Environment
A Beginner’s Try At Ice Climbing In Southern New England
The defiant spirit of climbers always appealed to me. And ice climbing seemed especially magical. The ropes, the picks, the intrepid hikers who bravely scale rocks transformed by the cold into otherworldly obstacles.
Each winter, area climbers are drawn to spots like the Catskills in New York or the White Mountains in New Hampshire. But there are pockets of good ice in southern New England, too.
Read MoreOn The Presidential Campaign Trail, New Hampshire PFAS Activists Give—And Get—Attention
New Hampshire is at the forefront of a growing debate over PFAS chemical contamination in drinking water. And many of the Democrats campaigning to win the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary are taking notice.
Read MorePull The Plugs: How A Simple Move May Help Plum Island’s Salt Marshes Adapt To Sea Level Rise
Walking through the Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island with wildlife biologist Nancy Pau is to take a tour through the various ways humans have disrupted the saltwater marsh for the last 300-plus years.
The Resilient River: What It’s Like To Paddle Down The Quinnipiac
The Quinnipiac River was, historically, one of Connecticut’s most polluted. For decades, nineteenth-century factories and densely populated towns poured sewage and industrial waste into the river.
Read MoreWhy A Commercial Fisherman Turned To Restorative Ocean Farming
Bren Smith began his career as a commercial fisherman, but now is the owner of Thimble Island Oyster Farm, a 3D restorative ocean farm in Connecticut. He’s also the author of the new book, Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer.
Read MoreNew Butterfly Research Takes Wing In Concord’s Karner Blue Pine Barrens
It’s been about two decades since the government project began to preserve New Hampshire’s state butterfly, the Karner blue. Since then, the Karners have rebounded in their specially-conserved pine barrens near the Concord Municipal Airport.
Read MorePilgrim Is Closing. So Then What Happens To The Radioactive Waste?
This week, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will power down for the last time. Over the next few years, workers will move the radioactive fuel into storage, dismantle the plant, and clean up the site. The process is called decommissioning, and a lot of people are worried about safety, cost and where the nuclear waste will finally end up.
Read MoreRhode Island’s Approval Of A Second Offshore Wind Farm Reflects A Growing East Coast Trend. Here’s Why Some Are Concerned
Rhode Island regulators unanimously approved a contract to build the state’s second offshore wind farm. The Revolution Wind project will generate enough energy to power more than 270,000 Rhode Island homes a year. It’s just one of over a dozen offshore wind farms popping up across the Mid-Atlantic in what’s now been dubbed “The Saudi Arabia of Wind.” But some scientists and fishermen say the growth is too much too fast.
Read MoreTimeline: The 52-Year History Of The Pilgrim Nuclear Plant
For more than five decades, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth has been a controversial fixture in Massachusetts. Love it or hate it, by May 31, the plant will produce its last watt and shut down for good.
Read MoreFrom Carp to Pig-Hide: Bait Shortage Means Change for Lobsters’ Diet
Gulf of Maine lobstermen are casting around far and wide for new kinds of bait, now that federal regulators have cut herring quotas by 70 percent. Possible solutions range from the mass importation of a nuisance fish from the Midwest, to manufactured baits to pig hides.
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