Capenews.net - The Enterprise online
Friday, March 25th, 2011
The future of waste is zilch.
What some may consider a pie-in-the-sky scenario is becoming closer to reality, as the Department of Environmental Protection develops a zero waste policy goal for the future.
With skyrocketing solid waste disposal costs and the toxic emissions from landfills and trash incinerators contributing to climate change, the concept of zero waste is being embraced as a realistic, common-sense solution to a number environmental and social ills.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
A question from Ric Gerace, Alma Road, Falmouth:
High tide flooding covers Menauhant Road
I would like to know why, in all the discussion on the half-billion dollar sewer project, there has been not one word on global warming and sea level rise. There is no question that the sea level is rising, and this century it is likely to rise sufficiently to make the health of the coastal ponds a moot question. … It seems to me that spending that much money to protect ponds that will soon enough be part of the Atlantic is a huge waste of resources.
(more…)
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
As coastal towns in Massachusetts work out ways to deal with their wastewater, jumping through regulatory hoops often precludes thinking outside the box.
While we have to take the issue of nitrogen (and other nutrient) pollution seriously, we also need to examine the unintended consequences of sewering the entire coast. What impact will pumping and discharging millions of gallons of water have on the aquifer, not to mention, on CO2 levels in the atmosphere? What are some ways we as residents can reduce our nitrogen output on an individual scale?
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Two months after representatives of the world governments met for the UN Conference of Parties (COP 15) to discuss new strategies for dealing with climate change, many of the policy negotiators are left to pick up the pieces.
Nora Greenglass, a research assistant at the Woods Hole Research Center, shared her impressions as a negotiator for the UN program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) with members of the Woods Hole Science and Technology Education Partnership (WHSTEP) last week.
Friday, January 29th, 2010
A major chemistry experiment is taking place in the world’s oceans, with potentially irreversible effects on marine ecosystems and commercial fisheries.
According to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 30% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, known to be a leading cause of global warming, are being absorbed by the ocean. Small coincidence that over the past 50 years of global industrialization, rising CO2 emissions have also led to a 30% increase in the average acidity of ocean surface water.
This phenomenon is just starting to attract the attention– and alarm– of policymakers and the shellfish industry. I talked to Scott Doney and Sarah Cooley at WHOI to find out why.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Tracy Johns in her office at the Woods Hole Research Center
It’s been a month after COP 15, the UN Climate Change conference that was supposed to give the world a new system for reducing carbon emissions.
A month to reflect, regroup, and respond to this reporter’s questions about what happened, and what didn’t, in Copenhagen. (more…)
Friday, November 13th, 2009
With the debate over sewering taking center stage on the Cape these days, many residents are aware that the biggest source of nitrogen pollution in local estuaries is wastewater that leaches out of septic tanks. Lawn fertilizers and road runoff are also contributors. But what do cars have to do with the problem? (more…)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
The effects of climate change are being felt in regional fisheries, causing a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to predict that haddock will disappear from the North Atlantic within 70 years. A 3-D underwater camera helped confirm the numbers. (more…)
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the state will require a minimum two percent ethanol mix in diesel fuel and home heating oil, beginning next year. That requirement will increase to five percent by 2013. But how green is that requirement, actually? (more…)
Advertisement
