Following Boston, Cambridge announces its first chief climate officer

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OK, this morning’s space walk looked cool, but I still don’t know if it can compare to this run of September weather we’re having. Here’s what to know before you head out into another gorgeous day:

Et tu? Boston appointed its first chief climate officer this past spring — and the city across the river apparently liked the concept so much that they got one, too. Cambridge announced former nonprofit leader Julie Wormser yesterday as its first-ever chief climate officer.

• What will she do? Wormser will report directly to Cambridge’s city manager and lead the city’s Office of Sustainability — focusing on working with other city agencies to update policies related to climate resiliency and decarbonization. “Our laws are purposely designed to be slow moving, which is terrible when our weather is getting more and more unpredictable,” she told WBUR’s Fausto Menard, adding that her job will be “to understand where the regulations and policies and investments need to change.”
• Back up: Some change is already in the works. This year, a new rule took effect in Cambridge restricting fossil fuel use in new construction or major renovations. The city also recently required large, non-residential buildings (like labs and offices) to be net-zero by 2035. “This position builds on a tremendous bench strength of both people and policies,” Wormser said.
• The big picture: Despite all that, Wormser knows that “what we do here to decrease our carbon emissions will have almost no impact on climate change worldwide.” But she hopes to help the city use “its integrity and intellect and resources” to amplify its impact: “Just as it would have been a fail had Moderna invented the COVID vaccine and only vaccinated the residents of Cambridge, the city of Cambridge can do a lot more both to protect ourselves and lower the bar for other communities to protect themselves.”
• What’s next: Wormser’s first day on the job is Oct. 1.

Round two: Another wave of hotel strikes have begun. More than 400 workers at four Boston hotels — Moxy Boston Downtown, The Newbury Boston, W Boston Hotel and The Dagny — are walking off the job today in protest of low wages and “arduous workloads,” according to their union, UNITE HERE Local 26.

• This strike comes after roughly 900 workers walked off the job at four other Boston hotels over Labor Day weekend as part of a national three-day strike organized by UNITE HERE. The Boston Globe reports this new strike will run through Saturday.

In other news from the picket line: Resident assistants at Boston University say they’ve ended their strike. According to the BU ResLife Union, the strike ended Friday, less than a week after it began, after the university ended free room and board benefits for striking RAs. (BU holds the broadcast license for WBUR.)

• FYI: The RA strike was separate from the months-long strike by BU graduate assistants, which is still ongoing.
• Meanwhile: You don’t have to worry about a potential nurses strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital anytime soon. Their union says its roughly 4,000 members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new two-and-a-half year contract this week. The deal includes pay hikes for salaried and on-call nurses, safety improvements and mental health support for nurses.

Pump the brakes: Worcester plans to lower the default speed limit on city streets from 30 mph to 25 mph. Worcester’s City Council approved the measure this week following several serious crashes in which pedestrians were hit by cars. (The city still needs to notify the state before the new speed limit takes effect.) The decision comes nearly eight years after Boston dropped its speed limit to 25 mph.

P.S.— It’s that time of year again. WBUR’s fall arts guides kick off today, with a roundup of 14 albums by New England musicians.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.