Hi Friend,
Thank you to everyone who joined last night's Green Drinks conversation! Elizabeth Saunders, the Massachusetts Director of Clean Water Action, spoke about current waste management practices and how we can achieve a Zero Waste society. Pittsfield's Commissioner of Public Utilities Ricardo Morales also joined in on the conversation to speak a little on the current situation with Community Eco Power - the trash incinerator in Pittsfield. If you were unable to attend, the recording of this event will be on BEAT's Youtube Channel by the end of the week.
Also, this Friday is the start of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Birds are everywhere, all the time, doing fascinating things! Consider taking part in this four-day, citizen-science event where the world comes together for the love of birds!
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,
Jane, Rose, Jake, Noah, and Chelsey
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It's Black History Month. Each week during February, BEAT will be celebrating Black environmentalists, spotlighting environmental inequalities, and honoring the contributions of Black folks to the environmental justice movement.
This week we are celebrating Jeannine "JBK" Kayembe.
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Jeannine Kayembe is an artist and activist in the LGBTQ+ community that advocates for food security, social & environmental justice, and civic engagement. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Urban Creators, a Philadelphia-based collaborative working to "build equity and collective liberation" in the Black community. Through Urban Creators, Jeannine lead her community with a vision to transform a two-acre plot of vacant land into a farm. It took over two years, but they finally began to see the land transform into what is now known as Life Do Grow Urban Farm. Since its creation, the farm has developed youth programs that have engaged over 7,000 students and volunteers, and provided jobs, political education, workforce training, and mentorship for dozens of Philadelphia youth and young adults. The farm has also invested and created sustainable infrastructure, such as outdoor classrooms, rain collection systems, greenhouses, and mobile art walls. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Life Do Grow organized Mobile Markets that made produce, meals, PPE, and other critical resources accessible to their community. "The Urban Creators are deeply committed to [their] core values of: Honoring Culture & Legacy, Imagining New Futures, Racial & Economic Justice, Balance & Emergence, Interconnection & Relationships, The Earth, Freedom of Expression, Holistic Wellness, and Collaborative Leadership."
Through her leadership at Life Do Grow, Jeannine Kayembe has changed the narrative of what environmental justice means by changing the environment of her neighborhood into a safer space and an urban oasis using healthy food, sustainability, education, and public art.
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You can learn more about Jeannine Kayembe and Urban Creators by visiting the sources linked below:
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A potential buyer could turn Pittsfield's waste-to-energy plant into a transfer station. That's news to city officials
Felix Carroll | The Berkshire Eagle
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"Community Eco Power may have found a buyer for its waste-to-energy facility on Hubbard Avenue in Pittsfield.
In a letter to employees, the head of the company said the future use of the 5.8-acre Pittsfield facility, with its distinctive billowing smoke, could be as a trash transfer station. [...] When contacted by phone on Saturday, Mayor Linda Tyer told The Eagle that the city knows nothing about the plans. 'We have not been notified about this latest development, which is obviously disappointing to me because this has a significant impact on the way that we manage the city’s solid waste,' she said." Read More
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30 Years of Project FeederWatch Yield New Insights About Backyard Birds
Gustave Axelson | All About Birds
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"Since 1987, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada have partnered on Project FeederWatch to mobilize thousands of citizen scientists across North America to count birds in their backyards over the winter. Three decades of data provide a comprehensive look at continental wintertime populations of feeder birds over the late 20th and early 21st centuries—including some compelling stories of range expansions and contractions, populations in flux, and birds adapting to changing environments." See Graphics & Read More
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Date set for first youth-led climate trial in U.S. history
Lucas Thompson | NBC News
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"For the first time in U.S. history, a youth-led climate change lawsuit will go to trial. In Held v. State of Montana, 16 youth plaintiffs have sued the state over its energy policy, alleging that its heavy dependence on fossil fuel development accelerates climate change and infringes on their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. The trial will start Feb. 6, 2023, according to documents obtained by NBC News. The complaint was filed in March 2020. In August 2021, a judge denied the state’s move to dismiss it, allowing it to move to trial — the first lawsuit of its kind in the United States." Read More
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Chimpanzees found treating wounds with insects, furthering debate about animal empathy
Gabriella Miranda | USA Today
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"It has been long known chimpanzees are an evolving and smart species, but have they learned how to use their own medicine to treat wounds? One study says they have. Chimpanzees are catching insects and placing them directly onto a wound, according to a study in Current Biology. Scientists analyzed behavior in chimpanzees in the West African nation of Gabon and noted the animals treat their wounds and the wounds of others using insects." Read More
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Top corporations have vowed to fight climate change. Researchers say their plans fall short.
