LISTEN LIVE: Loading...

Latest Environmental News

A wall of electricity meters at an apartment complex in Cambridge, Mass. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Local Coverage

Oct 4, 2024

Bigger electric bill breaks are coming for some low-income residents in Mass.

The new National Grid discounts range from 32% - 71% for qualifying low-income customers.

The students fasten solar panels to a frame during the SHINE course. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Special program in Boston trains residents to become solar workers

Local Coverage

04:42Oct 3, 2024

New Bedford community activist John “Buddy” Andrade, by a mural on Acushnet Avenue. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Mass. coastal chemical sites lack basic safeguard against hurricanes

The Common

16:25Oct 3, 2024

This satellite image taken Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, and provided by NOAA, shows tropical storms forming in the Atlantic during La Nina. (NOAA via AP)

What a potential La Niña winter means for New England

Local Coverage

Oct 2, 2024

Support the news

PFAS Series

PFAS expert tips: How to reduce your exposure to harmful ‘forever chemicals’

Health

05:06Feb 13, 2023

Littleton Electric Light and Water Department workers inside a new water treatment facility that will remove PFAS chemical compounds from the water supply. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Toxic 'forever chemicals' force Mass. towns to face 'true cost of water'

Environment

04:52Feb 14, 2023

Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski points out on a map the origin of the PFAS contamination at the old fire station across the street from town offices. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Private well owners stuck with costs to treat 'forever chemicals'

Environment

05:21Feb 15, 2023

Tracing the path of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ inside the body

Health

05:41Feb 16, 2023

Climate Reality

At WBUR, we cover the climate conversation in ways that spur new ideas, provide a place for debate and arm our community in Massachusetts and beyond with information and inspiration...

Environment

Power Shift: The Future of Offshore Wind

Technicians of the Block Island Wind Farm Support Team repair a crack in the blade of one of the wind turbines. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

We asked big questions about the offshore wind industry. Here’s what we uncovered

Environment

Oct 15, 2021

Offshore wind is America's new industry. Who will build it?

Environment

06:41Oct 13, 2021

Fisherman Jamey McGroarty hurls a dogfish overboard to begin separating the squid from the bycatch from his haul. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

As turbines rise, small-scale fishermen have the most to lose

Environment

06:44Oct 14, 2021

The five turbines of the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Big Oil wants to be Big Wind. Can fossil fuel companies be trusted?

Environment

06:13Oct 15, 2021

More Environmental News

Algae bloom in Wakeby Pond in Mashpee, Mass., June 16, 2023. Courtesy Association to Preserve Cape Cod

Cape Cod research group gets $3 million to expand wastewater innovation hub

Local Coverage

Oct 2, 2024

A compost bin sits on a street in Cambridge. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Curbside composting 'doesn't work' for many Brookline residents. A new program aims to help

Local Coverage

Sep 27, 2024

A kelp forest on Cashes Ledge, a rich region of marine biodiversity located approximately 90-miles off the coast within the Gulf of Maine. (Brian Skerry, courtesy of Bigelow Laboratory via Maine Public)

New study reveals climate change toll on Maine's kelp forests

Environment

Sep 24, 2024

Food waste to be processed at the Vanguard Renewables Organics Recycling Facility in Agawam. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Mass. is a national leader in keeping food waste out of landfills, study finds

Environment

Sep 24, 2024

Here & Now Climate News

Brave, a 7-year-old mother red wolf, walks through her enclosure at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I. (David Goldman/AP)

Critically endangered red wolf population dwindles

Here & Now

05:50Sep 26, 2024

Dave McCurley boards up the windows to his home in advance of Hurricane Helene, expected to make landfall Wednesday. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

How Florida is bracing for Hurricane Helene

Here & Now

03:54Sep 25, 2024

FILE — Barbed wire is seen inside the east block of death row at San Quentin State Prison. (Eric Risberg/AP)

How environmental hazards impact incarcerated people

Here & Now

05:42Sep 25, 2024

An ExxonMobil fuel storage and distribution facility. (LM Otero/AP)

California is suing ExxonMobil for 'deceiving the public on recyclability of plastic'

Here & Now

05:47Sep 24, 2024

On Point Environment Stories

Boats cruise over the river Main next to the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, after the sun set Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Can we save the quietest places in the world?

On Point

47:18Sep 10, 2024

The push to preserve quiet

On Point

Sep 10, 2024

A pedestrian crosses a street holding an umbrella to protect herself from the sun in downtown Los Angeles during a heatwave Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Is extreme heat an extreme disaster?

On Point

47:19Sep 9, 2024

A pedestrian shades from the sun using an umbrella in downtown Los Angeles as Southern California is hit by a heatwave Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

The dangers of extreme heat

On Point

Sep 9, 2024

Horsemen pause for a break on the shores of Trappers Lake in Flat Tops Wilderness in 1977. (Denver Post via Getty Images)

Rewilding is a radical act of humility

Cognoscenti

FEMA's plodding bureaucracy exacts financial toll on Vermont towns

The same federal bureaucracy that hampered flood recovery for individuals after last summer's floods is plunging small, rural towns into crippling debt.

Local Coverage

Sep 23, 2024

Green algae blooms dot the surface of the Charles River along the esplanade in 2017. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

A 'major' bloom of harmful cyanobacteria discovered in the Charles River

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health posted an advisory for the area of the river between the Longfellow Bridge and the Cambridge Dam due to a bloom of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria...

Local Coverage

Sep 20, 2024

Sea water washes across parts of Long Wharf during a king tide last November. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

King tides expected to bring flooding to Mass. Friday and Saturday

A coastal flood advisory is in effect today up and down the eastern Massachusetts coast, as the king tides reach their peak Friday and Saturday.

Local Coverage

Sep 20, 2024

Rescue teams attend to bottlenose dolphins stranded on the Cape. (Courtesy of IFAW via CAI)

'Completely uncharted territory': Cape Cod's dolphin stranding season breaks records

The IFAW's Yarmouth-based marine mammal rescue team has responded to 175 live stranded dolphins since June, which is more than 2.5 times the annual average.

Environment

Sep 20, 2024

Stan-up paddleboarders make their way along the Nonesuch River in July, 2023, where the river winds through Scarborough Marsh on its way to the sea. (Annie Ropeik/ The Maine Monitor)

Development and rising seas threaten Maine's salt marshes, a key carbon sink

Scientists project that Maine could lose 28-57% of its salt marshes by the end of the century — victims of rising seas, coastal development and polluted runoff, with consequences for...

Environment

03:57Sep 17, 2024

A starflower blooms. (Madelyn Wood Photo courtesy of the Appalachian Mountain Club via NHPR)

Hikers' photos aid study of how climate change is transforming the Appalachian Trail

Scientists at the Appalachian Mountain Club analyzed thousands of photos from hikers. They found that plants are flowering and growing leaves earlier.

Local Coverage

Sep 16, 2024

Bostonians seeking relief from a June heat wave gather on dock by the Charles River Esplanade. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Where'd the rain go? Boston in midst of longest dry stretch in 25 years

Friday marks the 23rd straight day without any measurable rain in Boston. It’s the city's longest dry stretch since 1999, according to the National Weather Service.

Local Coverage

Sep 13, 2024

Julie Wormser, the new chief climate officer for the City of Cambridge.

Following Boston, Cambridge announces its first chief climate officer

Cambridge announced former nonprofit leader Julie Wormser as the city's first-ever chief climate officer this week. Wormser spoke with WBUR about her vision for the job and why it extends...

Local Coverage

Sep 12, 2024