XR Boston & Scientist Rebellion's Urgent Letter to Governor Healey

Dear Governor Healey,

This year, for the first time in recorded history, we have seen the global temperature exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial temperatures for a 12-month period. Massachusetts itself is “one of the fastest-warming states in the country,” with our own 2023 climate change assessment predicting a continued increase in temperatures, a possibility of fewer rainy days yet also more intense weather events, rising sea levels and more powerful coastal storms.

You are not acting quickly enough for Massachusetts. While we have made some progress recently with a renewable energy bill and the Energy Transformation Advisory Board to achieve net-zero by 2050, it is not enough. Though you congratulate yourself for being the first to appoint a cabinet-level climate chief and start the nation’s first green bank, it is not nearly enough.

Due to tipping points and feedback loops, climate impacts such as air quality will likely not improve for as long as decades, even if fossil fuel consumption and extraction were to halt this instant. According to what science says is necessary for our survival, all fossil fuel extraction and burning by the US and other wealthy nations must cease by 2030, with poorer nations stopping with the economic support of wealthy nations by 2050. It is crucial that you take action immediately to reduce the effects of climate change, and to stop us from plummeting into even deadlier climate destruction.

We demand that as our Governor, you work with legislators to demand no new fossil fuel infrastructure, and to fully fund the just transition to renewables with a rapid transformation of our state’s economic and energy systems.

No new fossil fuel infrastructure means no new coal, gas, or oil extraction projects, no new pipelines, no new facilities, no new gas stations, and no new airports or airport expansions. A just transition, keeping in mind and in the forefront Indigenous peoples, people of color, working people and other historically disadvantaged groups, means that the state needs to adopt and fully fund programs like free (electrified) public transportation, new siting rules for alternative energy facilities protecting the most vulnerable communities, among other things. It will not be easy, but it is of the utmost importance.

The director of Harvard’s Climate Action Accelerator has said of our state, “What makes Massachusetts unique is it has a proven track record of taking what is learned in the lab and applying it to real life.” If that is true, then we must take what climate and fossil-fuel-funded scientists have known for decades about the risks of climate change, and apply it now, at an accelerated pace.

Just as President Biden must help create and mandate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty here and abroad (which you can also endorse and promote as Governor, to be on the right side of history), Massachusetts must do its part for its people and those affected by its decisions.

If your climate action continues to ignore these key points, climate activists and defenders of nature and life will be forced to take nonviolent direct action, and we will not stop until there is an end to fossil fuel production, a fair phase-out, and a just transition to renewables. Activists will continue to disrupt transportation, as there can be no business as usual while fossil fuel corporations and the governments who subsidize them continue to kill our planet.

The decision is yours: take decisive action by 2030 as advised by science and the laws of physics, or fail to protect your millions of constituents and all those who call home the land now known as Massachusetts. We do not take your choice lightly.

Sincerely,

Extinction Rebellion Boston

Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island

Center for Diverse Leadership in Science

End Climate Silence

Rose Zheng Abramoff, PhD, Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education

Bruce A Hungate, Director, Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University

Peter Kalmus, PhD

Adam McKay, YellowDot Studios

Jennie C Stephens, PhD, Northeastern University

Aradhna Tripati, PhD, University of California Los Angeles

Johanna Ray Vollhardt, PhD, Clark University

Tristam Wyatt, PhD, University of Oxford

**Disclaimer: Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. The signatures of individuals to this letter do not necessarily reflect the position of their affiliated organizations or universities.