Mass. Senate Has Started a Battle against Climate Change

Massachusetts has started to fight the good fight against global warming.

The issue of global warming is becoming more and more critical. To this extent, the Mass. Senate has started a battle against climate change. As we are slowly realizing that it is reality and it is worsening, the senators of the state of Massachusetts have voted for action.

This is a faint glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark perspective over what will come if more and more administrations as well as ordinary people act upon the matter. To do this, carbon fuel emissions must be considerably lowered if we don’t want Florida to be half submerged under water by the next century. Yet, it is not only an issue of cutting down environmentally damaging sources of power. It is also a matter of replacing this energy with other, renewable and eco-friendly ways such as wind power and solar power.

To this extent, the state of Massachusetts has made it its goal to produce solar energy amounting to 1,600 megawatts by the year 2020. To do this, the state Senate has voted just this Thursday to raise the maximum number of solar power permitted to be resold by consumers to the main grid.

This is part of a far larger bill which would start the battle against climate change. Called the Climate Change Preparedness Bill, it is said that it will prompt research in the field, so as to better prepare the state for some expected consequences of the damage to the environment. These include floods, droughts, and unusual temperature fluctuations.

There has been even already an amendment to this bill which states that in the long term, everyone – from businesses to small homes – has to equip themselves with solar panels.

However good the nature of this bill, there has still been some resistance to raise the cap of solar power. Governor Charlie Baker was in favor of the bill, despite his energy secretary, Mr. Matthe Beaton, saying in the previous months that the goal set by the center for this state could be met either way.

The solar power amendment was the doing of Senator Benjamin Downing. This came as a nice surprise to the environmental lobbyists watching the debate. It is yet to be certain that this bill will be adopted, as it firstly has to pass in the House. Still, there is optimism in the air as people cannot foresee any scenario in which it would be repealed.

Image source: brookings.edu