Climate Hope on Cape Cod

"The carbon we put in the atmosphere every day is the heat equivalent of about 400,000 Hiroshima size explosions. When you think about it in those units it is easier to understand how we have melted half the sea ice in the summer Arctic ..."

— Bill McKibben

author, activist, founder of Third Age

What was the It's Time for Climate Collaboration conversation?

More than 700 Cape Codders left the "It's Time for Climate Collaboration" evening with calls for action and glimmers of hope. The June 12 event from the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative featured author/activist/environmentalist and founder of Third Act Bill McKibben, CEO Samsø Energy Academy in Samsø, Denmark Soren Hermansen, and Massachusetts climate chief Melissa Hoffer sharing hard facts, insights, and specific actions to address the climate crisis from a regional perspective.

What did people learn at the Climate Collaboration evening?

Bill McKibben, author of 1989s first public call for climate action, The End of Nature and founder of Third Age, said the worlds oceans have heated a full degree in the past month, and climate experts don't know why. He said we are on a 6-year timeline to the point of no-return, but that we still have the capacity to make changes, and that the Cape was ideally situated to act. Soren Hermansen from Samsø, Denmark shared how one region took the challenge and went not only carbon neutral but carbon negative. MA Climate Chief Melisa Hoffer reiterated the urgency of the climate crisis and the state's support for regional action.

What happens next with climate on Cape Cod?

Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative executive committee member Dan Wolf identified a three-prong set of goals: take steps to mitigate the impact of climate change, enhance the region's grid to enable renewable energy generation and delivery, and implement each local climate action plan in all 15 Cape Cod towns. Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative board chair Dorothy Savarese said the Cape understands its intersectionality with nature and from that it finds both hope and the ability to take concrete action for change.

What is the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative?

The Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative brings together organizations and individuals to mitigate the climate crisis on Cape Cod and drives action to reduce ways in which the Cape & Islands contributes to climate change, as well as protecting the region from the potentially devastating impacts of this change.