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By Naila Moreira

The very schools we depend on to educate our children could be making them less smart.Drinking water in schools across Massachusetts, including here in the Pioneer Valley, has been found to contain lead significantly exceeding safety standards. Lead...

By JACK SUNTRUP

The state has completed a first-round probe into lead and copper levels in school water sources, and found 21 out of 25 participating Hampshire County schools have high levels of lead in at least one fixture.The voluntary program, coordinated by the...

By RICHIE DAVIS

SANDISFIELD — Eighteen protesters, including 12 from Hampshire County, were arrested Tuesday morning at the entrance to Otis State Forest after they blocked a pipeline project access road.Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. contractors were attempting to begin...

AMHERST — Entomologists at University of Massachusetts Amherst report that some of this season’s first gypsy moth egg masses have begun to hatch, as observed on April 26 in Belchertown at a location off Route 202.Extension entomologist Tawny Simisky...

By RICHIE DAVIS

Pink, glorious pink! A section of the hillside overlooking Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield looks like those pink pussycat hats dotting the national mall in January, and for many, the return of peach blossoms after their freakish absence last spring...

By JACK SUNTRUP

FLORENCE — Members of the Broad Brook Coalition on Sunday afternoon celebrated improvements to the 850-acre Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area, with sunny, clear skies as a backdrop.The improvements — a new bridge leading to trails, a raised boardwalk...

By STEPHANIE MURRAY

AMHERST — For a longtime Amherst resident, it is not unusual to wander through a daylong festival dedicated to sustainability, or to watch a protest head down the street with banners waving. But for those who haven’t lived in the Valley as long, like...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — When scientists talk dire impacts of climate change in say 2050, or 2100, the far-away dates can be hard to put into perspective. For Peter Ives, the problem does not seem so distant. He thinks of his 2-year-old granddaughter Ila. “I...

By PETER IVES

It was while looking at the distant stars in the night sky that the book of Genesis became important to me. “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth and God said, ‘Let there be light.’ ”My favorite theologian Paul Tillich used to say, “When...

Arguing climate change reality a distraction President Trump tells us climate change/global warming is a hoax. I wish I knew exactly what he means.After all, climate change melted away the glacial ice sheet that once covered the land that became his...

By JACK SUNTRUP

ORANGE — Rodney Flagg sat under a lamp at the front of his bait and tackle shop tying up a batch of Winnie Squid flies. Every so often, the front door squeaked open, and a fisherman walked in.“That time of year!” one told Flagg, 79. The angler would...

By JOSHUA SOLOMON

TURNERS FALLS — A black bear was the main attraction in town on Wednesday.Cars slowed down by the intersection of Montague and Dell streets, with some people getting out to see if the town’s sleepy neighbor was still hanging out up a tall tree in a...

We tell stories to know who we are. Speaking our own stories, we rediscover ourselves. And by hearing and identifying with one another’s journeys, we discover and reach each other, too. My world — my story — is one of science.I birdwatch. I teach...

By JACK SUNTRUP

WARE — The Rattlesnake Review Working Group has the thankless job of recommending what the state should do about the timber rattlesnake, an endangered serpent some revere as a New England symbol but nonetheless gives others the shivers.On Wednesday,...

By FRAN RYAN

In early January unsuspecting residents of West Springfield and Agawam were shocked and frightened when they discovered dozens of dead or dying birds near their homes, some falling from trees on to lawns homes and cars.The unusual incident...

By RICHIE DAVIS

If your answer to “Where’s the beef?” is “local, local, local,” you’re not alone.The demand for locally raised beef, as well as lamb, pork, chicken and turkey, has been inching upward enough in recent years, with Shelburne’s Foxbard and Wheel-View...

Mistletoe is one of those Christmas traditions that many of us know little about, beyond the fact that people are supposed to kiss under it when it’s hung in a doorway during the holiday season. I got curious about it a few years ago when a friend...

By NAILA MOREIRA

I sometimes startle people by saying I don’t have much hope for the environment.“But you’re an environmentalist!” they stutter. “Surely, you must think we can prevent nature from being destroyed? That taking action is worth it?”The other day, for...

IN THE NEWS First offshore wind farm opensPROVIDENCE, R.I. — The nation’s first offshore wind farm has opened off the coast of Rhode Island, ushering in a new era in the U.S. for the industry.Deepwater Wind built five turbines 3 miles off Block Island...

Dear EarthTalk: What kinds of changes to federal environmental policies can we expect to see from Donald Trump when he assumes the presidency?—– D. Shelley, Bounder, ColoradoLike many Americans, environmental advocates are alarmed at the results of...