Stories
With many schools and businesses closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, fewer cars are on the road. Even normally busy highways are relatively empty. So in some places, it’s quieter outside. That might have an impact on birds and other animals that are making their own kind of noise this time of year. One…
Read MoreA Beginner’s Try At Ice Climbing In Southern New England
The defiant spirit of climbers always appealed to me. And ice climbing seemed especially magical. The ropes, the picks, the intrepid hikers who bravely scale rocks transformed by the cold into otherworldly obstacles.
Each winter, area climbers are drawn to spots like the Catskills in New York or the White Mountains in New Hampshire. But there are pockets of good ice in southern New England, too.
Read MoreIce harvesting was a thriving industry in 19th century New England. Using large, jagged-toothed saws, workers would cut heavy blocks from frozen rivers, lakes and ponds, pack it in sawdust and sell it around the world. Then came electric refrigeration, and ice-cutting became all but obsolete. But there are still a few places where the…
Read More‘Must Love Dogs, Dancing and the Planet’: Climate Change Heats Up the Dating Scene
Valentine’s Day is a romantic time, a time to ask: Will you go out with me? Will you be mine? But a growing number of hopeful young singles are asking a different kind of question: How do you feel about… climate change? Sitting in a booth by the bar at Mahoney’s on Main in Buzzards Bay, 26-year-old…
Read MoreIn Housatonic River Deal With GE, Towns Agree To Toxic Waste Dump In The Berkshires
After more than a year and a half of mediation, the U.S. EPA New England office, General Electric and cities and towns along the Housatonic River have agreed to dispose some toxic PCB sediment at a site near the Lee-Lenox line, about 1,000 feet from the river. But not all participants in the mediated settlement…
Read MoreOld Growth, New Problems: The Battle Over Tree-Cutting In Cambridge
Lifelong Cambridge resident Peter Cohen loves trees. He grew up climbing and admiring them, and as an adult and homeowner, he puts a lot of thought and care into the ones in his yard. And Cohen has a big yard by Cambridge standards. Walking around his property near Porter Square, Cohen describes how things have…
Read MoreAfter Years Of Slow Action On Climate Change, What Sets Offshore Wind Apart For New Hampshire?
Most New England states have been investing in alternative energy sources for years. But New Hampshire has been slower to act in response to climate change. Now, the Granite State is looking to be a leader in a major new source of renewable energy: offshore wind. Turnout exceeded all expectations at the first meeting, last…
Read MoreNatural gas utilities in Massachusetts are facing an existential crisis: they could be out of business by mid-century. That’s because the state’s 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act requires emissions from burning fossil fuels — like natural gas — be cut by 80% economy-wide by 2050. But now a solution that could help save the companies…
Read MoreArtificial Intelligence Could Help Scientists Predict Where And When Toxic Algae Will Bloom
Climate-driven change in the Gulf of Maine is raising new threats that “red tides” will become more frequent and prolonged. But at the same time, powerful new data collection techniques and artificial intelligence are providing more precise ways to predict where and when toxic algae will bloom. One of those new machine learning prediction models…
Read MoreOn a freezing night in December, about a dozen climate activists stood on the train tracks in a wooded section of West Boylston, Mass. They huddled together, headlamps and flashlights pointing south towards an approaching coal train. The light from the train’s headlights got brighter, and the horns blared louder and longer, but the activists…
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