BOSTON - State Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, gave a guest lecture at Harvard University on Feb. 10 before students and graduates of Harvard’s Sustainability and Environmental Management graduate program and students of University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Pacheco, who chairs the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change and the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, was invited by Harvard environmental economics Professor Jennifer Clifford to give the lecture, which included students from across the United States and around the world.
The discussion focused on Massachusetts’ status as a leader on green policies and clean energy practices, including its passage of the Green Communities Act, the Green Jobs Act, as well as the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Commonwealth 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below our 1990 levels by 2050. Pacheco sponsored the legislation that codified the Global Warming Solutions Act.
"Massachusetts leads in the way we’ve taken responsibility for our energy resources, invested in infrastructure to protect the environment, and supported clean energy job growth," Pacheco said. "As a result, our clean energy economy is booming with nearly 80,000 clean energy workers and more than 5,500 clean energy businesses, and we have reached and re-set our sustainability goals several times. Yet, there is still much to be done to maintain our status as no. 1 in the nation for energy efficiency."
As a Climate Messenger trained by former Vice President and Climate Reality Project founder Al Gore, Pacheco urged attendees to take action on climate change and global warming. He also discussed legislation he recently filed that would establish a comprehensive climate change adaptation management plan in the Commonwealth.
"We must think globally when we act locally if we are going to protect ourselves from the environmental and economic threats of climate change," Pacheco said. "I was honored to engage Harvard and University of Massachusetts, Boston students who will lead this important fight against global warming and climate change here in the Commonwealth and around the world."