Resilience for Massachusetts Communities

1. Plastic bags are recyclable at Whole Foods, Target, and Star/Shaws.
   No need to ban.
   And frozen foods come in plastic bags.
   Should we ban them too?
   I also understand the FIRST MOVE is being made by the legislature to restrict the miles people can drive their cars.
   This is how it starts though people like Will deny it.
   Someday, no bags at any stores. You must bring your own APPROVED kind.
   Stalinism.
   Will, if you had the billions of $ spent on illegal aliens by Mass., what would you do with it?
   Refund it to taxpayers or spend it on bicycles for everyone?

   1. Awesome, couldn’t have said it better! They can’t wait to get total control of our private activities. More bike lanes! Jail pickup truck drivers!

      1. I wonder if any of the largesse, from bike lane lobbyists really came from Uber, Grub Hub and their ilk so there’d be a reliable path through traffic. I hope the Peoples’ Audit finds out.

   2. Extremely aggravating! This state, and many other Blue states have turned into the KINGS that they so say they oppose. I agree with the prior comment, this is just the trojan horse to restrict peoples activity by restricting how far and how much they can travel. This is turning into a pure Communist state. Could you imagine what our Founding Fathers would say if they were told they could only go certain places because we want you to use what we think you should be doing for transportation or whreer you shuld shop etc. (just like the COVID rules that made no sense and allowed hundreds to shop at big stores but all small businesses with less people needed to be shut down) Disgusting. Going to cost a fortune. I am handicapped and travel to Boston a lot and not easy to take train. It took me 6 hrs roundtrip for a 5 min appt. I cannot afford to be penalized because the Kings have decided they know what is best for all. Then you can take all the extra money from fines for driving people are penalized with, and give it to the illegals instead of the struggling veterans and elderly AMERICANS. Telling the people in this state we cant have plastic bags (what are all the dog and cat owners going to do because that is what many pick up their waste with; now they will just leave the poop everywhere), and forcing poor people to buy bags (the paper ones that rip especially in the rain) is costly for someone on a fixed income. All politicians seem to be so out of touch with real Americans lives and listen to a radical few big mouths. You shut down any talk that contradicts or you listen, but it goes right out your other ear. That is why everyone is just giving up and moving to other states because it is clear in this state and other Blue states, that you hate America and Americans. This state is so gerrymandered it is ridiculus (and I know you have an articel all about how it is not and that is a bunch of crap, excuse my language) Half this state leans to the right for policies , but noone is heard. Only radical socialist/Communist polices now

      1. I’m glad people are starting to pay attention. It’s not too late.

         It probably hasn’t occurred to the the anti-First Amendment/anti-Second Amendment leftists that “gun control” means gun elimination, and of, god forbid, that happens they won’t get a pass when the ATF and aiding agencies violate everyone’s Fourth Amendment protections, gun owner and non-gun owner alike, when they give us a property survey to aid them when they open all our safes, drawers, cupboards, closets, attics, cellars, garages, storage units, deposit boxes, and so on.

   3. Dee & Susan, Please find a more reliable news source. I don’t think anyone would be happy if we eliminated environmental standards. No one is stopping you from driving. However, if everyone drives we will have gridlock & smog. So of course, we need better public transit, bike lanes, reduced car pollution & other creative solutions.

      1. “…however…”

      2. If everybody was just a trifle more moral and judicious in ordering from Amazon, &c., that would keep sequestered orders of magnitude more carbon than elements of this costly and heavy handed bill from the capos of the Beacon Hill outfit.

         1. I commend to you the virtues of evidence-based speech.

      3. Like DNCNN?

   4. Bro chill

   5. You’re equating plastic bag rules with Stalinism? Really?

   6. Totally unnecessary legislation – a huge waste of time and resources that makes Massachusetts even less livable and affordable. No wonder people are leaving.

   7. If they succeed in restricting the miles people can drive in their cars, it will be the end of the democratic party hegemony in Massachusetts, as well as the end of certain politicians getting re-elected. Also, that law would end up going all the way to the US Supreme Court, where it would be overturned.

2. If my grocery store wants to express their First Amendment right to show their appreciation with a plastic bag then government should step the heck off!

   The heavy duty plastic bags from Star Market are not single use for me. I use them as one layer in my triple layers of garbage bags. There is a rat outbreak don’t you know.

3. Wow. That’s so generous of Beacon Hill.

4. For my part, I’m thankful for the direction of this bill. I’m 76, almost 77, and have been wondering when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would take serious steps to address environmental changes. Long ago (30 – 40 years?), I adapted to reusuable bags and have tried to avoid single-use plastic. I read about why the glaciers were melting and what could be done to stave off the rapid extinction of many forms of life. Then I read the comments of people who believe that extinctions have always occurred (not at today’s superfast pace however). Some people don’t see the problem, and it’s tiring that they don’t see what harm we’re doing through our consumer habits. Don’t you see how much the earth has changed in your lifetime? Where are the turtles, the birds, the trees, the flowers that we grew up with? Ok, we all want a good life, free from harassment from busybodies, but do you really want to live in a world that is slowly destroyed through thoughtless practice? We can do better. Your children and grandchildren deserve this.

