Peabody

The people of Peabody care for each other, honor their fallen heroes and nurture their children and their youth.

On May 26, 2022, demonstrators from the North Shore and across the Commonwealth gathered on the Danversport Bridge over the Waters River in Danvers to demand that Governor Baker must do health and environmental studies for the fossil fuel Peabody peaker electrical generator. The organizers of the event included Susan and Ron Smoller of Breathe Clean North Shore with the support of Mireille Beijani of Community Action Works and Logan Malik of Mass Climate Action Network, and with the sponsorship of several advocacy groups. Demonstrators flew kites and sang protest songs. Some paddled a fleet of kayaks and some rode bicycles to join the demonstration.

For the future of this child, Peyton Massie, we demonstrate. We, the people demonstrating on the Danversport Bridge, are energy democracy in action. We are teenagers, grandparents, storytellers, musicians, poets, singers, teachers, ministers, doctors, reporters, videographers, photographers, and a man from Ireland. Our goal is to empower people to work together to save our planet from global warming, save our wetlands and forests, and protect everyone from harmful pollution. We share an obligation and a desire to improve our communities, work for the common good, and be stewards of the world today to preserve it for the future.

To save the planet for all life and our grandchildren, we need to organize, protest, and be at the table to plan our local clean energy solutions. Starting with our protests against a new gas and oil-powered electrical generator, we are now engaged with changing laws & regulations and demanding to empower citizens in long-term planning. Progress is won with organization, diligent research, technical knowledge, and creating new partnerships.

Story: Judith Black; Photography: Jerry Halberstadt

We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe—can we awaken from this nightmare? On April 16, 19, and 21 we climate activists stood out in Peabody Square to say that a new fossil fuel facilities in the year 2022 is an example of

“immoral and economic madness.”— UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Children holding sign, LLuveia and Amaya Luz Segura-Leigh

Credo of the hunger strikers

Do we want a livable planet for ourselves, our children and grandchildren?

 This peaker plant, built, would be another nail in the coffin of a livable future. This peaker plant stopped is the beginning of a swift transition to a better tomorrow.

On Saturday, November 12, 2021, advocates for clean energy from many towns joined Peabody residents in the "Peabody Peaker Push" to protest against the proposed peaker plant and to walk through neighborhoods near the plant location to inform people about the project.

Tracy Valletti, in response to the planning of an oil and gas peak energy facility proposed for her town, is running to serve on the Board of the Peabody Municipal Light Plant.

Breathe Clean North Shore demonstrated early on the evening of Monday, September 13, 2021 against the Peabody peaker plant during a political gathering attended by Governor Charlie Baker at the Brothers Restaurant on Main Street in downtown Peabody. Carrying signs and distributing flyers, demonstrators staked out both the front and rear entrances, and managed to get the Governor to accept a flyer as he rushed past them.