No more Greenwashing: Die-in at Massachusetts Statehouse

No More Greenwashing: Die-in at Statehouse Decries Inadequacy of State Political Leadership on Addressing Climate Emergency

State 2050 Decarbonization Plan under S.9 Condemns Tens of Thousands of Bay State Homes to Frequent Flooding and Inundation from Rising Seas & Extreme Weather

After 2020’s Record Setting Wildfires, Hurricanes, and Temperatures, XR Host Statehouse Die-In Because MA’s 2050 Net Zero Emissions Goal is Too Little, Too Late

BOSTON, MA — After years of political hot-potato, on March 18th the Massachusetts legislature again sent “The Next-generation Roadmap for Climate Policy'' Bill S.9 back to the desk of Governor Baker.(1) Political leaders’ support for S.9 recognizes the inadequacy of current state laws to address the climate emergency. And yet, politicians continue to drag out taking action to win short-term political points while the state and country continue to contribute to the collapse of the global climate and ecosystems that make our modern lives possible.

Extinction Rebellion members held speeches and a die-in against Greenwashing at the State House on Wednesday because “The Next-generation Roadmap for Climate Policy” bill S.9 will likely overcome Governor Baker’s veto, but remains inadequate for the challenges that we face. The goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 is not urgent enough to avoid triggering earth's tipping points and setting an out of control trajectory towards what scientific studies have identified as an uninhabitable “Hothouse Earth."(2) The MA government must take immediate action to halt biodiversity loss and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025.

“The current Massachusetts decarbonization plans condemn nearly 10,000 coastal homes across our state to chronic flooding, being underwater every other week by 2050,” says Nic Bryant from XR-Massachusetts. “The climate crisis is on track to displace over 178,000 people from 90,000 homes in coastal communities and drain $413 million in property tax revenue within my lifetime. And yet in Bill S. 9, the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 argues that cost be the primary concern for selecting a climate strategy. How can you argue that we should be pinching pennies when the climate emergency is already costing lives and billions of dollars? How can we accept a slow transition when communities from Plum Island to Cambridge, Revere to Provincetown will have a quarter of their homes destroyed by floods and seas in the next 30 years?” This information is based on the latest Massachuestts-specific independent scientific research on the medium-term impact of the climate crisis on the Bay State. (3,4,5)

The March 24th Die-In by local XR members demanded accountability from political leaders to look ahead and tell the public the truth about the catastrophe that, in the many ways we saw in 2020, is already here. The continued political will to pass S.9 tells us that our current laws are insufficient. The inability to pass this bill after years of “political football” also tells us that the current institutions are inadequate to address the climate emergency. Because of that, Massachusetts residents will continue to act with Extinction Rebellion to demand Climate Justice Now and the formation of a citizens assembly to define the hopeful future for our lives in our communities, state, and planet.

For more information about Extinction Rebellion Boston including upcoming actions, please visit: xrboston.org

1. Climate Roadmap Bill S.9
2. “The Collapse of Civilization May Have Already Begun”
3. “MA Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 (Interim Report)”
4. “Underwater”, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2018
5. "Sea Level Rise in Massachusetts," WBUR