Stories
At least 60 people showed up to a protest Sunday urging the retirement of New England’s last running coal plant, the Merrimack Station in Bow. The gathering was complete with cake and dancing, according to organizer Kendra Ford. “Because it’s long overdue for that coal plant to retire, we had a retirement party to live…
Read More
The smoke from Canadian wildfires didn’t just block the sun and make the air unhealthy to breathe in much of New England this week. It also blunted solar power production and made it harder to forecast electricity demand in the region, according to the regional grid operator. “At a simple level, the smoke is is inhibiting the…
Read More
Smoke from Canadian wildfires continued to impact air quality in New England Wednesday. And some medical experts are urging people to take steps to protect themselves. Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield says it has seen a recent uptick in respiratory illness cases in its emergency room, but several other hospitals in western Massachusetts said Wednesday…
Read More
New England’s grid operator, ISO New England, says the electricity system should hold up this summer under typical weather conditions. But if we see more extreme heat, like an extended heat wave, they may need to ask residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve energy. They could also import power from neighboring regions or draw on power…
Read More
More than 50 acts will take the stages at the Boston Calling music festival this Memorial Day weekend. One of them is a young, dyed-in-the-wool New Englander named Noah Kahan. The singer-songwriter’s star has been rising meteorically with help from a viral song about Vermont. There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard “Stick Season,” but the…
Read More
The calls started coming in around 9:30 a.m. last Thursday. A funny looking whale, or maybe a dolphin, had washed ashore on Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, Mass. Brian Yurasits, part of the Marine Mammal Rescue team based at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, was one of the first on the scene. “It was alive…
Read More
The traditional summer travel season will likely be kicking off with a very busy Memorial Day weekend. AAA is predicting more than 2 million New Englanders will be traveling this weekend, roughly 400,000 Connecticut residents will be among them. That would be a 6% increase over last year, but still shy of numbers before the…
Read More
As climate change fuels extreme weather and rising sea levels in the U.S. and across the globe, parts of New England could become havens of safety for those fleeing fires, heat, and floods. Making room for more people was the theme of a conference held in Keene this week, where academics, municipal officials, and advocates…
Read More
The U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules for power plants Thursday that would set emissions limits for carbon dioxide from power plants. It’s part of an effort to cut down on the greenhouse gases that further climate change, which are already making New Hampshire hotter and wetter. In New England, the proposal could mean more…
Read More
Being a farmer has always been hard and stressful work, but there’s now a growing awareness that the demands of the job and its increasing unpredictability from climate change is taking a rising toll on the mental health of those who work in agriculture. As a result, the state launched a program to train farmers…
Read More