Hi Friend,
Come celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by attending our April Pittsfield Green Drinks event with Elena Traister, Professor of Environmental Studies at MCLA, who will give us a brief history of the CWA, as well as a summary of the primary pollutants affecting the Housatonic and Hoosic watersheds, and briefly touch on policy aimed at continuing to improve water quality. You can learn more about this gathering on our event calendar, and you can RSVP here!
Also, Earth Day is next week, and BEAT is planning an open house at our Environmental Leadership and Education Center located at 20 Chapel Street in Pittsfield. We will be holding an art build and doing some garden preparations (weather dependent). We will also be offering some light refreshments. So, come join us from 12-3 PM next Friday, April 22, and you'll be made welcome!
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment!
Jane, Rose, Jake, Noah, and Chelsey
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Photos: A Pittsfield wildlife photographer captures a bald eagle's fishing trips
Larry Parnass | The Berkshire Eagle
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"Mark Thorne, a wildlife photographer who lives in Pittsfield, has wanted to capture images of a bald eagle fishing for a long time. Last weekend, his wait ended. Thorne was able to photograph an immature bald eagle pull a fish from a local water body, which he declined to specify. Thorne waited 15 years to get this sort of series. 'I got the camera together just as it started its first of three attempts to get something in the water,” Thorne said. “Third time was the charm, as it plucked a small bluegill from the water and flew off.'" See More Photos
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Habitat for Humanity is Building in Southern Berkshire County
Erin O'Brien | Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity
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"Spring is here and Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity is working on a newly purchased property located at 40 Grove Street in Great Barrington. This home, built in the late 1800s, is being renovated as the first step to Habitat providing affordable homeownership in South County. The Town of Great Barrington and its Affordable Housing Trust chose to sell this 3-bedroom home to Habitat as part of their ongoing efforts to keep the area affordable for those hard-working families that work in the area. After renovations, this home will be made available for sale using a lottery system later this year according to the Dept. of Housing & Community Development standards. The lottery system gives all eligible applicants an equal chance of purchasing the home. Habitat will have trained volunteers to help people interested in purchasing this home available throughout the process. With rental costs rising, opportunities like this one give people a chance to own a home and build wealth for their families while having an affordable payment." Read More
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Microplastics found deep in lungs of living people for first time
Damien Carrington| The Guardian
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"...Samples were taken from tissue removed from 13 patients undergoing surgery and microplastics were found in 11 cases. The most common particles were polypropylene, used in plastic packaging and pipes, and PET, used in bottles. Two previous studies had found microplastics at similarly high rates in lung tissue taken during autopsies. People were already known to breathe in the tiny particles, as well as consuming them via food and water. Workers exposed to high levels of microplastics are also known to have developed disease. Microplastics were detected in human blood for the first time in March, showing the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year." Read More
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Natural gas investments fuel climate concerns
Colin A. Young State House News Service | WWLP
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"The tensions between what some key lawmakers would like to see Massachusetts do enroute to achieving net-zero carbon emissions and the proposals in a utility-driven report on the role natural gas could play in decarbonization were on full display Monday at the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. Unhappy with the process and the strategies described in the recently-filed Future of Gas report, chairwoman Sen. Cynthia Creem said the Legislature “may have to intervene” in the Baker administration’s study of the future of natural gas as Massachusetts strives to get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 'In my view, reaching net-zero emission requires that the future of gas is largely a future without gas,' Creem, the Senate’s majority leader and chairwoman of the committee, said. Monday’s hearing revolved around the Future of Gas report, which utility companies put together with consultants as part of a Department of Public Utilities exploration of how natural gas fits into Massachusetts’ energy future and whether the resource might help or hinder the state’s emissions reduction efforts. State law requires that Massachusetts reduce its emissions by 25 percent by 2020 (preliminary estimates show a 28.6 percent reduction), by 50 percent by 2030, by 75 percent by 2040 and by at least 85 percent by 2050, with tag-along policies to get the state to net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. All reductions are calculated against the baseline of 1990 emissions levels." Read More
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One Last Climate Warming in New IPCC Report
Bob Berwyn | Inside Climate News
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"Whatever words and phrases the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have been parsing late into Sunday night, its new report, issued Monday, boils down to yet another dire scientific warning. Greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2025 to limit global warming close to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), as targeted by the Paris Agreement, the report says. In a way, it’s a final warning, because at the IPCC’s pace, the world most likely will have burned through its carbon budget by the time the panel releases its next climate mitigation report in about five or six years. [...] The first two reports of each IPCC assessment cycle, one on the physical basis of climate science, and another about impacts and adaptation, are mostly based on unyielding physics, like how much global temperature goes up for every added increment of CO2, and how fast and high sea level will rise based on that warming. But the mitigation report, which outlines choices society can make to affect the trajectory of climate change, has to reconcile those scientific realities with economic and political assumptions..." Read More
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
We list events from a variety of local and regional organizations and individuals.
Events with BEAT:
FRIDAY, APRIL 15
TUESDAY, APRIL 19
Community Calendar:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
THURSDAY, APRIL 14
FRIDAY, APRIL 15
SATURDAY, APRIL 16
SUNDAY, APRIL 17
TUESDAY, APRIL 19
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
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JOBS
We list jobs related to the environment from a variety of organizations.
Trail Crew | | Berkshire Natural Resources Counsel | Pittsfield
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Environmental Monitor
April 8, 2022
The Environmental Monitor provides information on projects under review by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office, recent MEPA decisions of the Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and public notices from environmental agencies.
Berkshire Index:
CT River Valley Index:
Statewide Index:
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Public Notices
Public Notices listed here are from a variety of sources, from town conservation commissions and select boards to state and federal agencies. These listings are for Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties. Listings are only posted if they are environmental in nature. You can find all public notices for Massachusetts here.
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Berkshire Environmental Action Team
20 Chapel St., Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 464-9402
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