Massachusetts State Senator Paul Mark discussed ongoing climate change policies and his journey to the Senate at Log Lunch on Nov. 10. Mark has previously advocated for Medicare For All, access to transportation and high-speed internet in western Massachusetts, and educational reform. During the talk, attendees were invited to enjoy a vegetarian lunch prepared by students at the College.
Mark has been an elected official in the Berkshires for 13 years and, as state senator, represents Williamstown and 56 other cities and towns in Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire Counties. “Not only is this the largest legislative district in the history of Massachusetts — which goes back to 1630 — it’s bigger than the state of Rhode Island,” Mark said at Log Lunch. Before he was elected to the Senate last year, Mark served as the State Representative for the 2nd Berkshire District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
During his talk, Mark spoke about his introduction to politics. At age 16, he began volunteering for local political campaigns and then became the political director of his local union while working at Verizon Communications. When the seat for the State Representative for the 2nd Berkshire District opened, Mark’s coworkers at Verizon encouraged him to run for office. Mark served on the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022.
Mark also spoke about his upbringing. His father was laid off when the warehouse he worked at closed, and his family had to rely on federally issued food stamps. His family’s house was then foreclosed, and Mark eventually dropped out of college, finding a job at Verizon. Verizon’s union provided him with a tuition plan, and he was able to earn an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, law degree, and doctorate.
“When I was 19, I thought my life personally was very bleak, and I wasn’t going to go anywhere,” Mark said. “Things change, especially if you’re active and if you help make them change.”
Later in the talk, Mark addressed his long and often “frustrating” journey trying to pass legislation promoting green energy. The first few attempts failed outright: A program called Commercial PACE, a green lending initiative, included natural gas as eligible for green financing, which Mark opposed. He proposed bills in 2015 and 2017, neither of which passed in the House. In late 2019, the House passed a bill called Greenworks, a revolving loan fund of $1 billion for renewable energy projects. However, the bill was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic and a resultant lack of funding.
Finally, in May 2023, Mark filed a bill in the Senate to establish a Green Bank with seed funding of $50 million. The bill passed with the support and assistance of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Ed Markey. The current bill focuses on affordable, decarbonized housing development, though Mark hopes to expand it to include rooftop solar and electric vehicle charging stations. He added that power generation needs to be improved as well. “If we electrify everything…[but] power it somewhere with a coal plant, did we actually do anything?” he said.
Mark is particularly focused on offshore wind and solar power as potential renewable energy sources for Massachusetts, since the state currently does not have nuclear, coal, or natural gas plants.
Mark concluded the talk by discussing the importance of financing green initiatives. “Money can’t be what holds us back from getting to the future that we need to be,” he said. “You need to be able to grow food for eight billion people, because…you can’t eat money, [and] you can’t eat oil.”
After the talk, Jahnavi Kirtane ’24 provided her reflections on Mark’s presentation. “I enjoyed hearing about the prospects and challenges of various interdisciplinary policy solutions to the climate crisis from a politician’s perspective,” Kirtane told the Record. “This talk also offered me, an envi[ronmental studies] major, the opportunity to apply concepts we discuss in the classroom to a real-world context, which I always appreciate.”
