MASSPIRG In The News

Picture: MASSPIRG students Andrew Jacobs and James Nutter gather support from fellow UMD students to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act, Photo courtesy UMD MassPIRG

DARTMOUTH — With the Senate poised to vote on landmark global warming legislation, students at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth are showing their support for the bill.

The Global Warming Solutions Act, filed by Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, would commit the commonwealth to reduce global warming pollution 20 percent by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050, the levels that scientists agree are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. Students across the state have been calling on the Senate to pass a bill which contains these science based targets.

“This is a historical opportunity to make Massachusetts a leader on the defining issue of our generation,” said Jonathan King, a UMD freshman. “Our future is at stake, and we must rise to the challenge ... We have to get on the right track, right away.”

Saffron Zomer, program director for the MASSPIRG Student Chapters, said, “The task ahead is huge. But if we commit to the right goals, we’ll know that we’re heading in the right direction.”

Students at UMass Dartmouth, who have been working to support the Global Warming Solutions Act since it was first filed this legislative session, have organized numerous events to urge emissions reductions targets.

Last week students asked their fellow students to call their state senators and urge them to support the global warming bill. The students have also been collecting petition signatures throughout the semester and delivered more than 700 signatures to Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny’s New Bedford office