Search Results

Keyword search: climate

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Three faculty at the University of Massachusetts are joining the state’s new Climate Science Advisory Panel, a group of 21 experts who will attempt to bridge the communication and knowledge gap between policymakers and scientists. The UMass...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — The climate crisis is fueling a steady growth in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather, and Massachusetts cities and towns face an increasingly common conundrum trying to respond to those emergencies.Many of the disasters that have...

By CHRIS LARABEE

A trend of warm years further cemented itself in 2023, as Massachusetts experienced, on average, its warmest year on record, according to new data from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.The average temperature around Massachusetts for the year...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city is hoping to join seven other Massachusetts municipalities in a new state pilot program that would require all future construction and major renovations to be free of fossil fuels.The pilot program, established by the state’s...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — A pair of reports made public this week illustrate the variety of efforts that are underway to position Massachusetts to live up to its legal requirement to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.In addition to a minimum 50%...

By JAIMEE FRANCIS

Heat pumps, which use electricity rather than directly burning fossil fuel, are a key piece of Massachusetts’ goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But the state has hit only 1% of its installation target, in large part because...

By EMILY THURLOW

BOSTON — When 15-year-old Ollie Perrault found herself on the basketball court at the TD Garden, she seized an opportunity she’d never thought she’d have, and she took her shot.And though the Easthampton climate activist wasn’t trying to score any...

By JACOB NELSON

WORTHINGTON — “Agriculture is going to have to look different,” says Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington, given the climate crisis. “And I’m just not interested in farming the old way.”Well-read and well-spoken, Fishman has a keen ability to...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — A several-month experiment aimed at reducing the growth of algae blooms at Nashawannuck Pond appears to be working and will be used again next year, according to officials with the pond’s steering committee.Since April, nearly 100 onion...

By VALERIE REISS

When Cat Thomson and Steve McDonough moved onto their ¾-acre lot in Leeds, the landscaping consisted of dirt, dirt, and more dirt.“It was a blank slate,” said Thomson, a freelance writer and editor. They built their house on developed land that was...

By DANICA KIRKA

LONDON — A vast iceberg with twice the volume of Lake Erie has broken off from a key floating ice shelf in Antarctica, scientists said Wednesday.The iceberg broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf, scientists at the University of Swansea in Britain...

By Heather Bellow

GREAT BARRINGTON — Frances Crowe is often seen smiling. But on the courthouse steps, the 98-year-old activist went stern.“This is a serious business we’re involved in,” she said, speaking from her wheelchair. “This is the future of life on the planet....

By JACK SUNTRUP

Winter ticks, it seems, live by climate change and die by climate change.The parasitic blood-suckers have hammered the New England moose population for years. Shorter winters mean a greater likelihood tick larvae live long enough to grab onto a host....

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...

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...