Hi Friend,
Thank you to Richard Greene who gave a riveting and very informative Pittsfield Green Drinks presentation on wildlife track and sign yesterday evening. And thank you to everyone who attended. It was our largest turnout yet for a Green Drinks gathering, with OVER ONE HUNDRED participants!
If you tried to join and were unable to, we're sorry about that; our meeting "room" was at maximum capacity. The good news, though, is that we recorded the whole presentation. So, if you weren't able to make it, no worries—the video will be available on our Youtube channel by the end of the week.
There are a lot of great articles this week — some are challenging, but many have good news that will hopefully lighten your day and ignite some hope.
Thank you for all you do to protect the environment,
Jane, Rose, Jake, Noah, and Chelsey
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*REMINDER*
TRACK & SIGN PHOTO SUBMISSION
Don't forget to submit your track and sign photos by January 28th if you want them to be part of BEAT and Northeast Wildlife Trackers' evening of track/sign I.D.
- PLEASE have some sort of gauge in the photo so there is a sense of size. This could be a ruler (ideal), a pencil, your hand, or boot—something with a known length.
- Check that the picture is in focus; take several and pick the best.
- Perhaps the individual track does not have good detail; if so, take long view photo(s) of the trail as well.
- It can be helpful to have both closeup and long view photos.
- Time of day and temperature information is appreciated.
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Send to [email protected] with heading “Tracks”
- Submissions should be sent no later than January 28th.
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***We can't guarantee that all photos will be shown; it depends on the amount submitted, quality of photo, and discussion time. |
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"Tina Cornell from the Mothers Out Front organization leads a group of environmental activists from the Berkshires in a statewide rally to put pressure on energy companies across Massachusetts to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in November." |
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Commission on Clean Heat eyes road map to cut building emissions
Colin A. Young | The Berkshire Eagle
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"The new advisory commission created to help the state meet its carbon reduction requirements by shifting to cleaner buildings and addressing heating fuels that contribute to emissions was sworn in Wednesday and will begin gathering public input on the transition in March. Governor Charlie Baker created the Commission on Clean Heat [...] through an executive order last year and gave the panel a Nov. 30 deadline to recommend policies that “seek to sustainably reduce the use of heating fuels and minimize emissions from the building sector while ensuring costs and opportunities arising from such reductions are distributed equitably." Read More.
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New York City says goodbye to gas, establishing a blueprint for other communities
Seth Mullendore | Utility Drive
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"New York City [...] made headlines as Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law banning gas combustion in new buildings. The same gas ban again made headlines this month, this time in the form of a statewide ban proposed as part of Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2022 State of the State Address. That means no new gas stoves, no new gas furnaces, and no new gas water heaters. Two additional significant developments garnered less national attention — an air permit was denied for a large gas power plant proposed in Queens and the owner of multiple gas plants in New York City ended its bid to repower one of its facilities in Brooklyn. The demise of these two projects collectively eliminates the development of more than a gigawatt of new gas in New York City." Read More.
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Black Bears Giving Birth
Mary Holland | Naturally Curious
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"It’s hard to imagine at this time of year, but sometime between the last half of January (the full moon in January is often called the ‘bear moon’) and the first part of February Black Bears give birth to between one and five (usually two) tiny, blind, almost hairless, 9-inch long, one-half pound cubs, each about the size of a chipmunk." Read More.
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Midwest power plants face shutdown after EPA proposes denying requests to keep using unlined coal ash ponds
Ethan Howland | Utility Drive
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"The EPA is interpreting and enforcing its coal ash rules for the first time since they were passed in 2015, during the Obama administration, according to Earthjustice. The EPA's action will set a precedent for more than 200 U.S. coal-fired power plants and the nearly 750 ponds and landfills where their ash is stored, the advocacy group said. [...] Under a rule finalized in mid-2020, the EPA allowed utilities to continue dumping coal ash from their power plants into unlined basins until April 11, 2021. Coal ash contains toxins like mercury, cadmium and arsenic, and the impoundments where it has been dumped are a source of groundwater contamination, according to the EPA.
The agency received 57 applications to extend the coal ash deadline, and 53 of them were complete, the EPA said Tuesday." Read More.
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On whitebark pine and climate change: A conversation with Michael Durglo, Jr.
Lisa J. Watt | Ecotrust
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"On a beautiful sunny day in the traditional homelands of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in western Montana, Michael Durglo, Jr., director of the Tribes’ Tribal Historic Preservation Office, virtually spoke with Brent Davies, Emilie Chen, and Lisa Watt about the Tribes’ preservation efforts of the whitebark pine tree and why those efforts are important. He also talked about climate change, the impacts he has witnessed in his homeland, and how humans need to shift our thinking to be more conscientious of all life around us." See Photos & Read More.
