Stories
Tucked away inside a trash facility in central Connecticut is a pile of nondescript orange and green plastic bags. To the untrained eye, the mound of rotting waste looks like all the other trash piled up here, but Jack Perry, one of the owners of HQ Dumpsters & Recycling, said this trash is special. “The…
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When you see a can of beer do you think of agriculture? Well, grain — an essential ingredient in beer — grows on farms that are usually far away from the Northeast. Now an alliance is working to build a regional grain supply chain that supports local farmland, one pint at a time. To find…
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Getting food scraps out of the trash and into the soil will save money and protect the environment. Expert composter Domingo Medina shows you the best ways to do it. This video by Connecticut Public’s Ryan Caron King is part of special coverage from the New England News Collaborative on how climate change is affecting…
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Jeff Backer and Dave Viola are raising about 400 pigs on their farm in Northwood, New Hampshire. The pair sell specialty sausage and salami to customers throughout New England. But they’ve had some trouble getting appointments to bring their animals to the slaughterhouse and process their meat into the products they sell. Backer and Viola…
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The iconic maple syrup industry is an economic driver in New England and in Maine, the third largest producer in the U.S. But rising temperatures and erratic sap runs are posing big challenges and foreshadowing even bigger changes. If scientists’ predictions are correct, the northernmost reaches of Somerset County could become one of the last…
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The ground is starting to thaw on a gray Saturday afternoon in late March, which means it’s almost time for Albie Barden to prepare his fields for corn. Barden usually plants two or three varieties of corn at his home every year in Norridgewock, Maine. When growing season is over and the corn is harvested,…
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Sean O’Donnell started growing grains about 10 years ago at Rusted Rooster Farm, 45 minutes north of Skowhegan on the border of Maine’s Somerset and Piscataquis counties. He began on a small scale, using grains as a cover crop planted in rotation with other crops to improve the health of the soil. He and his…
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On a foggy, wet evening at the end of March, more than 50 people gathered on a dirt road in Salisbury, Vt., with flashlights and rain gear. Everyone was there for the same thing. “I am here to help the salamanders,” said Rory Cate, a 10-year-old from Salisbury, who came with her dad and younger…
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The World Bank says the fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of global emissions, leading some brands to take stock of their outsized carbon footprints. New Balance Athletics operates three factories in Maine and has pledged to be net zero by 2050. The company’s factories churn out thousands of sneakers every day. An MIT…
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Sneezing. Scratchy eyes. Car windshields caked with yellow-green buildup. These are the signs of spring that New England allergy-sufferers (including this reporter) greet with disdain. Despite heralding the triumphant return of our local plant life, these gifts feel more like lumps of coal. We’re early in the pollen season here in the Northeast, with most trees…
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