"Volunteers needed to control and eliminate water chestnut at Lake Mansfield! Join Dale Abrams to help with the hand-pulling of this invasive aquatic weed. Recently, lake paddlers noticed a small patch of European Water Chestnut on the northwest end of the lake. The innocuous-looking invasive forms dense floating mats on the lake’s surface that can easily displace native species and interfere with recreational activities. Originally from Eurasia, the Water Chestnut was introduced in 1897 to aquatic gardens in Cambridge, MA, and by the turn of the century had already begun spreading throughout lakes and rivers in the northeast United States. One acre of Water Chestnut can produce enough seeds in a single season to cover 100 acres the following year, and the spiky nut-like seeds can remain viable for up to seven years, so ongoing monitoring and control effort is vital. Lake Mansfield volunteers submitted documentation to our local conservation commission this past summer and received a green light to move forward in controlling this plant through hand pulling beginning as soon as they emerge in spring. JOIN THE WATER CHESTNUT CONTROL TEAM." Learn More & Get Involved

"Forests cover more than 60 percent of land in Massachusetts. To avert the most dire consequences of climate change, those woodlands must be protected, a recent report from the United Nations’ climate change body warns. Trees play a crucial role in climate plans because they pull carbon from the atmosphere and, through the process of photosynthesis, convert it into trunks, roots, and limbs. 'In New England, we sit on a giant and powerful carbon-sucking machine,' said Andrea Colnes, director of the Exemplary Forestry Center at the New England Forestry Foundation. But when they are cleared, trees release all the carbon they’ve stored. In a report published last month, the world’s top climate body cautioned that the world is chopping down forests at an unsustainable clip. In 2019, about 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions came from deforestation, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found. In the push for a livable climate, slowing that process could go a long way. In fact, protecting forests — as well as other ecosystems that sequester large amounts of carbon, like peatlands and wetlands — could reduce emissions by as much as 30 percent. 'That’s good news among the grim news,' said Bronson Griscom, senior director of natural climate solutions at Conservation International and a lead author on the recent IPCC report. Unfortunately, right now, New England is moving in the wrong direction. The region’s forests have rebounded since Colonial settlers chopped down most of them by the mid-1800s. But in recent years, rates of deforestation have increased. A 2017 Harvard study found that New England is losing an average of 65 acres a day of woodlands, mostly due to development." Read More

"Heat pumps – heating and cooling systems that run entirely on electricity – have been getting a lot of attention recently. They’ve been called the 'most overlooked climate solution' and 'an answer to heat waves.' [...] As temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions rise, heat pumps, which can be easily powered by renewable energy, promise to provide a pathway to carbon-free home heating. [...] But despite this global surge in popularity, heat pumps in the U.S. are laboring under a misconception that has plagued them for decades: That if the temperature falls to below 30 or even 40 degrees Fahrenheit, their technology simply doesn’t work. 'Do heat pumps work in cold weather' is even a trending question on Google. Air-source heat pumps — there are also geothermal heat pumps and water-source heat pumps — are poorly named and poorly understood. (According to one small 2020 study from the heating tech company Sealed, about 47 percent of homeowners in the U.S. Northeast had never even heard of heat pumps.) They are essentially reversible air conditioners: Like AC units, they can take heat from inside a home and pump it out to provide a cooling effect. But unlike air conditioners, they can also run backwards — drawing heat from outdoors and bringing it inside to warm a home. That process of moving heat rather than creating it explains why heat pumps are mind-blowingly efficient. A gas furnace — which burns natural gas to create heat — can only reach around 95 percent efficiency. A heat pump can easily reach 300 or 400 percent efficiency; that is, it can make around 3 to 4 times as much energy as it consumes. [...] Over the past decade or so, heating companies began developing a new generation of heat pumps with 'inverter-driven variable-speed compressors' — a mouthful of a term that essentially gives the heat pump the ability to more quickly transport heat from frigid outdoor air. [...] Utilities and states have started offering rebates for consumers to install heat pumps, even in colder states like New York, Massachusetts, or Maine. [...] The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, has resources for installers and consumers, including a list of air-source heat pumps that operate well under the climate conditions of Northeast states." Read More

"Survival of freshwater ecosystems is critical both for biodiversity and for people. They provide clean water for drinking, agriculture and sanitation. Pictured here is the Rondegat River, Cederberg, which was the site of an alien fish eradication program in 2012. Since then, biodiversity in the area has flourished." See More Photos & Read More

