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By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — With the help of a $50,000 grant, the town will explore the feasibility of a geothermal heating and cooling system for the proposed town campus project.Over the next year, Deerfield will explore the possibility of using the earth below...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Before acclaimed environmental activist Catherine Coleman Flowers said one word about herself at the outset of a talk at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday night, she expressed gratitude to marginalized communities across...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Filling in some blanks on her economic development plans, Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday she wants to reauthorize the life sciences initiative at $1 billion for the next decade, and launch a separate $1 billion, 10-year climate tech initiative that...

By EMILEE KLEIN

With the state dealing with catastrophic consequences of climate change, the debate around forest management continues to make headlines as Massachusetts policymakers discuss the best way to maximize carbon sequestration in forests.Trees and other...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — A local artist hopes some Main Street building owners are willing to donate or rent their facades to exhibit a climate crisis tribute to Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.Joseph “JJ” White has crafted a 17½-foot-wide,...

By EMILEE KLEIN

The influential lobby group Mothers Out Front took aim at the natural gas industry this week, using its monthly climate action call to encourage people to push for a future without gas.Each month, the statewide group with local chapters in the Pioneer...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — As debate continues over how best to develop solar throughout the state to help meet an ambitious net-zero emissions goal, representatives from Mass Audubon and Harvard Forest are touting a recently completed report that details how solar...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Three faculty members at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are joining the state’s new Climate Science Advisory Panel, a group of 21 experts who will attempt to bridge the communication and knowledge gap between policymakers and...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — The climate crisis is fueling a steady growth in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather, and Massachusetts cities and towns face an increasingly common conundrum trying to respond to those crises.Many of the disasters that have hit...

By CHRIS LARABEE

A trend of warm years further cemented itself in 2023, as Massachusetts experienced, on average, its warmest year on record, according to new data from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.The average temperature around Massachusetts for the year...

By JAIMEE FRANCIS

Heat pumps, which use electricity rather than directly burning fossil fuel, are a key piece of Massachusetts’ goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But the state has hit only 1% of its installation target, in large part because...

E - The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: How feasible is so-called Direct Air Capture as a tool in mitigating runaway climate change? — James Hawthorne, Tampa, FloridaThe United Nations has emphasized limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels...

By JACOB NELSON

“So much was just about to bloom,” said Suna Turgay of Flowerwork Farm in Northampton. “And then the flooding came.”Warmer, wetter and less predictable weather are all on the rise in New England as our climate changes. The idea of normal is constantly...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Massachusetts will fail to hit a major emissions reduction requirement in 2030 unless Beacon Hill passes significant legislation to accelerate progress, leaders of a top advocacy group warned this week.As plans begin to take shape for the...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Ice once both founded and hindered research for glacial geologist Julie Brigham-Grette.As a graduate student working off the coast of Alaska four decades ago, loose sea ice would accumulate onto the shores of Brigham-Grette’s campsite and...

By MADDIE FABIAN

For farms across western Massachusetts, the effects of climate change were tangible this growing season.At Red Fire Farm with property in Montague and Granby, co-owner Sarah Voiland said that after the May frost event, the farm’s full harvest on...

By SAM DRYSDALE

On the route to decarbonization, the state is so far on target with its goals, the Healey administration says, but there is more work to be done with the most intense period of rapid decarbonization quickly approaching.Gov. Maura Healey’s...

By JACOB NELSON

In many ways, farming is an act of faith. Faith that nature will provide for a harvest, and a farmer’s faith in themselves to figure out whatever challenges arise. Some years bring bumper crops, others disappointment, but with climate change fueling...

By BELLA LEVAVI

BUCKLAND — Nine Mohawk Trail Regional School eighth graders were among the more than 130 students from across western Massachusetts to attend a recent Youth Climate Summit, exploring how they can spearhead change to address the climate crisis.“I...

By JACOB NELSON

It’s hard to throw water on a burning house while trying to rebuild it at the same time, but that’s exactly what addressing climate change requires. Rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are already changing the planet. The choice is whether to...