Do you live near the decaying Bel Air Dam off Wahconah Street in Pittsfield? This meeting is for you

Heather Bellow | The Berkshire Eagle

"A neighborhood meeting is scheduled for next month to let residents know about plans to remove a crumbling 19th century dam that threatens to release dangerous floodwaters and pollution into the city. The meeting and presentation about the Bel Air Dam will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Polish Falcon Club on Bel Air Avenue behind Harry’s Supermarket. It is organized by Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, as well as the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Office of Dam Safety, whose engineers will give a presentation about the removal and how it will affect residents. The $19 million project to remove the dam — built in 1832 to power a mill — is slated to begin summer of 2025 or spring of 2026. It’s been fast-tracked by the state given that it is on the brink of failure. [...] Engineers declared it unsafe in 2019, and the state announced in September that it would remove it. Doing so will be disruptive and involve heavy trucks and the possible shutdown of one lane of Wahconah Street. That’s because contractors have to dig up 355 tons of heavily polluted sediment that includes chromium, arsenic and lead. It then has to be shipped out of state to a licensed facility. [...] After a destructive break of an abandoned dam in Hinsdale in October 2022, The Eagle investigated the safety of all the county’s high-hazard dams and published a database of their conditions and most recent inspections." READ MORE

Letter: Don't just recycle – reduce and reuse, too

Andrew Ferrara | The Berkshire Eagle: Letter to the Editor

Berkshire Bounty Receives $15,000 Grant from Fallon Health

Barbara Moran | WBUR

"Berkshire County, MA-Berkshire Bounty is pleased to announce the award of a $15,000 grant from Fallon Health’s Annual Community Impact Grants program for our Food Purchase Program. [...] This grant comes at an important time as food insecurity rates continue to increase in our region. Berkshire Bounty’s emergency food site partners consistently report increasing numbers of people requesting food assistance and the need for more food to meet the growing demand. St. Joseph's Food Pantry in Pittsfield reports seeing an average of 10 new families each week. The Berkshire Food Project in North Adams reported doubling their meal service in April. Increases have been ongoing since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, growing because of inflation and the end of federal stimulus benefits. Colder temperatures present additional barriers which reduce access to nutritious food by vulnerable populations." READ MORE

Dumped, not recycled? Electronic tracking raises questions about Houston's drive to repurpose a full range of plastics

James Bruggers | Inside Climate News

"The message on the signs at the recycling drop-off site here was clear, and warmly welcomed by area residents who visited on a recent autumn Saturday to stuff bags of plastic waste into large green metal containers. 'All plastic, all numbers, all symbols,' proclaims one sign at the recycling site in Houston’s suburban Kingwood community, referring to the seven standard types of plastics, commonly identified on a plastic product by a number inside a 'chasing arrows' icon. 'Bag it and bring it,' reads another. Normally, recycling programs limit what kinds of plastic they accept, ruling out types that are difficult if not impossible to recycle. So Ken White, a resident of Kingwood, a leafy master-planned community known as 'the livable forest,' was taking full advantage of the opportunity on that sunny morning. Bag by bag, he was tossing “everything that is plastic” into bins bearing the names of the Houston Recycling Collaboration, ExxonMobil and three other companies. 'Styrofoam. Plastic bottles. Plastic wrap. Bubble wrap,' White said with a grin of appreciation. 'It’s great. I hate just throwing it away if it can be reused.' [...] But the effort is opaque, and dogged by contradictions. The city and its partners have shrouded their collaboration in secrecy. Electronic tracking by an environmental group indicates that the plastic waste isn’t getting repurposed, although families hoped it was going to a new chemical recycling operation opened late last year by ExxonMobil at its nearby Baytown Complex. And a planned $100 million plastic sorting center needed to fulfill the coalition’s vision of Houston as a hub for chemical, or 'advanced,' recycling remains unfunded and behind schedule." READ MORE

