"...[The] fight against local disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls, a probable carcinogen, now will move to the 1st Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Two justices with the Environmental Appeals Board ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency was justified in changing course on how it would require the General Electric Co. to handle soils contaminated with PCBs. In February 2020, the agency revealed, after a secretive mediation process, that it would allow GE to bury most of the PCB-tainted sediments pulled from the river in a specially designed Lee landfill, a plan that it confirmed in a formal determination in December 2020." Read More

"...Like many birds, Northern Cardinals molt their feathers and grow new ones in late summer and early fall, after the breeding season is over and at a time when food is abundant. [...] The birds reach the peak of brilliance by midwinter ahead of the spring breeding season. [...] The richness of a male’s red feathers may make a difference in his reproductive success: One study found that in rural areas, brighter red cardinals tended to mate earlier and nest in higher-quality habitat—factors usually associated with more offspring. But for cardinals that live in cities, redder may not be better. A study in 2010 found that in urban areas brighter cardinals had poorer body condition and didn’t produce as many young as more subtly hued cardinals. The study’s authors said the surprising finding may have to do with the prevalence of non-native honeysuckle. [...] 'Studies like this show that one of the best things you can do for birds is provide habitat and food using native plantings...'" Read More

"...When conservationists claimed these lands, they were already richly inhabited by Indigenous Peoples who had been cultivating, conserving, and connecting with them since time immemorial. [...] Environmental and social justice champions like us can’t pretend that our feelings about America’s conservation history aren’t complicated. How can we appreciate a movement that created places of refuge for both humans and wildlife when that same movement tried to erase the existence of Indigenous Peoples from those very places? [...] Communities of color and Indigenous Peoples are overwhelmingly on the frontlines of climate change; they’re the ones bearing the brunt of higher temperatures, sea level rise, and stronger and more frequent severe weather events, including hurricanes and heatwaves. They’re the ones whose communities have been infiltrated by polluting petrochemical plants and fossil fuel production facilities. Yet, they’re also the ones who are being left out when environmental organizations are deciding how they’ll address climate change. [...] We can’t change the American environmental movement’s dark history of white supremacy. But if we want to light a sustainable and equitable path through the climate crisis, the environmental movement must close shop on the ivory tower and open the door to more diverse voices for a more just and inclusive future." Read More

"In the race to save at least some remnants of the world’s coral reefs, a new study shows only one thing really matters—capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Even at only that level of warming, more than 99 percent of areas previously seen as potentially safe havens for coral will disappear. Warming of 2 degrees C would wipe out all the “reef refugia” where corals might survive relentlessly warming oceans. The grim projections are made in research published today in the journal PLOS One using new climate models that more accurately show how interactions between different parts of the climate system, like winds, ocean currents, clouds and multiyear ocean temperature changes like El Niño, affect reefs. [...] Governments have agreed in international pacts on conservation and biodiversity that the loss of coral reefs represents the unraveling of one of the major strands of the web of life. Reefs will be one of the first major global ecosystems to be wiped out mainly by global warming, followed by glaciers and certain types of forests. As reefs and their fisheries dwindle, people are likely to go hungry without massive adaptation efforts in coastal areas of developing countries around the world." Read More

"The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on Wednesday approved a three-year spending plan for the state's energy efficiency program, Mass Save, that will provide an estimated $9 billion in benefits and aim to deliver 845,000 tons of emissions reductions. The efficiency program has a total budget of $3.94 billion for 2022-2024, with a "significant portion" going to electric heat pump incentives for residential, income-eligible and commercial and industrial customers, according to the DPU. The previous three-year budget was set at $2.8 billion. Regulators call the plan "transformational," but efficiency experts say continued incentives for some fossil fuel heating and the removal of provisions for low- and moderate-income customers make the order a "missed opportunity" to improve energy equity." Read More

"...As countries across the world have pledged to reduce carbon emissions, many Indigenous communities across the U.S. have been and are creating new energy futures. [...] On the Hawaiian island of Moloka’i, residents—many of whom are Native Hawaiian—pay a high price for electricity: $0.41 per kilowatt hour compared to the United States average of $0.13. Though Moloka’i residents use the least energy of all the Hawaiian Islands, they are saddled with the greatest expense. This energy inequality has led the community to try and gain more control over how their energy is sourced and distributed. [...] Even with success stories like these, the renewable energy sector is facing significant questions. [...] But experts argue renewable energy is still less damaging than our current model of fossil fuel dependence. And as the world invests big in renewables, the sector will likely see myriad community-led innovations and improvements..." Read More

"Carrying sickles, a group of Jordanians gather to harvest a wheat field that spreads around Amman’s City Mall. Logos of international supermarkets and franchises tower above the golden wheat, as dozens of people reap a crop that for thousands of years has been cultivated in the region. This collective harvest last summer in west Amman [...] was part of a grassroots initiative promoting food sovereignty by converting unused land into wheat fields. [...] The COVID-19 pandemic’s disruptions of supply chains have highlighted the problems of lacking food sovereignty. Since Jordan imports most of its key staples, it is particularly vulnerable to disruptions. A recent report published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found 53 percent of Jordanians are vulnerable to food insecurity. [...] For the founders of Barakeh, growing wheat in neglected plots of land is a way of reclaiming independence and promoting sovereignty in a country that relies heavily on food imports and foreign aid." See Photos & Read More