Flipping through the latest issue of Commercial Fisheries News recently, I was somewhat surprised to find several stories about climate change interspersed with the ads for diesel engines and winches. These articles weren’t of the “Do you or don’t you believe” variety, or predictions of how high the seas would rise or how bad the storms/droughts/heat waves/cold waves would be. The tone of these stories was summed up pretty well by the cover: “Changing Ocean – what does it all mean?”It was a sobering read, to say the least. In short – rapidly increasing water temperatures, along with ocean acidification and shifting currents are playing havoc with our fishing grounds. Many of our most economically important fish and shellfish are not found where they used to be, and former strangers read more…

When CLF decided to sponsor a globe for the Cool Globes public art exhibition launching today on Boston Common, we knew we wanted to involve lots of people in its creation. The idea of a crowdsourced design for our globe was our way of connecting CLF’s often behind-the-scenes work on climate change to the people who give that work voice. As New England’s leading advocates for solutions to climate change, we often ask our members and friends to join us in appealing to decision makers in our region and in Washington – to support strong climate legislation, to fund energy efficiency programs and public transportation, to build cleaner cars and promote cleaner fuels to run them, to expedite renewable energy development and to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels read more…

This week on Talking Fish, Peter Shelley attempts to kick off Shark Week by trying dogfish; bad management, not scientific uncertainty, is to blame for the groundfish crisis; the Island Institute hosts a symposium on fisheries and climate change; in Fish Talk in the News, President Obama nominates Kathryn Sullivan to lead NOAA, and the agency refuses to list river herring under the Endangered Species Act. read more..

You’ve heard of the writing on the wall, but what is all that writing on the sidewalk and the street? You’ve seen it—yellow, orange, blue, red and white. Some of it is pretty easy to decipher like “DS” for “Dig Safe” or “STM” for “steam” but some of the drawings look more like ancient hieroglyphics.   It’s incredible what’s running right beneath our feet, like an entire natural gas infrastructure, but we rarely take time to think about it. In Massachusetts, we have over 21,000 miles of natural gas distribution pipeline running under our streets. That’s almost enough pipeline to circle all the way around the Earth. For perspective, you could drive from Boston to San Francisco and back three times and still not put 21,000 miles on your odometer. read more…

You just can’t find a more solid, conservative, reliable and grounded group than the American Geophysical Union.  Since 1919 the AGU has been the hub of the physical sciences in the United States providing a gathering place and information exchange for earth, air and space scientists and then communicating carefully reviewed scientific information to the public and decision-makers in government, business and throughout society. When a group like the AGU speaks through an official statement you know that every word of the statement has been scrutinized and carefully chosen to communicate important ideas and complex climate science as accurately as possible. The process of creating these statements involves hours, days, weeks and years of meetings, reviews, re-reviews and painstaking scrutiny. This means when that when the AGU issues (as it read more…

Two weeks ago, we took the first step toward filing suit against the companies that are supposed to be – but aren’t – collecting harmful landfill gas from the Central Landfill in Johnston, Rhode Island. Because these companies are not collecting this gas, the Landfill is releasing pollutants into Rhode Island’s air.  I’ll write more on each of the main pollutants later, but for right now suffice it to say that hydrogen sulfide makes the air smell like rotten eggs and also poses health risks, while methane is a potent greenhouse gas. By failing to collect landfill gas, the companies are not just dirtying the air; they are also violating the Clean Air Act.  And because they’re breaking the law, we can take them to court and try to get read more…

Small farms are part of the fabric of New England, and now – perhaps more than ever – consumers are devoted to supporting local agriculture in our region.  Unfortunately, some proposed federal regulations do not reflect these local values.  The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed new food safety rules  impose confusing and cumbersome restrictions on farm operations in the name of food safety.  We are all in agreement that food safety is extremely important.  But the new FDA rules were designed with large-scale agriculture in mind, and are not compatible with the scale of agricultural production operations in New England. These rules are critically important – they will impact how food in New England and around the country is grown, handled, and processed. Whether you are a farmer, a food read more…

July 29 - Overfishing Threatens Genetic Diversity of Winter Flounder - New research by scientists in six bays of Long Island, New York, shows that overfishing of winter flounder living in these bays has led to severe inbreeding, a factor that is not typically considered in marine fisheries management. August 2 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, August 2 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, fishermen and environmentalists are disappointed with NMFS’ rejection of observer requirements for the herring fleet; industry members say that uncertainty in stock assessments means catch limits should be eased; the NEFMC chairman tells NOAA that observer requirements for closed areas access are excessive; the Island Institute hosts a symposium on fisheries and climate change; oyster thieves hit another Cape Cod farm; three fishery management councils agree to protect deep-sea corals; NOAA announces a read more…

Local, renewable wood will heat CLF’s Montpelier office this winter.  Construction is now underway for the Montpelier, Vermont District Heat project. This will steer many of Vermont’s capital city’s buildings away from using fossil fuels for heat. With this project, CLF and Vermont are well on their way to kicking the fossil fuel habit through renewable heat. The project will replace Montpelier’s outdated central heating plant with efficient, modern wood-fired biomass boilers. Heat will travel underground through insulated pipes to connect the State House, City Hall, and other State buildings as well as privately owned downtown buildings – including CLF’s office. The new boilers will process 12,200 tons of sustainably harvested green wood chips per year, replacing an estimated 300,000 gallons of oil and reducing Montpelier’s annual greenhouse gas emissions read more…

Massachusetts Senator Markey is again leading the way at the national level to bring attention to an issue that has long been ignored–methane leaks from natural gas pipelines. A report prepared for Senator Markey was released today that should focus national attention on the need to address aging and leaking natural gas pipelines. The report highlights the safety concerns and quantifies the costs of leaking natural gas pipelines, concluding that over the past decade, Massachusetts ratepayers have paid over $1.5 billion for natural gas that never made it to their homes. Senator Markey’s report also found that these leaks contribute to climate change by releasing methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas into the air. “No Surprise” This important information is no surprise to us at CLF and builds upon what we have read more…