Phomopsis Galls

Mary Holland | Naturally Curious

"At this time of year, when leaves are rapidly falling off deciduous trees, it is easy to spot clusters of woody galls on the branches and trunks of Bitternut Hickory, Red Oak and maple trees, among others. These abnormal, woody growths known as Phomopsis galls are caused by a fungus in the genus Phomopsis. They begin to form as patches of rough bark, and when fully formed they range from the size of a pea up to the size of a basketball. Spores are produced by the fungus throughout the summer and are spread by wind and rain splashes. It is thought that spores infect a host by entering a wound in a young twig. The fungus then spreads to the branches and trunk. The galls do not kill the host tree, but can girdle small branches causing dieback. Many affected trees live for decades. (Photo: Bitternut Hickory tree infested with Phomopsis galls.)" READ MORE

Reader Photo Gallery: October 2023

Northern Woodlands

"Your October photos showed late season migratory birds, colorful foliage, and fall fungi. In North Haven, Connecticut, Ross Lanius documented a sobering view of three EAB-created hazard trees, while in Vienna, Maine, Sue Mayotte found a hazard of another kind in an exposed wasp nest. We love the sculptural look of Mary Hartt’s common merganser, and check out Steven Arcone’s surprising image of the capillary fringes of dew drops on a spider’s web." VIEW PHOTOS

One solution to the plastic problem may lie in bugs' bellies

Allyson Chiu | The Washington Post

"One way to help tackle the growing plastic pollution problem could be all around us: microscopic bacteria and fungi. A growing body of research has identified a host of microorganisms, some of which can be found in the bellies of certain larvae and other insects, that contain enzymes capable of breaking down common types of plastic. “In no small part because of just how much plastic we’ve polluted across the planet, in nearly every environmental type, microorganisms are starting to interact with plastic more,” said Anja Brandon, a plastics expert with Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit group. 'We’re finding some that are starting to either evolve and be able to handle this material or, fortuitously, we’re able to get to actually start breaking this down.' Research is still in the early stages, and it remains unclear how much plastic microorganisms could break down. But given the scale of plastic pollution, some experts say, it’s necessary to explore a variety of strategies. There are more than 170 trillion pieces of plastics in the world’s oceans — an amount that is doubling about every six years, according to a major study released in March. The most obvious way to curb plastic pollution, advocates say, is to stop producing the material. But that’s challenging for many reasons, including that it’s difficult to find plastic substitutes that are as cheap and effective. The world’s nations have moved to create a global treaty on plastic pollution, but they have struggled to agree on how to address the problem. Bacteria and fungi capable of breaking down plastics could help support traditional recycling efforts — if scientists can figure out a way for the microorganisms to do it at scale. How these organisms degrade the durable material can lead to different results. Most bacteria, for instance, secrete certain enzymes that allow them to break large molecules into smaller ones, Brandon said. In some cases, these enzymes can chop up a big molecule into its building blocks. Those simple monomers could be recovered and used to make new plastic, effectively recycling the material, she said. It’s also possible for microorganisms to break down plastics into water, carbon dioxide and organic material known as biomass, other experts say. [...] Much of the research into the ability of microorganisms to biodegrade plastics remains at the laboratory stage. But some experts say if the approach is scaled up and made to be more efficient, it could have some use in the real world." READ MORE

From tree planting to 'sponge cities': why nature-based solutions are crucial to fighting the climate crisis

Patrick Greenfield | The Guardian

"The natural world underpins human civilisation on every corner of the planet. From oceans to rainforests, grasslands to mangrove swamps, ecosystems feed billions of humans, produce clean water and provide materials for shelter. As the planet heats, scientists and conservationists are urging the world to harness and restore nature to maintain a habitable planet. Nature-based solutions is an umbrella term for using the power of nature to mitigate the impact of climate change while benefiting biodiversity and human wellbeing. There are thousands of examples: planting trees to shield buildings from heat; restoring wetlands to create 'sponge cities' that protect people from flooding; planting mangroves to hold back storm surges in coastal regions. Scientists say they are a cheap and underused option for protecting humanity from the environmental crises of the 21st century, improving food and water security, human health, and shielding communities from extreme weather. [...] Nature can help keep us safe from the worst effects in many cases. For example, in many parts of the world, rainfall is expected to become irregular, raining too much then raining too little. Using nature to hold more water in the landscape, whether that be through expanding wetlands or even reintroducing beavers near urban areas so their dams can slow the flow of water, can improve resilience to both drought and flooding.[...] Many scientists warn that human behaviour is driving the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth, with 1 million species at risk of disappearing. This, in turn, is degrading the planet’s ability to support human life and wellbeing." READ MORE