BOSTON – Promising to save trillions of dollars in lost domestic product and millions of industrial jobs, President Donald Trump announced Thursday he is pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord.

Katherine Anderson, communications coordinator for the group, '350 Mass' says the speech is over, but the time to act on climate change is not. She takes issue with the savings Trump is touting, and her group is urging Gov. Charlie Baker to stick by the Paris Climate Accord and the state's pledge to cut carbon emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020.

"So, now that Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris agreement, states, cities and towns need to rise to the occasion and chart their own path, and that includes Massachusetts," she says.

Representatives of the coal industry and such conservative groups as the Heritage Foundation are applauding the President's decision.

But, his move drew a sharp rebuke from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh - who advised Trump on Twitter to check his geography, and that Boston won't follow his lead.

Prior to the Rose Garden announcement, groups in Boston held an action protesting drastic cuts in the President's proposed budget, including cuts that weaken efforts to curb climate change.

Among those joining the action was representative to the National People's Budget Campaign for the American Friends Service Committee, Paul Shannon.

"He has basically declared war on the climate by insisting in his infrastructure plans to build more pipelines everywhere in the country," he says. "He has made it clear he is going to put more oil, more coal, more gas out into the market."

Shannon also serves as the AFSC representative to the National People's Budget Campaign, a plan he says would devote a whole lot less funding to the Pentagon than is called for in the Trump budget.

"To me, the main category is war - $54 billion just next year, which he takes from Meals On Wheels and a bunch of other programs like that, and moves into the Pentagon budget," he adds. "Just that $54 billion increase is about the size of the entire Russian military budget."

The People's Budget is a project of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Shannon says it lays out a plan to create millions of jobs, invest in infrastructure and balance the federal budget faster than the GOP budget plans.


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State officials in Maine are preparing the next generation for climate change-related activism and careers.

A new state-run website helps young Mainers find ways to use their own talents and interests to counter any climate anxiety and work to build the state's climate resilience.

Abigail Hayne is Maine's youth climate engagement coordinator.

"Whether it's taking action just in your community or in your life, or exploring different climate jobs that are specific to Maine," said Hayne, "the youths can just kind of poke around and find something that makes sense to them."

Hayne said the website offers practical, localized ways young people can get active with their town or school as well as Maine's Climate Council, which currently includes a dozen youth representatives.

Maine faces simultaneous challenges. The state is warming faster than the global average and coping with an increase in extreme weather events.

It also has one of the oldest populations in the nation.

Hayne said towns statewide are developing plans to strengthen infrastructure, and the state has a responsibility to make sure young people are well-informed about these climate-related jobs.

"Soon enough, we're going to start seeing younger generations really on the front lines of climate change and community resilience," said Hayne, "and we need to make sure that they are fully prepared when they enter those roles."

More than 170 communities are utilizing state grants to identify the roads, buildings and energy infrastructure that is susceptible to climate change and begin needed upgrades.

Construction, engineering and electrical workers will be in high demand.

Hayne said the website can connect young Mainers with these new work opportunities as well as each other.






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School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


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Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.