   1. Yes, we must do better if we want the millions of species that humans rely on to survive. This is at a level of urgency that few people seem to understand. Recent scientific findings are being suppressed in the US. We have likely already sacrificed our coral reefs & 1/4 sea life that depends on them. Within ten years we may have ice free north pole, Atlantic ocean current change (with insane extinction rates), massive glacier & south pole melting, 2 degree Celsius average increase. This would be catastrophic. Alternatively, we can invest in environmental & climate solutions which are also better for our health & economy! This is an easy choice.

5. The indoor air quality that needs regulation is banning smoking tobacco or marijuana in multi-unit buildings. The state needs to address this. I voted to make marijuana legal to prevent people being arrested for it not to make the entire city reek of it especially having it come into my apartment. I regret that vote.

6. Wow, lotta hatred here.

   1. Dissent and skepticism isn’t hatred.

      1. Posting misinformation and accusations of Stalinism, however, is.

         1. By “misinformation,” you mean heresy?

            To warn of “Stalinism” is not hyperbolic. Our founders knew what they were doing. When politicians make rationalizations that whittle a little off of this Amendment, and water down a little of that Amendment, you can trust left to its devices, Will To Power guarantees a positive feedback loop and ratcheting effect that works in one direction, which is only ever closer to the worst nightmares Socialism faithfully delivers.

            1. Justice Thompson just gave a very point in speech about this at the University in Austin Texas yesterday. Here’s the link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iXijcySC0ZU&si=q72zCI4j4aVQPdQZ

               1. Thanks for that. For so long, my conception of Justice Thomas was the left’s figment of ridicule, until I started listening to his words and I found his tone consonant with our founders’.

                  The virtue of the left is the vast bully pulpit of mainstream media that reduces good men to caricatures.

7. Investments in clean water, clean air, protecting ecosystems & biodiversity, healthy food from healthy soil, trees, geothermal… Everything we can do now to protect our environment & slow climate chaos will help !

   The cumulative effect of irreversible tipping points will cause mass extinctions in our generation…unless…
   It may already be too late for coral reefs (with 1/4 sea life) as we have heated our vast oceans. If the above investments are spent wisely, they may help to offer some reprieve.

8. I thank Dee and Susan for their comments.

   I’d like to see their concerns (which I share) addressed directly by you Will.

   Thanks in advance.

9. Thank you for your work on this!

10. Will, I want to thank you for your stalwart support for measures that begin to reverse the harmful effects of the petroleum (which includes plastics!) industry and climate change. The harmful results are right before our eyes: microplastics in our brains (no, this is not a conspiracy theory, though it sounds like it should be!),droughts that affect our farmers’ ability to grow food, rising sea levels, more extreme weather and fires. I am glad that the indoor air quality bill made it into the bill, too (though there’s more to do around both indoor and outdoor air quality, that especially affects the people with the fewest options where to live). Thanks for keeping us moving in a positive direction towards a healthier and more resilient environment.

    1. Yes, I am also grateful to Senator Will Brownsberger & all who are advocating for environmental improvements & a livable climate for all the species humans rely on. It is quickly becoming a matter of survival.

11. Thank you Senator Brownsberger for supporting Senate bill 3050. The extreme weather events like flooding, drought, pollution from wildfires, and extreme heat are here now and will continue unless measures listed in this bill happen. Our children, grandchildren, and families deserve a future with clean air and water both inside and outside their homes. We can work together to change these increasing extreme weather events from being our children’s and grandchildren’s future.

    1. With all your talk about climnate WARMING, (it used to be climate COOLING a few decades ago and we were all going to freeze to death IN TEN YEARSand this was on the front of the TIME MAGAZINE), when is this legislature going to ban geoengineering of the weather which is what is going on. Many states have banned this now because it is effecting the weather. Example of the devatstating floods that killed many in Kerr County Texas with flooding never seen before, was the result of the company RAINMAKER, who the CEO admitted had been cloud seeding (and admittingly were ahead of their schedule) 2 days earlier. Cloud seeding makes it rain. They caused that. People of course will say it had nothing to do with the floods. Manipulate the weather and this is what you get. Hate to tell everyone that information that is inconveinent to your “facts” is not misinformation. This is what people who have no real facts to back up their fearmangering. There are many facts from scientists, that are nobel prize winners that are saying that the earth was actually warmer years ago than it is today. Wake up. This is all about them controlling you. You must have been one of the easily fooled people who thought that following the arrows in one direction in Walmart and other stores, would prevent you from getting COVID. And so you obeduiently obeyed while they laughed and made billions on everyone with the COVID scam and shut all the small businesses down in the goal of destroying our economy to do the GREAT RESET and make evryone uner their thumbs while the elites and polituicians laugh in our faces.

