Covering Climate Now
Colleen Allard looks on at the playhouse in her backyard on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. It was made with materials salvaged by WasteNot, a company on Cape Cod that finds materials to be repurposed for various construction projects. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Climate change “super” solutions, like increasing solar and wind power, are well underway in New England. But in a region where residents see the effects of climate change year round, everyday solutions are also essential: like how we bury our dead or get the kids to school.
For Earth Day 2023, journalists from the New England News Collaborative worked together to tell stories of people in New England who are finding unexpected and creative ways to act on climate change.
For more climate coverage, visit Maine Public’s Climate Driven series and NENC partners including NHPR’s By Degrees, Vermont Public, Connecticut Public, WBUR, WSHU, NEPM, CAI Cape and Islands and GBH.
This page includes our archive from Earth Day 2022 and 2021, featuring stories on how climate change is affecting food systems in New England, as well as what our region is doing to lower emissions. These stories dovetailed with Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. For ongoing stories on climate change in New England, click here.
Transmission Upgrades Could Hold The Key To New England Clean Energy Goals
President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal seeks to help reach the administration’s ambitious clean energy goals for the U.S. over the next decade. Part of that means funding upgrades to the country’s electric transmission system — the poles and wires that everyone relies on to access power nearby or from hundreds of miles away.…
Hartford Is Burning Its Recycling, And It’s Costing The City $30K A Month
That recycling you put out each week in the blue bin may not be going where you think it is. Because of contamination in curbside bins, the city of Hartford is now redirecting most of its recycling to a nearby incinerator, which means tons and tons of recyclable materials are going to waste while the…
‘It’s My Future’: A New Generation Of Young Climate Activists Takes The Helm In New Hampshire
By the time today’s teenagers turn 50, New England’s climate will feel very different. Under current warming trends, states like New Hampshire will have shorter winters with less snow. Some coastal areas will be underwater. And it will all be worse without swift action to stop fossil fuel emissions. This possible future is calling more…
After Years Of Uncertainty, Expected Decision On Vineyard Wind Could Launch New Industry
New Bedford’s Marine Commerce Terminal is a huge spread of open concrete jutting into the harbor. On a recent day, a few refrigerated trucks were unloading seafood at a processing plant next door, but the terminal itself just looked like a giant empty parking lot. As the wind swept across the vast space, the biggest action…
Shelter From the Climate Storm? Experts Say Vermont Needs To Prepare For ‘Climigration’
As the planet warms, many areas around the world may become uninhabitable. On the east coast of the United States, especially in population centers like Boston and New York, rising sea levels and increased coastal flooding are likely to force people to move inland to places that are higher, drier and relatively affordable – places…
Biden, New England Energy Goals Could Soon Change Regional Energy Mix
President Joe Biden’s energy goals will make significant changes to where New England gets its power. How states choose to embrace these goals as part of their climate change plans could shake up the region’s energy market over the next decade. This week, all eyes are on Biden, who will convene world leaders for an…
With A Drone and Patience, Scientists Track Endangered Right Whale in Cape Cod Bay
On a recent cool, windy day, a team of scientists aboard a weatherbeaten 55-foot sailboat motored across Cape Cod Bay toward Provincetown, where dozens of North Atlantic right whales had been spotted days earlier. “A bunch of whales were [seen] on a line between the mouth of Barnstable Harbor to Wood End off Provincetown. So…
Grounded In Science, Climate Researchers Are Rethinking How Often They Fly
Boston University biology professor Pamela Templer is a real-life Lorax. She studies the effects of climate change on trees across New England: from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts, and in urban areas like the campus at Boston University along Commonwealth Avenue. “I love working with trees,” Templer said.…
A Triple-Decker For The 21st Century: Airtight And Solar-Powered
Standing in front of her three-level house in Somerville, Lena Sheehan looks down at the construction of a new high school and transportation hub just a block away. “I can’t get over it, I haven’t been here in so long,” she says. “This is the new T — isn’t that brilliant, right beside the house.”…
Pandemic Sparks Innovation At New Hampshire’s Influential Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
At the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in northern New Hampshire, the pandemic broke a decades-long streak of field research. Now, scientists there are adapting with new technology – recording the sounds of the forest, which they hope will transform their long and influential record of a changing world. In late fall, Dartmouth biologist Matt Ayres…
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