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By TOM LITWIN

As I concentrated on the computer screen, the news played in the background. A story about the environment got my attention, causing me to sit back and listen more carefully. I played the piece again to be sure I heard it correctly.In summer 2023, the...

By CHAD CAIN

NORTHAMPTON — On a spring day in 2020 as he returned home from a morning of birding along the Mill River, James Lowenthal stopped to chat with a neighbor just a few doors from his Crescent Street home.As the neighbors talked, they noticed a mama...

By EVAN HALPER

The Biden administration raised the stakes on its politically fraught bet on massive subsidies for nascent clean-energy technologies Friday, rolling out a plan for awarding billions of dollars in tax credits to the makers of ultrapowerful “green”...

By BILL DANIELSON

Dear Reader: I can’t believe that 2023 is almost over. Next week I am going to work on my traditional Year-In-Review column, but today I have decided to give myself permission to go back to one of my favorite photos of 2023. This is a photo that I...

By Chris Lisinski

BOSTON — Massachusetts will fail to hit a major emissions reduction requirement in 2030 unless Beacon Hill passes significant legislation to accelerate progress, leaders of a top advocacy group warned Wednesday.As plans begin to take shape for the...

We are midway through the month of December and I have started a new list. The current record for the number of birds observed in my yard in the month of Dec. is 31 species and that record was set just last year. On my first day of observations I...

By RODDY SCHEER and DOUG MOSS

Dear EarthTalk: What sort of environmental toll are the major military conflicts going on around the world now taking?— J.D., Salem, NHNo one questions the fact that war is horrible, and it is no less so for the environment. And recent major conflicts...

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — Massachusetts Environmental Police arrested two brothers Saturday night after they allegedly shot a deer from their truck while in Colrain.Police arrested Colrain resident Seth Doull, 51, and Worthington resident Ira Doull, 46, on...

By SAM DRYSDALE

On the route to decarbonization, the state is so far on target with its goals, the Healey administration says, but there is more work to be done with the most intense period of rapid decarbonization quickly approaching.Gov. Maura Healey’s...

By BILL DANIELSON

As I write this column I am looking out my office window at a world that is enduring its first winter storm of the season. Back in October we saw the first flakes of snow, but that wasn’t really enough to describe as a storm. It was thrilling to see,...

By STELLA TANNENBAUM

Massachusetts’ efforts to meet its net-zero goals and measure up to neighboring states may mean an overhaul of energy efficiency program Mass Save, according to Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer’s recent report.The state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — Years ago, Rebecca Todd and her roommate decided to cap off their first year at Dartmouth College by paddling home on the Connecticut River — from Hanover, New Hampshire to Walpole, New Hampshire.“I wouldn’t say that was the start of my...

By BILL DANIELSON

“One has only to sit down in the woods or fields, or by the shore of the river or the lake, and nearly everything of interest will come round to him, — the birds, the animals, the insects; and presently, after his eye has got accustomed to place, and...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Editor’s note: This is the third of four articles from the Western Massachusetts Solar Forum series taking place in September.AMHERST — At Joe Czajkowski Farm in Hadley, not only does the broccoli field produce fresh vegetables, but rows of solar...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Shutesbury’s Conservation Commission, bringing a series of new and revised wetlands regulations forward for public review, is continuing a hearing on the proposal Wednesday night, after being forced to delay taking input when the virtual...

By DOMENIC POLI

Experts say that if you encounter a bear it is important to immediately make yourself look big, talk very calmly and slowly back away.But after that, if you saw the carnivoran mammal in Massachusetts, you can go to bit.ly/3raabc8 to report the...

By SOPHIE HAUCK

AMHERST — Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and U.S. Geological Survey are teaming up to address the impact of hydropower installations on fish migration patterns, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy they...

By BILL DANIELSON

The first week of September was appalling. The highest combination of head and humidity that we had experienced all summer all presented in a heat wave that lasted for four days. Then, even though the temperatures moderated somewhat, the humidity...

By MARY BYRNE

Valley advocates were among the 21 groups and 258 people to sign a letter sent to the Healey administration last week, encouraging passage of a bill that would provide funding for a Municipal Reforestation Program.The letter asks that the program —...

By JAMES PENTLAND

HOLYOKE — University of Massachusetts researchers have landed a $1.1M grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to research ways to help lower-income households and neighborhoods make the transition to a clean-energy future.Residential buildings...