Renew New England Now!

To the Editor:

With several current and coming crises befalling us, it should be getting ever more clear that Mother Nature’s basic rules are ignored at our peril. We must learn to get along with her as well as each other if we are to avoid future life-threatening epidemics, economic collapse, and climate catastrophe—essentially, to have any kind of civilized future.

Fortunately, a new initiative was just launched this week throughout our region, entitled Renew New England, which aims to address several of these crises before us in a systemic way. The Renew New England program, based on the national Green New Deal introduced in Congress last year, is an employment program that tackles basic needs in housing, healthcare, food, energy, transportation and clean air and water. This approach aims to ensure a jobs guarantee, putting us on track to eliminate climate-threatening carbon emissions in our region while moving toward economic/civil justice and a sustainable environment.

This ambitious program will require broad and sustained political action to put into motion. That’s why a growing coalition of more than thirty labor, environmental, social justice and youth organizations is working to build collective grassroots power and elect governing majorities in all six New England states to make the changes needed. In New Hampshire, this coalition includes among others 350NH and Rights & Democracy, leading state-wide grassroots organizations dedicated to climate action and social justice.

It is time to seize the political moment and ensure that our leaders in government are working toward a sustainable and just future for our region. To find out more about Renew New England, go to www. RenewNewEngland.org and get involved—it’s your future at stake.

Doug Bogen

Barrington, N.H.

Doug:

This certainly looks like a worthwhile endeavor. We hadn’t seen anything about it elsewhere. Thanks for letting us know—and please keep us posted.

The Editor

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