Biden-Harris Administration Announces More than $2.1 Million for Community Air Pollution Monitoring Projects in Massachusetts Communities

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected five Massachusetts organizations to receive $2,157,520 in grants to conduct community air quality monitoring in multiple communities in the Commonwealth. The grants are among 132 air monitoring projects in 37 states which will receive $53.4 million from President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan to enhance air quality monitoring in communities across the United States. The projects are focused on communities that are underserved, historically marginalized, and overburdened by pollution, supporting President Biden's Justice40 Initiative. [...] 'With these new air quality monitoring grants, EPA is delivering significant funding in Massachusetts to improve air quality monitoring in and near underserved communities, support community efforts to monitor their own air quality, and promote air quality partnerships between communities and tribal, state, and local governments,' said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. [...] The EPA funding in Massachusetts consists of five grants. [...] Under the second grant, the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Inc. will receive $300,131. Using ten stationary continuous air monitors and five mobile monitors, BEAT will monitor for fine particle pollution (both PM2.5 and PM10), and nitrogen oxides throughout key locations in Pittsfield, Mass. including environmental justice neighborhoods, near point sources of pollution and in "control" locations away from these centers. Our air quality monitoring will be supplemented by a survey of community health conditions, conducted during the monitoring period, to look for correlating increases or decreases in severity." Read More

Energy prices are skyrocketing: Here's how you can get financial help this winter

Miriam Wasser & Yasmin Amer | WBUR

"Whether you heat your home with gas, oil or electricity, your energy bills are going to be shocking this winter. Compared to this time last year, the price of fuel oil is up 72%, and for some utility customers the cost of electricity and natural gas are up 129% and 28.6%, respectively. Global energy markets are complex, but the reason for your higher bill is fairly straightforward: fossil fuels are really expensive right now. And here in New England, natural gas and oil are the primary ways we heat our homes and run our electrical grid. The good news is that if you’re worried about being able to pay your utility bills this winter, Massachusetts is a particularly generous state when it comes to heating assistance. Here’s what you need to know..." Read More

HVA's Annual Auction for the Environment

Housatonic Valley Association Press Release

"The Housatonic Valley Association’s (HVA) Auction for the Environment will take place on Sunday, November 20th at South Farms in Morris. All are invited for a festive afternoon, with proceeds benefitting HVA’s education, land conservation, and clean water projects to protect the natural character and environmental health of the Housatonic Valley. [...] 'With climate change a clear and present reality, it's so important that we act now to protect this place we love for our children and grandchildren,' says [HVA Board member Christine Baranski, critically acclaimed Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and star in CBS’s The Good Fight and HBO’s The Gilded Age.] 'The auction is such a fun and fabulous way to help.' This year’s gala promises something for everyone including vacation getaways, experiences with local luminaries, art, wine and culinary offerings, home good selections, outdoor adventures, and more. Auctioneer extraordinaire Sherry Truhlar takes center stage at 3 p.m. where she’ll keep auction bidders on their toes with high energy, humor, and warmth. The picturesque White Barn at South Farms, and the artful hand of Bantam Blooms, creates just the right ambience for music (Powerstation Events), delectable edibles (Executive Cuisine), cocktails (Litchfield Distillery), and exuberant bidding. [...] Seating is limited, and tickets can be purchased by visiting hvatoday.org or by calling 860-672-6678." Read More

Wellesley teed up a bold move on climate action. Then came an offer it couldn't refuse.

Sabrina Shankman | The Boston Globe

"It took five years of painstaking work and delicate negotiations, but finally this summer town officials in Wellesley were on the cusp of a bold step to a climate-friendly future. Two new schools and a renovated town hall were to be completely free of fossil fuels. Officials hoped the projects would be an inspiration for residents and even for other communities. Then came a wrinkle as leaders were finalizing the plans this summer. National Grid, the gas and electric giant, offered nearly$1.5 million to help with the cost of cutting-edge electric heating and cooling equipment. But there was a catch. To get the money, the town would have to install gas lines to each of the new buildings. [...] Then, on Oct. 18, the Globe interviewed a National Grid official for this story, who verified the company’s position and confirmed details of the offer. Three days later, on Friday, Gagosian said he received an unexpected message from National Grid on his office voicemail. The company said it had decided to rescind the requirement for gas connections. [...] Even with Wellesley’s situation seemingly resolved, climate advocates said the offer and its terms underscore how the business interests of gas utilities put climate efforts at risk. They noted that National Grid’s offer came via Mass Save, the state’s energy efficiency program, which offers rebates for equipment such as electric heat pumps. While Mass Save is funded by ratepayers, the program itself is run by gas and electric utilities including National Grid. The program is meant to encourage reductions in harmful climate emissions, and yet in this case, it appeared to be aimed at ensuring those Wellesley buildings remained tied to fossil fuels. [...] The seeming contradiction of the rule — that rebates to curb the use of fossil fuels can only be received by those who commit to using more — has renewed calls to remove the Mass Save program from the utilities’ control and reform the way rebates are offered in Massachusetts." Read More

