Climate Crisis Time Capsule

Time Capsule Dedication: Friday, May 9, 2025

Read the poetry and comments from our Dedication ceremony. Read more in the Brookline News

Historic Land Acknowledgement

Felina Silver, Community Activist and Town Meeting Member

As we gather today as a community, let us take a moment to acknowledge the history of this land we call Brookline.

This is the unceded land of the Massachusett people, whose traditions, language and stewardship continue today through their lineal descendants, the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. Today, we are living on land that was taken by force. By 1641, the colonists in “Brookline” had allocated to themselves almost all land that had been inhabited by Indigenous people.

Land was not the only form of theft that occurred. Lives were also stolen. Historical records state that in 1675, during King Philip’s War, seven Indigenous men were sold into slavery in the Caribbean by residents of the area that we now call Brookline. The seven men represent part of the early slave trade.

Slavery in Brookline continued and grew but soon those enslaved were African or of African descent. By 1746, enslavers claimed ownership of over half of all Brookline land.

We acknowledge the theft of land, culture, and lives and the ensuing enslavement of Indigenous and African peoples that occurred here. These early policies set the stage for centuries of systemic racism.

As we remember these atrocities, Town Meeting Members and the larger Town must commit ourselves to address the ongoing inequities that are the result of our history of colonialism and racism. Although we as individuals were not perpetrators of these atrocities, we benefit from these systems. Thus, we dedicate ourselves to addressing them today.

Poetry: Dear Mother Earth, Felina Silver

There were so many promises made and forgotten

We see your despair

Your tears slither slowly through the cracks of the mountain tops

You glare down upon what you created

And see all that we did wrong

We now must fix our mistakes before it’s too late

We hope you still feel we are worth saving

We’d do anything to have your forgiveness

Please don’t strip the earth and leave us bare

Nor leave us beyond repair

We are certain that greater things are still yet to come

Dear Mother Earth…I’m Sorry

Poetry: Entrust to You, Felina Silver

Dear Mother Earth: Today, we entrust you with the memories and experiences of our chosen seniors. May Earth's unknown transitions hold sacred all that it is protecting. May no environmental fluctuations corrupt the integrity of time, hope, and willingness to share the past, present, and future given by its participants. May your soil take hold and swaddle tightly all it has been given until such time it is to be erected.

Thank you Mother Earth for continuing to protect what others hold near and dear.

April 27, 2025

Dedication: Alexandra Vecchio

Alexandra Vecchio, Director of Sustainability and Natural Resources, Town of Brookline

Time Capsule Dedication: Friday, May 9, 2025

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Alexandra Vecchio and I am the Director of Sustainability and Natural Resources for the Town of Brookline.

When Roger approached me about this idea, I was really quite excited because, the way I see it, this project is a great reminder that climate change is here, it is real and it is impacting all of us today.

But, it also reminds us that the actions we take today will influence the future and the impacts that this generation and others will see and feel from climate change.

Climate change is here and it has very real and scary impacts that are affecting all of us but, one of the best ways to address those impacts is to be part of the solution rather than frozen from the fear.

As many of you know, Brookline has ambitious climate goals including reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and, has established a bylaw banning fossil fuels from new and existing buildings which are undergoing major renovations.

In order to meet goals like these, we need everyone to work together to make these changes in an efficient, economical, and sustainable manner.

We need to build out our clean energy network so we can green our grid and electrify our built environment.

But those climate actions don’t occur without people, especially young people, advocating for change.

Coming together and reminding the world that you all are not just encouraging leaders and decision makers to implement policies and programs that address Climate Change.

But also that you are watching RIGHT now because you know these decisions will impact your future.

When I am talking about CC, I often ask people to think about the world they want to live in. When this time capsule is reopened, my goal is that we have all worked together to create a Brookline that we are proud to live in, work in, and enjoy.

Thank you all for coming together and using your voices to influence change.

Before the Deluge, Jackson Browne 1974

Jackson Browne, Before the Deluge, 1974

Some of them were dreamers

And some of them were fools

Who were making plans and thinking of the future

With the energy of the innocent

They were gathering the tools

They would need to make their journey back to nature

While the sand slipped through the opening

And their hands reached for the golden ring

With their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge

In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them knew pleasure

And some of them knew pain

And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered

And on the brave and crazy wings of youth

They went flying around in the rain

And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered

And in the end they traded their tired wings

For the resignation that living brings

And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow

For the glitter and the rouge

And in a moment they were swept before the deluge

Let the music keep our spirits high

Let the buildings keep our children dry

Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by

When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry

At the way the earth was abused

By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power

And they struggled to protect her from them

Only to be confused

By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour

And when the sand was gone and the time arrived

In the naked dawn only a few survived

And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge

Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Let the music keep our spirits high

Let the buildings keep our children dry

Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by, by and by

When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

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