A bill reviving plans to ship thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste thousands of miles by road, rail and barge may come up for a vote in the House this month. HR 3053 passed the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee last week, breathing new life into cancelled plans for a controversial nuclear waste repository…
NODAPL protest draws local Native Americans to Boston Common
Standing Rock protesters marched through the streets of Boston against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline last Friday afternoon. The rally was organized by Medicine Wheel Solidarity Network, a coalition of groups supporting the NODAPL movement, in order to support the All Nations March at Washington D.C. Several Native American speakers were invited to…
Divest! Harvard Students Challenge Their University’s Fossil-Fuel Investments
By Brian Hoefling Harvard students spent the last week hungry. From Oct. 20-24, a group called Divest Harvard sponsored a fast aimed at persuading the school to sell off its shares in fossil fuel companies. According to Sidni Frederick, a Harvard sophomore and one of the fast’s co-coordinators, over two hundred students participated. Many others…
Climate Crisis: 400,000 March in New York to Urge Action from World Leaders
On September 21, over 400,000 people marched through Manhattan demanding global action against climate change. The People’s Climate March was planned as a response to the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit on September 23 and became the largest climate march to date. Thousands of other activists around the world also took actions in solidarity with…
Six-State Environmental Agreement Leaves State Bill in Shambles, Causes Resignations
BOSTON, Mass.—Almost a month after three members of Governor Patrick’s environmental advisory committee resigned, protesting policies in the Clean Energy Resources Bill, Governor Patrick has pledged to further assess the problems behind the embattled bill. In July, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed appeals in Massachusetts regarding the withholding of documents on the development of…
Waste Not, Want Not: Food Recovery Grows Out of Massachusetts’ Waste Ban
In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that America generated 36 million tons of food waste and 96 percent of that food went directly to landfills or incinerators. In the same year, the EPA also reported that 14.9 percent of homes in the US did not know where their next meal would come from. Instead…
Boston Medical Center Uses National Food Program to Prepare for Massachusetts Ban
BOSTON, Mass.—At the end of May, Boston Medical Center joined more than 800 organizations across the United States in an effort to reduce food waste through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Food Recovery Challenge. The center is one of 80 institutions from New England taking part in the Challenge, which involves keeping track of food…
What Is Massachusetts’ Future? Activists Push Governor Patrick to Define His Climate Legacy
Last month, 350 Massachusetts, a statewide affiliate of the international environmental justice organization 350.org, announced that they were going to co-sponsor an environmental forum with gubernatorial candidates at Faneuil Hall. When the day came, volunteers from all over the Commonwealth gathered near Quincy Market. Erica Sunders from Worcester was one of them. “I’ve been concerned…
Turning Up the Heat on Coal Power in Massachusetts
SOMERSET, Mass.—Henry David Thoreau, that famous son of Massachusetts, famously wrote, “If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” Climate activists across the commonwealth have been taking those words to heart. On 7 January 2013,…
Trash Tossing
Ah, this place called Earth. Stop for a minute. Look around you. Try to see your earthly surroundings as if through the eyes of a fascinated child. Bask in the majesty of the Great Smoky Mountains or stimulate and overwhelm your senses with the geologic colors and magnitude of the Grand Canyon; the lush splendor…
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