Students, community leaders and Massachusetts residents will descend on Beacon Hill today to show their support for a new bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, ending a four-day conference to rally environmental awareness and activism.
More than 1,000 people attended the weekend event, which was modeled after the larger Power Shift conference in Washington, D.C., and hosted by Massachusetts Power Shift, according to a MAPS press release. The event included lectures, workshops and educational training about global warming to spread awareness and inspire positive environmental action among attendees.
The conference ends today with a large-scale lobbying effort at the Massachusetts State House, where participants are pushing to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act through the House of Representatives. The bill, the first of its kind, has already passed through the Senate and will cut statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, according to a press release.
Craig Altemose, MAPS lead organizer, said he was optimistic about the bill and said the question is not if the bill will be passed, but if it needs to. "And it certainly does," he said.