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Record number of Yellowstone wolves shot after roaming outside park
Guardian staff and agencies | The Guardian
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"Twenty of Yellowstone national park’s renowned gray wolves roamed from the park and were shot by hunters in recent months – the most killed by hunting in a single season since the animals were reintroduced to the region more than 25 years ago, according to park officials. ...The Phantom Lake pack is now considered “eliminated” after most or all of its members were killed over a two-month span beginning in October, according to the park. Now, only an estimated 94 wolves remain in Yellowstone. But with months to go in Montana’s hunting season – and wolf trapping season just getting under way – park officials said they expected more wolves to die after roaming from Yellowstone, where hunting is prohibited. The park superintendent [...] has urged Montana’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, to shut down hunting and trapping in the area for the remainder of the season. But Gianforte, who himself trapped and killed a Yellowstone wolf last year, violating state hunting regulations, has not been receptive to the request..." Read More.
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Mycological Strategies for Surviving
Ecological Landscape Alliance
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"We have an estimated 8.3 million species on Earth. But, we are losing nearly 30,000 per year, meaning in the next century, we will lose ~3,000,000. And this is if the trends are linear, but many conclude the extinction rates are accelerating due to climate change caused by our population exploding. Sadly, what this may mean is that in a century we will lose more than 1/3 of the species on this planet and we are losing species faster than we can identify them. This loss of biodiversity is a direct threat to our health and food safety and the very soils that give us life. [...] Universal Truths in nature are sometimes so obvious that they are easily missed. One Universal Truth is that matter and life are based on network theory. The organization of galaxies, dark matter, neurons, roots, computer networks, social media, music, mathematics, and…mycelium are all structured similarly, conforming to string theory, interlacing each other through the orders of magnitude of existence. From these networks, matter organizes; life emerges. This is the way of Nature." See Photos & Read More.
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Energy Department slammed for funding "false" plastics solutions
Joseph Winters | Grist
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"The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, announced this week that it will invest $13.4 million in research funding to address the plastic industry’s contributions to pollution and climate change. But while the agency cast the investment as an opportunity to address urgent environmental problems while creating an 'influx of clean manufacturing jobs for American workers,' environmental advocates said it was the wrong approach. 'It’s a waste of tax dollars,' said Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency and founder of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics. Taking aim at the funding’s focus on 'upcycling' and biodegradable plastics, she said the grants perpetuated 'false solutions' that would keep the U.S. hooked on single-use plastics and do little to reduce the glut of plastic waste entering the oceans each year." Read More.
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20 Most Agribusinesses and Banks Involved With "Forest Risk" Commodities Are Falling Down on Deforestation, Global Canopy Reports
Georgina Smith | Inside Climate News
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"...The report, released Thursday by the U.K.-based non-profit, Global Canopy, tracked commitments by 500 of the key companies and financial institutions that use or finance “forest risk” commodities—those most closely linked to the destruction of the world’s forests, including beef, soy, palm oil and timber." Read More.
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Ecuador expands protected area around Galapagos Islands, providing safe passage for marine life
Susanne Rust | Los Angeles Times
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"Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso announced Friday that his government will expand protected waters off the Galapagos Islands to include a migratory corridor for sharks, turtles, fish and marine mammals.
The presidential decree will create more than 23,000 square miles of newly protected ocean around one of the planet’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems — a place where penguins and tropical fish swim with sea turtles and sea lions, as migrating hammerheads and tuna maneuver through the cold waters to mate, spawn and feed." Read More.
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~OPPORTUNITY TO SUPPORT BEAT~
Tommy's Compost is a local composting service that offers residential and commercial compost pick-up services year-round, and currently serving the Pittsfield, Hinsdale, Dalton, Windsor, Lenox, Cheshire and surrounding areas.
By signing up for Tommy's Compost not only will you reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to sustainability, but you will also support a local small business AND support BEAT! Because whenever you sign up for Tommy's Compost and use the code 1FORBEAT at checkout, BEAT receives $1.
Interested in using Tommy’s but located outside of their service area? When three people sign up from an out-of-area location in the Berkshires, Tommy’s is able to begin servicing that new area.
If you'd like to sign up for Tommy's Compost or learn more, you can check out their website or contact them through email.
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
We list events from a variety of local and regional organizations and individuals.
Events with BEAT:
Check back next week!
Community Calendar:
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19th
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20th
FRIDAY, JANUARY 21st
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22nd
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16th
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26th
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JOBS
We list jobs related to the environment from a variety of organizations.
***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
January 7, 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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