A few weeks ago, I wrote about a peer-reviewed study on green hydrogen that failed to disclose its gas industry funders and the role of an industry-aligned lobbyist. The journal has now launched an investigation.
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Sabrina Shankman
@shankman
Reporting on climate change for the Boston Globe. Mom. Maine-based lover of running, cats and snow. She/her.
@shankman@journa.host
sabrina.shankman@globe.com
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It’s giving strong Star Wars//Hoth vibes. Brrr.
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INSANE conditions on Mt Washington, NH. 120mph+ winds and -95°F wind chill. It is above the tropopause, meaning that these are stratospheric winds.
Footage from the summit live stream 2:30-2:40pm. #nhwx
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A commentary I wrote for the good folks at 5 years ago that is extremely relevant to what we're seeing play out in the eastern half of the U.S. right now:
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small big news for the CMP corridor -- NextEra will finally have to upgrade that circuit breaker at Seabrook nuclear power plant to let the corridor's energy flow onto the rest of the NE grid (if the line gets built...): utilitydive.com/news/-avangrid #mepolitics
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It seems counterintuitive but global warming could play a role in icy arctic blasts, like the one coming to nh this weekend - more in my first (!) piece for
bostonglobe.com/2023/02/01/met via
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Who has ideas about how we should educate students differently and better to work on climate change? That is, CAREERS!
I'm organizing a MIT event on climate education, so I'd welcome any suggestions of those working on this topic.
Please amplify! (RT if that's still a thing.)
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🚨🚨It's about to get really (really) cold 🥶 in New England, and we want to know how your heat pumps fare — especially for those using heat pumps without a backup. ⚡️⚡️
Let me know!
DMs are open or email me at sabrina.shankman@globe.com
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And by "better" I mean a few things: What's the most efficient way to heat? What's the least expensive? And what's the best climate outcome (direct heat w/ gas vs what will surely be a peaker-heavy electricity supply)?
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Question for smart energy people. I have a heat pump (cold climate friendly and doing great so far this Maine winter) on the main floor of our house, so we leave our gas off for that zone. When the temp drops crazy low tomorrow/Sat: What's better to use, gas or the heat pump?
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That mom said her doctor eventually told her, “‘It’s something in the air he’s breathing.’ He said I should consider moving out of my area because it’s in the air.”
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One mom there said not long after a major well blowout, her toddler would have such terrifying asthma attacks they would have to med-evac him to Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) for treatment. But when they landed, the symptoms would go away.
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In '18, as 's Arctic reporter, I travelled to Nuiqsut—an Alaska Native village already surrounded by drilling—which is near where the new drilling would take place. They have long feared the health toll of living so close to oil fields.
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The US is a step closer to a vast expansion of oil drilling in the Arctic, following a Biden Administration decision yesterday. It limits in scope what wanted to do — just 3 well pads to start, rather than 5 — but that's still 200+ wells.
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We would like to draw your attention to a very big deal. All six New England states have banded together to apply for what could be 100s of millions of $ in federal grid infrastructure funding. Here's a short 🧵. 1/
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In 's latest batch of #climate stories, we:
- Visit a house that stays toasty all winter without a furnace
- Re-visit a tiny college that led the fossil fuel divestment movement
- Learn how Jimmy Carter's WH solar panels ended up in rural Maine.
A thread...
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I was so excited when my 2nd grader got a spot in after-school skating lessons at the pond near his school. But a few weeks in, the pond still isn't frozen.
It's a story playing out across the region, reports.
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Evidence does not support view that existing #gas network can safely handle blend of #hydrogen and methane, says US government
Department of Energy-backed scientists identify ‘large knowledge gaps’ relating to #blending #H2 into the #naturalgas grid
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What I'm reading on the bus to Boston this morning: This wild story by about how, since 2010, nearly half of CA's toxic waste has been trucked out of state to be disposed in places with more lax regulations 👀
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The outside game meets the inside game!
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“As things stand right now, ISO-New England is not being a very good partner to the states in facilitating the meeting of their climate goals,” said . “Right now, our grid system is part of the problem.
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Their big hope: That their presence will force better transparency and communication between the grid and its ratepayers, while providing an opportunity for the activists to push them further on climate action.
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This group is "kind of the only porthole between ratepayers and the ISO for information flow and communication,” environmental scientist and climate activist Nathan Phillips told me. He's one of six activists now on the group's coordinating committee.
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Last fall, a group of climate activists known for stopping coal trains organized around a different pursuit: Getting elected en masse to an arcane group affiliated with ISO-NE, the region’s power grid operator.
It worked, and it's part of a larger effort.
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I try *not* to be a self-righteous vegetarian ... but I have been on a kick lately of trying to convince friends & family to stop eating octopus. They're just so smart! Thanks for this, on the intelligence of cephalopods—it'll help on my crusade!
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Confirmed. Currently puking snow in South Portland, ME. My arms are jello from the first round of shoveling this morning. Round two will be a killer this evening.
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The world’s business and political elite gathered this week in Davos and spent hours discussing how to solve climate change, writes
Now, they’re flying home on private jets.
Read on to scratch a collective rage itch.
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Finally.
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The family that Hannah features here, which had to make the tough choice between Christmas presents and paying their electricity bill, lives in Quincy—one of several communities with municipal aggregation programs still waiting for approval by the DPU. bostonglobe.com/2022/10/16/sci
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My first story for @BostonGlobe!
bostonglobe.com/2023/01/18/bus
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Climate change is coming for everything, including our New England smugness. Love this from
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For the last 9 months, The Guardian analyzed projects from the biggest carbon offset provider in the world.
They found "94% of the credits had no benefit to the climate."
Some of the biggest corporations in the world are using these offsets to claim they are "carbon neutral."
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“This effort to get a municipality to opt in is going to invigorate grass-roots politics in 2023 like you’ve never seen before,” said .
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It's just the first step—advocates say the real challenge will be tackling emissions in the state's existing housing stock. But the moves happening now are the first large-scale test of Massachusetts’ willingness to wean its buildings from gas and oil.
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A new, optional building code in MA doesn't ban fossil fuels in new buildings outright, but it makes it far more difficult ($) to use them. A 10-town pilot program goes even farther.
Welcome to the front lines of MA's building decarbonization effort.
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This situation is a wild example of how thorny it can be to implement climate mitigation projects ... and also how inequitable those "solutions" can be—offering a fix for some ($$) while those with less means fear it's potentially making it worse for them.
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a wealthy homeowners group in Nantucket has reluctantly agreed to remove their multimillion $ erosion shield, ending a bitter 10-year fight.
critics argue the project harms other parts of the island.
the homeowners say those critics are just ideologues.
bostonglobe.com/2023/01/16/sci
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6 activists were arrested at the East Boston substation at dawn, using their bodies to peacefully blockage construction of this community danger and environmental disaster in the making #Neversource #NoEastieSubstation
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BREAKING: Heat pump market in Finland grew by 50% in 2022.
1.5m heat pumps have now been installed in a country with just 2.7m households.
sulpu.fi/almost-200000-
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A road trip looking for EV chargers AND donuts in New England. Where do we sign up?! 🚗🔌🍩 and for
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THREAD: Well, folks, it's late Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend -- and you know what that means! Time for another bombshell from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission . 1/11
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