February 27 Planet Southie Meeting: Let's listen and act on what matters most

Planet Southie members created this brainstorm last year

Please join us for our next monthly meeting:

Meeting will focus on opportunity for neighborhood engagement in partnership with Greenovate Boston.

Thursday, February 27, 2014
6:30 - 7:30 pm
The Distillery Building
516 E 2nd St.

As always, all are welcome at Planet Southie!

2/3/14 Vigil Against Keystone XL Pipeline (Broadway T Stop)

Photo from 2/3 #NoKXL vigil

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to send the message to President Obama that Keystone XL fails his climate test and he must reject it. On the evening of Monday, February 3rd, we’ll come together around the country to make our voices heard.

The No KXL protest vigils are organized by 350MA, CREDO, Rainforest Action Network, and the Sierra Club, and supported by 350.org, The Other 98%, Center for Biological Diversity, Oil Change International, Bold Nebraska, Energy Action Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Hip Hop Caucus, Overpass Light Brigade, Environmental Action, League of Conservation Voters, Waterkeeper Alliance, Friends of the Earth, Forest Ethics, Forecast the Facts, and others.

Please bring candles and appropriate signs (links available after you sign up).

Look for us on the traffic island at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and West Broadway.

I want a livable planet for my kid: One Southie mom's thoughts on climate change

Hey there residents of Planet Southie, it's Stefanie.

Some of you know me from Planet Southie meetings (I usually facilitate). This is a very different kind of blog post. 

Olivia and me

We usually blog about boring (but important) stuff, like meetings. Ultimately, the topic of climate change is a personal one, so this is a very personal post. It's also very long (sorry) and kinda intense (yikes). While climate change evokes images of far away polar bears and icecaps, the reality of it literally hits home when we start to think practically about what it means for our community and our families (more extreme weather, power outages, disease, stress, scarcity, etc.). Because my background is in public health and human rights, I tend to focus on how climate impacts people (not that I don’t love polar bears too).

As many of you know, Aaron and I became parents last year. You may have met our beautiful daughter Olivia (especially if you ride the #9 bus!). Since Olivia's arrival, we have felt an even greater urgency to confront climate head on. About three years ago, we started Planet Southie with hopes to connect with our neighbors to cultivate homegrown solutions (and it's worked!), but we have shied away from the term “climate change” out of silly worries over controversy. Time to stop worrying what people think and just go for it.

Next meeting: Thursday, November 15 and thank you!

Please mark you calendars to come together again to work on walk/bike/bus solutions on 
Thursday, November 15 from 6:30 - 7:30 pm 
at the Distillery Building, 516 E 2nd Street.

Last night's meeting was a smash! Over 25 people participated and worked together to create concrete action steps to improve bike, walking and bus/MBTA access and safety!

A longer meeting summary and next steps will be posted in the next few days, we just wanted to be sure to post the next meeting and say a big THANK YOU to all who participated!

Stay tuned!

The Bike team was one of the three Action Teams that met last night.