The story of renewable energy development in the United States has included many important moments in which the states have provided leadership – most notably through fostering the shaping and building of new markets for renewable energy markets through programs like Renewable Energy Standards (also known “Renewable Portfolio Standards”).  These efforts have been of great value to the states who put them in place and have complemented and reinforced the incentives and programs to build up renewable energy resources like wind and solar by the Federal Government. We are at a critical moment in the history of renewable energy development.  The collapse of coherent federal renewable energy policy, due to congressional inaction, in the form of failed attempts to put in place a Renewable Energy Standard and renew the Production read more…

This week on TalkingFish.org, read about summer flounder in the latest Local Summer Fisheries post, A Tale of Two Cod, and the weekly news roundup in Fish Talk in the News. read more..

America’s oceans and coasts are amazing resources that have benefited our economy, our culture and our way of life for centuries. In New England our ocean and coasts are also home to some of the country’s most unique and valuable wildlife areas and serve as refuge for endangered wildlife species. At the same time, New England’s coastal communities continue to depend on the resources, tourism and outstanding quality of life that our ocean and coasts provide. Our oceans and coasts face great challenges, and these challenges are growing tougher. As my cool surfing colleague Robin Just has noted, sea levels are rising 3 to 4 times faster along the east coast than the global average, according a new study by the United States Geological Survey. The rising waters put us at read more…

We didn’t always have a love affair with our lawns. Until the late 18th century, most rural homeowners had a patch of packed dirt outside the front door or a small garden that contained a mix of flowers, herbs and vegetables. Up until then, lawns were not practical and were seen strictly as a luxury for wealthy landowners who could afford grounds keepers to maintain the grass with hand tools. That all changed with the invention of the rotary mower and garden hose. Since then, green, weed-free lawns are common today and millions of Americans spend billions of dollars on landscaping companies to cut and maintain their grass. According to a 2000 Gallup survey, over 26 million US households hired a professional landscaping company. That little patch of green has read more…

Shipping lanes in and around San Francisco Bay are being changed to protect the many whales that feed in its krill-rich waters. Blue whales, fin whales, and humpbacks will all benefit from the changes. This action took two years of collaboration, data-sharing, and negotiating among the shipping industry, government agencies, and environmental groups. This, in a nutshell, is the regional ocean planning process. Why does this matter to a New England conservation group? Well, besides the fact that everybody loves a happy ending, New England has been a leader in this type of effort for many years now. If there is one dramatic example of the need to coordinate our activities in New England’s ocean it is the tale of our beloved but extremely endangered North Atlantic right whales and read more…

On the afternoon of July 6th, I rode my bike home from work through the streets of Portland, Maine, sharing the lane with car traffic. Parts of my commute could benefit from a bike lane or increased signage, but the prospects for those projects do not look good in the near term. Earlier that day, President Obama had signed a new transportation bill that slashed federal funding for biking and pedestrian infrastructure. The bill reduces funding for bicycling and pedestrian improvements by about thirty percent. Additionally, it allows those reduced funds allocated for bike and pedestrian projects to be used instead for other transportation work at the discretion of the state. This despite the fact that a 2010 census study showed that the number of people who used a bicycle read more…

CLF is pushing the ISO-NE to fully and properly account for all of the valuable energy-efficiency programs that the six New England states are already operating. read more..

Pressure is building to reopen the St. Croix River to the alewife, a critical forage fish. Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a letter adopting the recommendations made in our lawsuit seeking to restore alewives, a key forage and bait fish, to the St. Croix River. read more..

In the past 25 years, our lives have become increasingly “plugged in.” We have an ever-increasing number of devices in our lives, our homes, and our offices that use electricity. What is amazing is that with our foresight and work during this same time period, our region now uses energy efficiently more than ever – reducing pollution, saving money, growing jobs, and cutting through partisan politics to succeed. That’s a regional legacy to be proud of and one highlighted in the recent op-ed co-authored by former CLF President Douglas Foy.  With the publication of “Power to Spare”  in 1987, CLF and others set forth the effective “out of the box” thinking that allows for reduced energy consumption while increasing economic growth. As the op-ed recounts: “Our proposition was unique: To shift read more…

This week on TalkingFish.org, read about bluefish in the most recent Local Summer Fisheries post; how climate change is affecting primary productivity in the Gulf of Maine, and this week's Fish Talk in the News read more..