Stories

Teens Fight For New Climate Change Curriculum in Massachusetts Schools

November 24, 2020

Every week, more than a dozen student activists from around Massachusetts call into a Zoom meeting. Behind them are glimpses into their lives – superhero posters and hot pink bedroom walls. “OK. So do we want to start off today’s meeting with an agenda?” asked Nico Gentile, the 17-year-old climate organizer running today’s meeting. The…

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New Study Shows Methane Leaks Prevalent In Connecticut Cities

November 19, 2020

A new study of natural gas infrastructure in Connecticut says harmful amounts of methane are leaking from aging underground gas pipes. The findings add to an emerging body of science demonstrating the scale of methane leaks in America. Methane is the main part of natural gas. Like carbon dioxide, it’s a greenhouse gas, trapping heat…

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New Method to Save Salt Marshes Piloted in Buzzards Bay

November 17, 2020

Wearing tall rubber boots, a scientist walked along an overgrown path to the Little Bay salt marsh in Fairhaven. “I’m going to kind of weave us up through this back zone,” said Alice Besterman, the post-doctoral researcher with the Buzzards Bay Coalition. Besterman pushed past tall, pale grasses that hid crabs underfoot, and when she…

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To Bring Loons Back To Massachusetts, Biologists Must Convince The Birds This Is Home

November 17, 2020

Dave Evers kneels in the bow of a small idling motorboat, surveying the calm lake in front of him with binoculars. It’s 9:30 p.m. and with the exception of a few stars in the sky and a ring of faint cabin lights encircling the lake, it’s difficult to see anything more than a couple feet…

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Farms Will Harvest Food And The Sun, As Massachusetts Pioneers ‘Dual-Use’ Solar

November 10, 2020

Paul Knowlton owns 300 acres of land in Grafton, and farms about 50. The farm has been in his family for five generation, ever since Knowlton’s great-great-grandfather settled in the Blackstone Valley in 1872. These days Knowlton grows pumpkins, squash and corn. Up a gravel road, past the family cemetery, corn stalks are still standing…

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Some Republicans See Missed Opportunity To Campaign On Climate Change In New Hampshire

October 30, 2020

Democrats describe themselves as the only party taking the threat of climate change seriously. And President Trump’s continued denial of climate science and rollbacks of environmental protections haven’t made it easy for Republicans to change that. But some New Hampshire conservatives think their candidates could be doing more to run – and win – on…

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Study: Most Of The Plastic Found In Seabirds’ Stomachs Was Recycleable

October 21, 2020

The great shearwater is a seabird commonly seen off the New England coast. It’s not particularly striking — to the untrained eye, it looks like a brown seagull with long wings. It eats by diving underwater, grabbing prey and then returning to the surface to swallow it down. The birds aren’t rare or endangered, but…

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What Will It Take To Rid The Region’s Ponds of Toxic Cyanobacteria Blooms?

October 21, 2020

Biologist Karen Malkus’s laboratory in the Barnstable Town Offices features a marble vanity with a mirror framed by light bulbs. “It used to be … the ladies’ room, which is now converted into the lab,” she said recently. Pipettes and amber bottles crowd Malkus’s lab bench. Mostly, she works with her microscope, and device called…

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‘I Felt Like I Was Poisoned’; Toxic Cyanobacteria Blooms Imperil Region’s Ponds

October 19, 2020

In early August, carpenter Michael Forgione told his mother that he was heading out to go crabbing in the brackish waters of Chilmark Pond on Martha’s Vineyard. Carol Forgione, a 72-year-old nurse practitioner, wished him a good catch. “This is the pond,” she said on a recent visit. “This is the entrance that he went…

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Could The Presidential Election Affect The Housatonic Cleanup?

October 19, 2020

Last month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrapped up a public comment period on its controversial plan to remove toxic PCBs from the Housatonic River. The agency said it hopes to issue its final plan by the end of the year. That would be before any possible change at the White House. It can take…

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