"As a Becket town board readies to take more comment on a proposed luxury camping project, opposition appears to be growing, based on signs sprouting near the fabled Dream Away Lodge. [...] The company [Hit the Road RV LLC], whose managing partner is Daniel I. Weinstein, of Boston, seeks a special permit to place 100 camping luxury structures on roughly 48 acres of property beside the former lodge on County Road. [...] Ahead of this week’s meeting, an attorney for project opponents filed a letter with the board calling on officials to require that the applicant put into writing any changes it has made to its original permit application. In a letter last week, attorney Elisabeth C. Goodman, of Cain Hibbard & Myers in Pittsfield, also questioned the environmental analysis submitted by the developer. She called on the board to hire an engineer 'to study the impacts of the proposed development.' 'If approved, the 400-person glamping resort would have a very substantial impact on the natural and built environment in the area of the proposed site,' she wrote. 'The extent of this impact is unknown.' Members of a newly formed nonprofit, Concerned Residents of Becket Inc., submitted a 17-page statement to the Planning Board. The group says it represents 30 families and is being advised by Goodman. The group claims that the town’s zoning bylaws do not allow for the proposed three-season development, which residents believe to be too big for the area. [...] 'The Concerned Residents of Becket are more concerned than ever about the enormous and unexamined impact of this project,' the group says its filing. 'The project’s impact upon neighborhood character and social structures, public safety, traffic, and the natural environment, including especially wildlife, as well as on the fragile natural resources and recreation opportunities in the area, will be far ranging and dramatic, far outweighing any benefits to the town.'" Read More

"Trying to look like a reed so as not to attract human attention, but all fluffed out to impress a potential mate, this male American Bittern strikes a formidable pose. While its impressive call earned it several descriptive common names such as 'stake-driver,' and 'thunder-pumper,' (to hear this call, go to https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Bittern/sounds) the sudden appearance of white feathers that are usually concealed beneath its wings signals copulation is imminent." Read More

"About 20m acres of cropland in the United States may be contaminated from PFAS-tainted sewage sludge that has been used as fertilizer, a new report estimates. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products heat-, water- or stain-resistant. Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, they have been linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, liver problems, birth defects, immunosuppression and more. Dozens of industries use PFAS in thousands of consumer products, and often discharge the chemicals into the nation’s sewer system. The analysis, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is an attempt to understand the scope of cropland contamination stemming from sewage sludge, or biosolids. Regulators don’t require sludge to be tested for PFAS or closely track where its spread, and public health advocates warn the practice is poisoning the nation’s food supply. Dozens of industries use PFAS in thousands of consumer products, and often discharge the chemicals into the nation’s sewer system. The analysis, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is an attempt to understand the scope of cropland contamination stemming from sewage sludge, or biosolids. Regulators don’t require sludge to be tested for PFAS or closely track where its spread, and public health advocates warn the practice is poisoning the nation’s food supply. [...] All sewage sludge is thought to contain the dangerous chemicals, and the compounds have recently been found to be contaminating crops, cattle, water and humans on farms where biosolids were spread. Sludge is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process that’s a mix of human excrement and industrial waste, like PFAS, that’s discharged from industry’s pipes. Sludge disposal can be expensive so the waste management industry is increasingly repackaging it as fertilizer because excrement is rich in plant nutrients. [...] EPA records show over 19bn pounds of sludge has been used as fertilizer since 2016 in the 41 states where the agency tracks the amount of sludge that’s spread, but not the location. It’s estimated that 60% of the nation’s sludge is spread on cropland or other fields annually. The consequences are evident in the only two states to consistently check sludge and farms for PFAS contamination. In Maine, PFAS-tainted fields have already forced several farms to shut down. The chemicals end up in crops and cattle, and the public health toll exacted by contaminated food in Maine is unknown. Meanwhile, the state is investigating about 700 more fields for PFAS pollution. The health cost of using sludge outweighs the benefits, advocates say. Many have questioned the sense in spending billions of dollars to pull sludge out of water only to inject the substance into the nation’s food supply, and calls for a ban on the practice are growing louder. The EPA could today require treatment plants to test sludge for PFAS and warn farmers that they may be contaminating fields, but it has refused to do so,' Faber said." Read More