    2. I agree heartily.

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12. I appreciate your gesture, but prevention seems not enough. How about, as a start to invest in companies geared towards sustainability? For instance, mushroom mycelium can create and replace some plastics/petroleum products, as well as hemp can..etc. My understanding is that that these company’s with innovative solutions (in part) would need to be supported financially against big plastics; they do need big investments/investors/ with a vision for the future. Not sure how the Government would be a player in this- maybe contract with their products? Validation from this?

    What a shift that would be. And it doesn’t quite cover it all, considering the many uses of plastics. Still something here to think about.

    Not that this would eliminate our dependency on plastics, but might cut into this somehow. How to make attractive to these alternatives companies, without going down the carbon credit hole on oil, etc…

    Companies like IKEA and ADIDAs are using these materials already in their packaging, although I’d be wary of greenwashing for brands..

    Please consider on creating a dialog on this within your constituency, and fellow legislators..Thanks!

13. With all the rats digging burrows in yards, gnawing through trash receptacles and spreading disease, a ban on rat poison seems ill-conceived. Boston has one of the highest rat problems of major cities in the country. Baiting the sewers with rat contraception is only effective if done very often and consistently. A single female rat can have up to 400 offspring. For neighborhoods with mixed use (including restaurants and grocery stores) the problem is worse. Major digging for construction also disrupts underground burrows, and scatters rats to new locations. Please have robust conversations with affected neighborhoods before including this measure. We understand the need to balance needs of and protect birds of prey, however the rat problem will not solve itself if chemical baits are banned. Let’s find out how other states are handling it using other rat control measures before including this now.

    1. Good point, we can learn from each other.

14. I support efforts to improve the environment. Seems like the provisions listed in the legislation do so. I have been bringing my own bags to stores for quite some time, as do people all over the world. Rat poison has unintended consequences. Etc. I believe we have a shared responsibility to take care of our planet and to live responsibly. I just wish those with opposing views would not feel they need to mention people like Stalin as part of their objections. It’s too far a reach and is an unwarranted exaggeration.

15. To tackle the rat problem:

    A) double the weekly waste and recycling pick ups,

    B) use state and local bulk buying power to help citizens get a deal on replacing breeched waste bins and buying galvanized bins,

    C) give citizens a rate break in water and energy used to heat that water to rinse recycle bin items,

    D) give citizens a tax break for the lost opportunity cost for time spent rinsing to be recycled items,

    E) encourage double bagging of trash and adding a teaspoon of household ammonia or peppermint to bags,

    F) regularly wash your bins with ammonia,

    G) Grow peppermint,

    H) stop spreading the profitable misinformation that climate change is responsible for the growth of local rat populations, because of the danger of crying wolf.

    1. Breached

16. Although I don’t agree with the vast majority of Senator Brownsberger’s policies, I appreciate that he has always listened and been respectful to me. That said, I see a lot of people in this forum who disagree with him as well. For me, I feel that the minority opinion in Massachusetts has virtually no representation. I think that the Ruling Class in this State has become too comfortable with effectively being an agent of the Federal Government. I’m not referring to any particular person in the Federal Government but the Federal Government as a whole.

    My opinion is that Federalism is being destroyed and along with that, our Republic. I am not the type of person who is inclined to politically engage, but what I have witnessed over the last several years in the State I love has forced me to step up. About 4 years ago, I discovered an organization called the Convention of States Project and became a volunteer activist shortly after. We are advocating for an Article V Convention of States to propose Amendments to the Constitution related to limiting Federal spending, terms (both for elected officials and unelected bureaucrats) and overall power and jurisdiction.

    We have passed our Resolution in 20 of the 34 States required to call the Convention. Although our Resolution, currently H3888, has passed the Joint Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee the last 4 sessions in Massachusetts with bipartisan support, it has not yet made it to the floor for a vote. Last fall, when we testified before the Committee, we received huge resistance. This was followed by press releases from several members of the leadership that included information that was simply not true. Senator Brownsberger was kind enough to meet me at the beginning of this year. Even he conceded that they shouldn’t have made some of their claims. If you are frustrated like me and feel your voice is not being heard, I encourage you to check us out at: https://conventionofstates.com/. Feel free to contact me with any questions and concerns at seanflinn@comcast.net.

    1. Well said. I too have thanked and continue to thank the Senator for providing a truly public forum. Unfortunately, because there are critical voices here it drives the intolerant to the exclusive and private Bluesky Oblast where conservatives have the choice of mute observation and silent assent of the anarcho-socialist swill promulgated there, or to speak freely and be suspended, because behind the walls of Bluesky, criticism is heresy and heresy is hate. The Democratic Party has become what our founders warned us about.

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