Public Input Sought on Local Land Conservation

Hilltown Land Trust

"Hilltown Land Trust is seeking input from local residents on land conservation priorities for the Hilltowns. They have created a brief online survey and are hoping to get responses from as many people as possible throughout the region. 'We want to ensure that our land conservation work is informed by the needs and priorities of the community,” said Sally Loomis, Executive Director of Hilltown Land Trust. “In addition to our public survey, we hope to have individual conversations with interested stakeholders.' The survey can be filled out at www.surveymonkey.com/r/9F52GHQ. Anyone who prefers a paper copy can request one by calling Hilltown Land Trust Engagement Manager Katie Carr at 413-628-4485, ext. 5 and providing a mailing address." Take the Survey 

Do bees remember landmarks? A new books says bees don't operate under a 'hive mind' and are pretty intelligent

Thomas Christopher | The Berkshire Eagle

"...The common attitude toward bees (one I shared until that conversation) is suggested by the popular expression “hive mind,” a disparaging way of describing a kind of group consciousness that does not permit any individual thinking. In fact, of the estimated 3,600 species of bees native to North America, 90 percent are “solitary.” That is, they live and raise their young alone, not as part of a hive. Even the more familiar “social” bee species, however, such as the honey bee (which was introduced to America from Europe) and our native bumblebees, which also live in colonies, are not robotic cogs in some biological machine, driven entirely by instinct as we have too often supposed. Rather, Chittka, explains, bees are very active learners, basing their behavior not only on their own experiences but also on what they observe in the behavior of other bees, even bees of different species. And they learn fast — much faster than humans. They have to, for the lifespan or an individual bee is typically short. Worker honey bees, for example, may only live some six to seven weeks, and during that interval they must master not only tasks around the hive such as helping to construct the combs and packing the cells with honey, but also, if they survive to mature into field bees, they must learn how to navigate miles-long trips outside the hive. This involves not only learning local landmarks so that they can find their way back to the colony, but also how to identify and remember the best sources of pollen and nectar (information that changes hourly as flowers move into and out of bloom), and how to avoid predators such as the crab spiders that lurk inside flowers waiting to devour bee visitors. Given all these challenges, it’s not surprising that, as Chittka pointed out, 10 percent of all bumblebees never return from their first foraging flight." Read More

Year-round farming in Massachusetts? How the State is investing in solutions

Meg Wilcox | Civil Eats

"Full Well Farm, a small vegetable and cut flower grower in the rural, Western Massachusetts town of Adams, also received a state grant to build a greenhouse to grow produce year-round, increase summer crop yields, and improve its own seedling propagation.

Farm co-owner Laura Tupper-Palches plans to grow salad mix, bunching greens such as kale, and radishes and turnips in the metal and double-insulated poly-roofing greenhouse. The fresh vegetables will supplement the root vegetables in their winter CSA, which is available regardless of income in collaboration with local organizations. The farm also delivers to low-income residents and sells at the North Adams farmers’ market, which has a SNAP matching program. [...] Tupper-Palches also installed a simpler type of geothermal system in the greenhouse called a “climate battery.” It draws warm air from the soil about eight feet down, heating the greenhouse above freezing during the winter, trimming its propane use. 'We did it to reduce propane,' she said. 'We don’t really have a lot of fossil fuel input. We don’t have a tractor . . . so getting a greenhouse that we would be heating with propane throughout winter just felt not in line with what we are doing.' In the summer, fans push the hot air down into the soil, 'recharging the battery', or reservoir of warm air in the soil." Read More

Manchin's Pipeline Loss Shows Frontline and Green Groups Are Gaining Steam

Justin J. Pearson | Yes! Magazine

"...I decided to move home to be closer to my family in southwest Memphis. That’s when I found out that two major oil companies were planning to build a crude oil pipeline through the city, and it would carry dirty oil to the Gulf of Mexico for export. The Byhalia Pipeline planned to run through my childhood neighborhood—a predominantly Black community. We are already suffering from 17 toxic facilities and have a cancer risk rate four times the national average. Both of my grandmothers, who lived in southwest Memphis, have died of cancer. The pipeline company’s spokesperson went on record saying that they chose my home for a pipeline because it was 'the point of least resistance.' Or, in other words, they believed my community—because it was predominantly Black—would not have the power to fight. [...] I had to do something. And so I galvanized, organized, and mobilized resistance, along with my family, leaders of the southwest Memphis Black neighborhood associations, and two landowners who refused to sell their property to the pipeline company: Clyde Robinson and Scottie Fitzgerald. We launched our movement to breathe clean air and end the reign of corporate power and pollution amid the Movement for Black Lives chanting 'we can’t breathe' and a pandemic disproportionately killing Black people and lower-income people. After months of multiracial and multi-socioeconomic coalition building across the country, fierce pipeline opposition from Memphians, negative national press coverage about the pipeline and environmental racism, legislation being proposed at the county and city level, and court cases challenging eminent domain, the companies canceled the project. This cancellation sent shockwaves through the oil and gas industry. There was, in fact, strong resistance to pipelines and fossil fuels in Black and Brown communities. [...] The Byhalia Pipeline win is about a bigger pattern happening across the country: Everyday people, who had no plans to become activists, are securing wins to keep oil and gas pollution out of their communities and our climate." Read More