CP_MBHC_20230125_1_A07
marbleheadcurrent.org
Marblehead Current Wednesday, January 25, 2023 A7
SUSTAINABILITY
Net-zero roadmap coming soon BY LOUISE BULLIS YARMOFF I’ve seen an advance-release draft of “Marblehead’s Net Zero Roadmap,” and so can you very soon by visiting the Green Marblehead Committee’s webpage at bit.ly/3HhntIO. On Feb. 15, you’ll also have a chance to attend a public meeting via Zoom to see a summary of the document and tell the committee what you think of it. The committee represents all Marblehead residents. It has already heard from you through a survey and workshop and looks forward to discussing its draft recommendations. Climate scientists have made it clear that to avoid catastrophic climate change we need to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero — soon. And local actions taken here in Marblehead can help. So, what does it mean to reach net zero? According to Marblehead’s Net Zero Roadmap, “Reaching ‘net zero’ means that our community will reduce its GHG emissions as much as possible and remove or offset any remaining emissions by 2040 and ideally sooner. This will require a major shift in the way we heat and cool our homes, how we get around and where our energy comes from. It also presents a huge opportunity to change our community for the better. By achieving netzero GHG emissions, we can also have cleaner air, healthier
A Sustainable Marblehead graphic showing what happens after the town reaches net-zero transition.
people and a more equitable and prosperous community for everyone.” Inspiring, right? Yes, and WE have a starring role to play in accomplishing that goal. According to the Roadmap, each Marblehead resident emits 7.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. We do that by heating our homes, driving our cars and throwing away our trash, for the most part. So, the Roadmap charts the way for us to reduce the emissions we create: » Insulating and electrifying
our homes » Driving less and buying electric vehicles (including boats) » Advocating with the government and utilities to green our electric grid » Reducing our trash and increasing recycling and composting » Planting more trees to cool our environment and absorb and store carbon while releasing oxygen Marblehead’s Net Zero Roadmap has been more than five years in the making, and Sustainable Marblehead
has been instrumental in its creation. In 2017, with data from various state, municipal and regional sources, we established Marblehead’s first GHG inventory, which the Green Marblehead Committee built as a basis for the Roadmap. At Town Meeting in May 2018, voters overwhelmingly passed an article sponsored by Sustainable Marblehead setting a goal of “using 100 percent carbon-free energy in Marblehead, including in energy production, building energy use and transportation, and moving with fiscal responsibility and all deliberate speed to achieve this goal.” In 2019, at the request of Sustainable Marblehead, the Select Board formed the Green Marblehead Committee, with a membership composed of the heads of town departments (such as school, health, building inspection, finance, electric light and town planner), plus a Select Board member, the town administrator and two members from Sustainable Marblehead. With financial and staffing support from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the committee developed a Climate Vision and plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 (10 years earlier than the state’s goal). In 2020, the Select Board adopted the Climate Vision and 2040 goals. Fixing 2040 as the net-zero goal is essential. The longer the current rate of elevated carbon
emissions continues, the more carbon dioxide and methane accumulate in the atmosphere, warming the climate year-onyear. To reduce the disastrous effects of these steadily increasing emissions, if we do nothing now, we will have to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane from the atmosphere in the 2030s and 2040s. The technology does not exist at scale to achieve this large amount of removal, so it would be better to avoid putting carbon in the atmosphere in the first place, which is now. Understanding this urgency, the Green Marblehead Committee has been meeting monthly to write the Net Zero Roadmap, assessing which of the nearly 125 suggestions it received have the most impact on lowering our town’s carbon emissions. It is poised to release its recommendations in the next couple of weeks. The Net Zero Roadmap starts optimistically with a “Letter from the Future” dated July 4, 2040, congratulating Marblehead on achieving netzero carbon emissions. It’s wonderful to think that reaching net zero is possible in that timeframe, but what must we do today to get that point? Read the draft Net Zero Roadmap and come to the meeting on Feb. 15 to find out. Louise Bullis Yarmoff is the executive director of Sustainable Marblehead.
MARBLEHEAD CHRONICLES
Was the town’s founding in 1629 or 1649? BY PAM PETERSON Marblehead appears to have two founding dates — and there is a reason why. Marblehead was incorporated as a part of Salem in 1629. At that time, it was a small fishing village, included in the overall group of villages known as Salem. Always isolated because of its geographic isolation, Marblehead was reachable primarily by sea. The roads in and out of town were limited and of poor quality. Atlantic Avenue and West Shore Drive didn’t exist, and the population was settled in the Little Harbor area.
