Land Use Committee

Mission: The Green Acton Land Use Committee (LUC) researches, comments, and educates, from an ecological perspective, on matters of Acton’s land use. We prepare statements and proposals to inform Acton residents about threats to sustainability, and to urge town government and other local entities to take what are sometimes bold or inconvenient steps to address… Continue reading →

Energy Committee

Mission: In the context of the Climate Emergency, the Green Acton Energy Committee researches, educates, and collaborates on, and advocates for, the rapid and equitable transition to a renewably powered future at the local level (and at the regional, state, and national levels, when useful). The committee may focus on such issues as energy generation,… Continue reading →

Plastics Subcommittee

Mission: The Green Acton Plastics Subcommittee works under the auspices of the Materials Committee to reduce the use of unnecessary and (especially) single-use plastics in the Town of Acton. The subcommittee researches plastics issues, educates the public about them, and advocates for reductions in plastics use, sometimes including work to change Town bylaws, policies, and/or… Continue reading →

Water Committee

Mission: Green Acton’s Water Committee works to protect and improve Acton’s ground, surface, and drinking water through information gathering, public education, advocacy, and collaboration with other concerned groups.

Land Use

How is Acton’s land used? How can it best be used to support long-term, sustainability? And how do we get from here to there? Land use is a large and complex topic. You can learn more from these pages:

Housing

After World War II, and in the past couple of decades, particularly, Acton has undergone a shift to being a bedroom community for more-or-less affluent people seeking excellent schools, single-family housing (and increasingly, luxury housing), car access for jobs in the greater Boston area, and a materially wealthy lifestyle. (Of course, not everyone who has… Continue reading →

Open Space

If a map of Acton eliminated all the buildings and roads and other human structures on the surface, what would be left is what is called “Open Space”: woods, meadows, marshes, streams, ponds, and rivers.

Trees

From the air, Acton appears to be a continuous forest of trees, interrupted from time to time by smaller features such as meadows, rivers, roads, and buildings.

Zoning

Acton’s zoning bylaw divides the town into multiple areas in which different uses of the land are allowed, limited, or prohibited. In one sense, zoning is a map of a desired future, and can lead us to consider: what would be the best ways to choose and arrange what happens in town?

Plastics

The term “plastics” is used for a wide variety of synthetic compounds built up from long chains of carbon with different compounds hanging off as side chains. The long chains give them the ability to bend, and the side chains mean they have many different properties that have made them popular in manufacturing.