Potentially of interest for non-Somerville residents as well as SomerPoli folks, you can also go to the EPA website and calculate your household's carbon footprint, so you know what the federal gov't thinks is impactful for carbon tracking: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/carbon-footprint-calculator

(I did this, and had some feedback on things that people in Somerville might do that the EPA doesn't look at, tbh.) #carbon #ecology #SomervilleMA #SomerPoli

Carbon Footprint Calculator | US EPA

Take a few minutes to find out with EPA's Household Carbon Footprint Calculator.

US EPA

My classmate Emmanuel has gotten IRB approval to run a quick study of Somerville residents -- see if ppl might be willing to track carbon emissions, and if so, how he can help! I can vouch for Emma's good intent. I had a convo w/him today about if he does produce an app, what might be helpful (imo) and how important data privacy is.

Emma needs 50 Somerville participants to start the project. I hope folks here might be willing to help? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYI2lPeli8nTv-BpZ2TxbNKkwdjxIXD6m_GbG3N_c8fZeMfA/viewform?usp=dialog

#SomervilleMA #SomerPoli #ecology

Enhancing Somerville Climate Action through Household Emissions Avoidance Tracking

Researcher: Emmanuel Obeng Program: MS Sustainability Institution: Tufts University Faculty/IRB Supervisor: Khan, Hassaan Furqan Estimated Time: 5 minutes Purpose of Survey This survey explores the extent to which households in Somerville can support climate action by tracking daily emission-reducing activities through a user-friendly app designed for daily or periodic climate action tracking. The survey takes an average of 5 minutes. Participation is voluntary and anonymous. You may also choose to participate in a three-day pilot by spending 1-2 minutes per entry to log emissions-avoiding actions. Your responses will support academic research and city climate planning. Meaning and Illustration of Emission Avoidance: The amount of emission you reduce by taking alternative action with lower emission than the other action. Example- Transportation: According to EPA, emission for driving car is 0.299kg per mile and emission for using bus is 0.067kg per mile. If tomorrow, I choose to cover distance of 5miles using bus instead of driving, I avoid emission equivalent to 0.232 X 5= 1.16kg. Emission Avoidance tracking is a means of tracking the emission impact of such avoidance actions. The researcher has provided a simplified cloud based app for piloting. Privacy You only use email to log in. No personal information required for tracking. Providing a name is optional and it can be any name. The important thing is having the dashboard to enter mission avoided action and seeing its impact.

Google Docs

Okay, not gonna lie, I love this video from Burhan Azeem about how to fix and expand the T and his candidacy for MA state senate. I'm totally with him on expanding the transit network -- needs more details, but he's got the right energy & emphasis, imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-nazuiHqY
#MBTA #MAPoli #SomerPoli #trains #CambridgeMA (Lol, thank you to @dashdsrdash for the correct link!)

The MBTA: How We Broke America's First Subway (And How to Fix It)

YouTube

Anyone who's following surveillance tech and policing in #MApoli might want to read this banger of a memo from Digital Fourth to the #SomervilleMA city council this week.

https://somervillema.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7959252&GUID=99D99857-8F9D-49A9-8087-9C2E7F7B8D7C&Options=&Search=

#SomerPoli #Police #Politics #Surveillance #AI

Good afternoon to everyone, but especially those who are also gonna zoom into the fuckin' #SomervilleMA Finance Committee meeting and watch our local electeds talk about how maybe they want to become even more enmeshed with Dept of Homeland Security, maybe now with SWAT trainings and AI surveillance software to go with the camera "upgrades" they accepted last week. Yes, I'm angry. This meeting starts up in 7 minutes.

#SomerPoli #MAPoli #DHS #surveillance

Agenda:
https://somervillema.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1396299&GUID=F1FEFF2A-FFDB-40BB-AA32-954BBACB4E15&Options=info|notes|&Search=

City of Somerville, Massachusetts - Meeting of Finance Committee on 3/10/2026 at 6:00 PM

In case anyone is interested, two facts:

1. Somerville's Finance cmte meets tonight (in 30 min) with open public comment session on next year's budget. You get 2 minutes if you sign up.

https://somervillema.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1378281&GUID=F95CA692-8CFF-413E-AE22-58A9A529D63F&Options=info|notes|&Search=

2. My public comment is turning out to be approximately shaped like the meter of the Modern Major General song. I've tentatively decided to lean into it. Perhaps I will at least get people to giggle and pay attention.

#SomervilleMA #SomerPoli

City of Somerville, Massachusetts - Meeting of Finance Committee on 2/10/2026 at 6:00 PM

Idk if this is helpful to anyone else, but I dashed off this email to my Somerville electeds (plus the public comment email account). Anyone who wants to can use/modify this text for your own use if helpful.

The worst feeling is when we feel we can't do something about horrors.

We CAN do something. I swear. We just need to decide to do things, and it's gonna take some of our resources, but it's worth it.

#SomervilleMA #SomerPoli #USPol #Boston #MAPoli

It occurs to me that there is plenty of time between now and March 1st to ask a city council or town meeting to put in place a new eviction moratorium, given how many neighbors are impacted by ICE kidnappings (making it unsafe to go to work, etc., and having knock-on effects for ppl regardless of immigration status). In the current instability, protection against eviction seems important.

Now is better than never. #USPol #SomervilleMA #SomerPoli #Boston #MAPoli

Wowwwwwww. Public transit in Somerville is still so fucked that Google maps legit suggests taking a bus from Somernova (on Somerville Ave) out to ARLINGTON and then back out again in order to go to Taco Loco in East Somerville. O.o #SomervilleMA #SomerPoli #transit #bus #publictransit

I am in no way gonna do a blow-by-blow reporting on tonight's #SomervilleMA city council meeting, but if anyone else would like to watch online with me, your options are the Zoom link off the agenda (downloadable from Legistar here: https://somervillema.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1325976&GUID=A432A1ED-B7B8-4497-9535-4E245747B81C&Options=info|notes|&Search= ) or the CityTV cameras (with a slight time delay) online here: https://somervillema.granicus.com/player/camera/2?publish_id=1&redirect=true&embed=1

#SomerPoli #MAPoli

City of Somerville, Massachusetts - Meeting of City Council on 11/13/2025 at 7:00 PM