Merrigan From P. A6
for this column: “My Marblehead First Time.” I’m a first-timer, and I own it, from buying swordfish steaks at The Little Harbor Lobster Company (delish!) to navigating the crooked streets of Old Town (confusing!). I met someone the other day whose family has been in Marblehead for 13 generations. That’s an unthinkably long time in Torrington, where a house built in 1937 is considered “antique.” Back to the storm. I’ve lived by the ocean before, but those seas were nothing like the one here. Good local sources tell me that this storm didn’t constitute really bad weather. To which I say: There were waves! Crashing over the causeway! But all right, all right: Perhaps Poseidon wasn’t playing hardball that day. I’ll be sure to write about it when he does. We crossed back to the mainland just before the police wisely shut down the causeway road. Then I went home and did what anyone would — grabbed
Another way that Marblehead was isolated from Salem was through religious beliefs. Most settlers to Salem were Puritans. They arrived with a clear idea of how they wanted to practice their religion and how they wanted to govern themselves. Settlers to Marblehead had no such plan. They came to fish and make a better life for themselves and their families. Friction between Marblehead and Salem was inevitable from the start and continued over the next 20 years. Early colonial court records indicate that Marbleheaders were frequently
COURTESY PHOTO / PAM PETERSON
An Entering Marblehead sign and the town seal display different years for the town’s founding.”
brought into Salem court for offenses such as public
my kid and took a walk to the seashore. The rain had stopped coming down sideways by the time we made it past the Barnacle Restaurant, where I saw another thing for the first time: seawater blasting through a keyhole between two buildings on Front Street. Fascinating. The sea must come up, what, a dozen times a year like this? And knowing this, the builders built these buildings anyway? Meanwhile, my son did precisely as you might expect a 12-year old to, scampering straight over to dodge the torrent blasting through the keyhole. I soon made another discovery: My waterproof hiking boots aren’t. They were designed for drizzle in the Rockies, not a surge of Marblehead Harbor sea water. That’s when I noticed that the locals (I can always tell a local by the way they know what they’re doing) wore knee-high muck boots — except the passel of boys who joined my son at the keyhole. Like most boys of that age, they favored Crocs, which are not quite sandals and not quite shoes
drunkenness, foul language and not attending church, all
and have holes in them for some reason. For my part, I resolved to upgrade my own footwear before the next storm. The boy and I sloshed along flooded Front Street to Fort Sewall, where the waves lashed the rocks and the sea wind was Wyoming-esque in strength and stature. Just stood there in that old fort where British and then American troops scanned the watery horizon for the enemy and Old Ironsides was saved. I pulled my boy close as we tasted the Atlantic on a rager for the first time. I’ve been in high plains dust storms, but they don’t make your lips taste like salt, and they don’t make you think of Greek gods. My first real-life Atlantic seastorm! What a place, my friends, what a place. I’ll be back next week with another installment of “My Marblehead First Time.” Wyoming transplant Court Merrigan is a new Marblehead resident. His column “My Marblehead First Time” appears regularly in the Current.
behaviors condemned by the laws of Puritan Salem. Finally, in 1649 Marblehead separated from Salem to become a separate and independent town, undoubtedly a relief to all. The town prospered and by 1660 the king’s agents declared Marblehead to be “the greatest Towne for fishing in New England.” The small band of fishermen had grown into a strong community known for its hardworking, hard-living individuals.
LETTERS POLICY
We want to hear from you The Marblehead Current loves to get letters to the editor. There are just a few rules you need to know. Generally, letters should not exceed 500 words. The Marblehead Current reserves the right not to publish submissions over the word limit and may instead return the letter to the writer for editing. Letters must include: 1. The author’s name. Unsigned letters and form letters will not be published. 2. The name of the street the author lives on in Marblehead. Only the street name will be published next to the author’s name — not their full address. 3. For every letter, we will need an author’s daytime/ cell phone number (not for publication) for verification purposes. 4. If letters seek to introduce into a discussion purported facts that are not commonly known, writers may be asked to provide the source for those purported facts. 5. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday to be published in the following Wednesday’s print edition of the Marblehead Current. Letters will be published to our website at the earliest opportunity, after verification. Email submissions to info@marbleheadnews.org. While the Marblehead Current will make every effort to let writers have their say, it reserves the right not to publish letters.