Category: Climate Change
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Raising the Profile on the Largest Environmental Issue of Our Time
IPS correspondent Tharanga Yakupitiyage spoke to Robert Scholes, ecologist and co-chair of Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES) assessment, about land degradation and efforts needed to halt and reverse the catastrophe. Land degradation caused by human activities is occurring at an alarming rate across the world, and the cost will be steep…
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Boston hosts international summit on climate change, announces plan to get more mayors invested in green energy
Mayors from far and wide convened in Boston prior to the U.S. Conference of Mayors for Boston’s International Mayors Climate Summit, a one-day event including a series of panels and discussions focused on mitigating the effects of climate change. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh opened the summit by announcing an initiative to get more cities and…
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Climate activists Protest Back Bay Tower’s Pipeline
On Saturday, April 21, over 100 protesters rallied against the construction of an incoming natural gas pipeline by marching from Boston Public Library to the base of 1 Dalton Street, a 742-foot skyscraper in the middle of Boston’s Back Bay. The tower is the one known customer of a planned 4,100-foot National Grid pipeline, approved…
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The Environmental Protection Agency announced that they intend to weaken Obama-era fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, but environmental groups are preparing to fight back. The standards, finalized in January 2017, require new cars to average 50 miles per gallon by 2025. Bowing to pressure from manufacturers, the Trump administration now says it will…
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Coalition Pushes for Clean Water and Justice in Massachusetts Prisons
Photo: Beth Prendergast On the morning of Nov. 28, a small group of people gathered in front of the Suffolk County House of Correction at South Bay. With them, a banner depicted a tidal wave rushing toward a line of prison cells. The words “#DeeperThanWater”—the group’s name—occupied the bottom of the banner, painted in prison-uniform…
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Economic Development vs. Climate Action: Rebutting Deniers and Wafflers
President Trump, probably telling President Xi Jinping of China that he was totally kidding about climate change being a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Photo by Thomas Peter, Courtesy of Reuters As negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, to put together a deal to implement the Paris Agreement, John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at…
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Bay State Consumers ‘Overcharged’ Billions by Utilities?
Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons A new report says two utility companies have inflated their energy costs for customers in Massachusetts and other New England states. The allegations are being made in a new white paper by the Environmental Defense Fund. Craig Altemose, master of public policy for the group 350 Mass for a Better Future,…
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Extreme Weather Exacerbates Homelessness in Australia and New Zealand
The images of Hurricane Harvey in Texas have shown how extreme weather can rob people of their homes. But what about those who have no home to begin with, or whose living situation is already precarious? Almost one-third of people who have been homeless have suffered extra trauma because of extreme weather, according to our…
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Extreme Weather Events: ‘Let’s Talk About Them’
With residents of Texas and Louisiana struggling to recover from what has now been classified as the worst rain event in U.S. history, Bay Staters will soon have a chance to discuss and learn more about extreme weather events. Karen Price is environmental co-chair for the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. The League is…
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Cape Downwinders Oppose House Plan to Revive Nuke Dump Plan
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…