Everywhere you looked a couple of weeks back, there was the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal to transition the entire US economy to a framework of sustainability and economic justice. A resolution urging creation of a GND was launched last week by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and veteran Sen. Ed Markey, to enthusiastic fanfare from its legions of supporters—and ominous warnings of doom from the corporate center and ideological right. Many mainstream figures, including Democratic Party luminaries and nearly 100 members of Congress, endorse it as an opening to urgent national action on the climate crisis. Notably, the resolution revolves around a broad push for economic and racial justice not usually associated with climate action, gaining it credibility with progressive constituencies crucial to mobilizing support.

Meanwhile, back inMassachusetts it is striking that in just the first month since beginning his second term, Gov. Charles Baker’s administration has failed on three major opportunities to advance sustainability and environmental justice, all of which openly benefited big-money interests at the expense of grassroots stakeholders’ rights to basic protections. And more decisions loom that could throw climate and equity obligations out the window.

First, in early January, came an air quality permit from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that moved closer the siting of a dangerous fracked gas pipeline compressor station in a densely populated area of Weymouth, over massive community opposition. This gambit was in service of Enbridge, one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies, trying desperately to build a gas pipeline into Canada after repeated