Henrietta on the Environment

Answers to the 2007 Sierra Club Endorsement Questionnaire

1. Personal energy choices

My primary method of transportation around Cambridge is walking.  Sometimes I take the T, and occasionally I drive, especially at night.  When I do drive, I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid.

My household has undertaken a number of efforts to conserve energy and/or promote a greater reliance on clean sources of energy.  We have switched nearly all of our light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescents; we buy only Energy Star appliances and have replaced our 10-year-old refrigerator; we have had an energy audit by NSTAR; we belong to the New England Wind Fund, contributing monthly to the development of wind energy; and we will be monitoring the use of our energy with a real-time electricity monitor.

2. Air Quality

I will take the following steps to effect the improvements of air quality in Cambridge:  I support the development of a hybrid taxi fleet; I plan to work with the Cambridge Energy Alliance to see that 50% of the households and businesses are energy efficient; I organized a wind energy task force; and I will be promoting additional installations of solar energy.

3. Recycling and Purchasing Power

I will work to have Cambridge apply its purchasing power to reduce pollution and resource use.  I will introduce a City Council Order to eliminate the use of bottled water in the city, starting at City Hall.  The City already has a preference for purchasing environmentally friendly products and for converting the auto fleet to more energy efficient models. I introduced a Council Order making all of City buildings into green buildings.

 4. Sponsorships

During the past two years, I have sponsored many environmentally related pieces of  legislation/ordinances.   I sponsored a Council Order calling for all new private buildings in the City to be green buildings.  I sponsored an Order to support the City’s possible contribution to the purchase of the Silver Maple Forrest, which borders Belmont.  I introduced Orders to investigate the banning of plastic bags throughout the city, to support the New England Wind Fund, to explore the regulation of nano-technology, to be notified of the conversion of all traffic lights to LED’s, and to have the City Manager set up a task force to explore eliminating obstacles in the building and zoning codes to the construction of green buildings.  All of these Orders and many others related to the environment passed successfully.

5. Municipal Passenger Vehicles

The City policy, in effect for the last year, is that, before purchasing new vehicles, at least three alternatives with mpg and emissions figures must be compared. The outcome was that all three new passenger vehicles purchased by the City this year have been hybrid Camrys.  Also, 36 heavy-duty diesel trucks are being retrofitted to clean diesel.

6. Parks and Open Space

We need to both retain what open space we have as well as acquiring more.  I supported the CPA and worked for its passage to supply additional funds for open space acquisition. I would vote to allocate more funds for open space if space were found to meet that need. For years, I’ve been advocating for the expansion of Pacific Park, a large neighborhood facility. I’ve sponsored the use of City funds for the improvement of Magazine Beach (yet to be started because of misplaced paper work by DCR).  In addition, I sponsored zoning changes to protect all DCR land (passed by the Council) and open space around schools (not passed).  I would be in favor of a larger percentage of land being devoted to open space in large development projects. The City has money set aside for land acquisition – the opportunities for purchase are limited, and that is why I put my efforts into protection of what we have and expansion of those resources.

7. Cleaning up Lakes, Rivers, Streams, and Coastal Areas

As a supporter of clean, swimmable rivers—and an avid canoeist-- I’m in favor of doing whatever possible to clean up our waterways. I am now focusing on the role of the Mirant power plant in discharging heated water in the Charles River. At this time the focus should be on source control.  What that means is that at construction sites that runoff must not add sediment and debris to the river.  Also, public education is needed to prevent people from putting surfactants (soap) in our rivers and waterways as they wash their cars.  In addition, riverbanks need to be stabilized to prevent run-off.  These are the efforts that would be most effective at this time.

8. Green Buildings

For municipal buildings I think we should shoot for LEED gold but be held to a standard of silver if there was an emphasis on energy efficiency.  For non-municipal buildings we have a proposed Council Order that requires all to be LEED certifiable.  I believe it is important to pass such an Order with language that promotes more than LEED standards for energy efficiency.  Also, I’ve asked the City Manager to setup a task force on eliminating the obstacles in the building and zoning codes to the construction of green buildings.

9. Pesticide Use

Cambridge already has an IPM policy in place that results in pesticides being rarely used on city land. The city also weighs in on yearly operation plans, (YOPs) of the Mass Highway Department and the railway. The next item to tackle is the establishment of a citizen IPM committee with city staff to develop outreach and educational materials directed at homeowners, businesses and institutional users. I will introduce this item to the City Council in September.

10. Record

Since early in my career as a City Councillor I have been the leader on the Council in developing policy to address global warming.  To that end I have developed legislation that has helped Cambridge become a national environmental model. Our policy on green building adopted years ago has resulted in the completion of three LEED certified buildings, two under construction and one in the planning stages.  I serve as legislative liaison to ICLEI and have been on the Energy, Environment and National Resources Committee in the National League of Cities.  In the past year, I initiated a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb campaign that enabled public school children to sell 9,000 CFL’s and raise over $30,000.  I also coordinated the New England Wind fund campaign in Cambridge, which will result in the installation of two solar panels on public buildings.  I belong to GreenPort and Green Decade Cambridge.

11. Additional Thoughts

My record demonstrates my clear commitment to the environment. It has been my passion to have led the City Council in addressing issues such as reducing energy consumption, protecting open space, encouraging commuting alternatives, increasing recycling, ensuring climate protection, and promoting sensible development.  As I’ve said before, I take my lead from Cambridge citizens so many of whom are leaders in environmental efforts.  Whenever I see a way that Cambridge can do more to protect the environment for today and especially for future generations-- expanding open space, cleaning up the Charles River, promoting clean air or preventing global warming-- I work with others to do the most we can do, as soon as we can do it.   It’s so important to be persistent to see these policies passed and carried through to implementation.