cafe”

  3. Reviewing design plans to decarbonize the Morse Institute Library with Bill Spratt, our new Facilities Management Director

  4. Hugging Erica Ball after the Housing Authority Board voted to name the new community garden at 72 South Main St after her

  5. Visiting the sites of two dam removal projects on the Shawsheen River in Andover

  6. Toasting clean energy with sustainability staff from Ashland, Framingham and Holliston at a MetroWest Clean Energy event

  7. Hearing from Natick colleagues during a Climate Change & Equity training (more than 20 Natick staff and volunteers participated!)

  8. Checking out the view from the roof of the new West Natick Fire Station, now covered in solar panels

  9. Presenting Natick’s first Net Zero Action Plan at the virtual 2021 Annual Spring Town Meeting

  10. Getting passed by Natick’s first hybrid police cruiser (it was fast!)

Be sure to share your moments of climate hope with me too!

Since I last wrote, the Charles River Dam Advisory Committee has been hard at work hosting a series of topic specific meetings throughout the fall. We hosted issue experts and learned about safety and flooding, ecology, culture and history, abutter concerns and more.

Our next meeting will focus on how repairing the dam or removing the spillway could impact recreation and community use on the Charles River, in the South Natick Dam Park and in Grove Park (the two public properties on either side of the river/adjacent to the dam).

To support this discussion, the Advisory Committee wants your input! Please take our *short* (for real!) survey by January 16, 2022.

Start the survey!

Remember, all of the Advisory Committee’s meetings are recorded and available to watch at http://natickma.gov/crdam. As I mentioned in my list of hope, I found the presentation from Kristen Wyman, one of our indigenous representatives (starts 52:14) to be especially powerful. The ecological meeting was also FASCINATING from a sustainability perspective.

I hope you’ll join me in learning and staying involved in this process! There will be plenty more dam puns along the way!

Got time to take another survey? One of my favorite places, the Morse Institute Library, has launched a survey to get your views on the library, whether or not you use it, and what you hope for its future.

Your input is important as they work on their strategic plan and plan investments for 2022 and beyond.

Getting 1,000 responses is on their holiday wish list. Will you make their dreams come true?

Take the survey and help the Library!

Public service announcement: please take a moment to confirm who your electricity supplier is. If you aren’t enrolled in the Natick Aggregation Program, there is a good chance your electricity costs will go up in the new year.

You can identify your supplier by reviewing the first page of your Eversource bill (under the green horizontal bar).

If your supplier is “Direct Energy Natick Aggregation”: you are enrolled in the Town’s program and your electricity supply rate, which includes 31% renewable energy, will remain fixed at 11.551 ¢/kWh until December 2022. Hooray - you shouldn’t expect any price increases and you are supporting clean energy!

If your supplier is “Eversource”: you are enrolled in Basic Service. On January 1, this price will rise to a 14-year high of 15.735 ¢/kWh for residential customers. This new price will be in place for 6 months, until June 30, 2022. The Natick Aggregation has a lower price and you are welcome to take advantage of it. You can leave Basic Service and enroll in the Aggregation by signing up here or by calling 1-844-483-5004. By enrolling in the program, you remain an Eversource customer, but Eversource will calculate the supply charge portion of your electricity bill using the lower Natick price.

If your supplier isn’t one of the above: you are enrolled with a competitive supplier. This means your rate is dictated by the contract you have with that company. Some contracts have fixed prices and others have variable prices, which may be impacted. Please check the terms of your contract to ensure you aren’t surprised by an unexpected increase. Depending on your contract, you may be able to switch to the Natick Aggregation program. See the phone number below if you need help figuring things out.

Have questions? Town staff aren’t able to check if you are enrolled, but our consultants can. Contact them at 1-844-483-5004 if you have a hard time understanding your bill or if you need help enrolling.

The roof of the West Natick Fire Station is now blanketed in 162 solar panels! The panels are expected to produce 75,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2022 - enough to power about 10 average homes in Natick and save the Town approximately $140,000 over 20 years. Yay for clean energy!

In 2022, our first solar + battery project will be constructed at Kennedy Middle School. Stay tuned! It’s exciting stuff!

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