Steven Mufson | The Washington Post
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"...the climate plans of 25 high-profile corporations, from Amazon to Volkswagen to Walmart, that have vowed to slash their emissions to net zero. The study found that, on average, existing plans would reduce emissions by about 40 percent — significant, but not enough to prevent the worsening effects of a warming planet. Moreover, eight of the 25 companies excluded the type of emissions created when customers use their products, such as when motorists burn gasoline. Those emissions — known as “scope 3” — typically account for 70 percent or more of corporate emissions, according to MSCI, a financial information firm." Read More
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Going Beyond Composting
Natalie Peart | Yes! Magazine
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"Each year, Americans throw out 400 pounds of food per person. Here are three composters who are thinking about the soil as well as better food waste systems." Read More
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An environmental justice analysis of distribution-level gas leaks in Massachusetts, USA
Marcos Luna & Dominic Nicholas | Energy Policy, Volume 162 via Science Direct
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"A growing body of research shows that natural gas leaks at the distribution level are much more common and extensive than previously thought. Using recently available high resolution leak data, this analysis of natural gas leaks across the state of Massachusetts shows that People of Color, limited English speaking households, renters, lower income residents, and adults with lower levels of education are disproportionately exposed to natural gas leaks and that their leaks take longer to repair, as compared to the general population, and particularly as compared to White residents and to homeowners." Read More
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To Counter Global Warming, Focus Far More on Methane, a New Study Recommends
Phil McKenna | Inside Climate News
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"The Environmental Protection Agency is drastically undervaluing the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas when the agency compares methane’s climate impact to that of carbon dioxide, a new study concludes.
The EPA’s climate accounting for methane is “arbitrary and unjustified” and three times too low to meet the goals set in the Paris climate agreement, the research report, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found. The report proposes a new method of accounting that places greater emphasis on the potential for cuts in methane and other short-lived greenhouse gasses to help limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels." Read More
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Flourishing plants show warming Antartica undergoing 'major change'
Phoebe Weston | The Guardian
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"Antarctica’s two native flowering plants are spreading rapidly as temperatures warm, according to the first study to show changes in fragile polar ecosystems have accelerated in the past decade. The increase in plants since 2009 has been greater than the previous 50 years combined, coinciding with rapidly rising air temperatures and a reduction in the number of fur seals, according to researchers working on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. [...] In 2018, for example, an invasive grass species called Poa annua – which is often used on golf courses – colonised Signy Island. Cannone said: 'The ingression of alien species can induce a dramatic loss of the native biodiversity of Antarctica which required million of years of evolution and survival. Moreover, the vegetation change will imply a domino effect on the whole biota of the terrestrial ecosystems.'" Read More
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Inside a Beaver Lodge
Mary Holland | Naturally Curious
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"Recently I came upon an abandoned beaver lodge that was built on the edge of a river that had receded to below one of the entrances to the lodge before it froze. This left the entrance to the lodge visible as well as accessible. Assuming no-one was home (exposed entrance meant beavers most likely weren’t in residence and there were no visible tracks in the snow) I decided to investigate. [...] This bird’s eye view of the interior of a beaver lodge reminded me of the tale of John Colter, a trapper who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. While secretly trapping beavers on Blackfoot hunting grounds he was discovered and chased by Blackfoot braves. Running for his life he is said to have reached the Madison River where he dove in, somehow found the entrance to a nearby beaver lodge and hid inside it until it was safe to come out." Read More
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
We list events from a variety of local and regional organizations and individuals.
Events with BEAT:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16
SATURDAY,FEBRUARY 19
Community Calendar:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18
SATURDAY,FEBRUARY 19
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23
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JOBS
We list jobs related to the environment from a variety of organizations.
Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) | Stockbridge
***Are you a non-profit environmental organization looking for willing, capable, and *free* summer interns?
The Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College provides funding to students to pursue unpaid environmental summer internships with non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, supervised research, and creative endeavors. Learn more about this summer program and how you can get involved here.
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Environmental Monitor
February 9, 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:
Pioneer 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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