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INTO THE RED

Climate and the fight of our lives

The climate crisis is now an emergency. We believe solutions must begin here, in our communities, state, and region. Globe journalism will shine light on obstacles to decisive action, illuminate paths toward solutions, and hold to account elected leaders responsible for guiding us to a better future.

Latest climate stories

New England climate activists sentenced for anticoal civil disobedience action

Four climate activists have received suspended jail sentences for attempting to stop a train from delivering coal to a power plant in Bow, NH in 2019.

As pollution worsens on Cape Cod, some are investing hopes in a new type of septic system

A coalition of groups in Cape Cod is pressing local and state officials to consider installing a new kind of septic system that they say would curb the vast majority of nitrogen that leaks from traditional systems.

More energy storage is needed to support wind and solar power, MIT study finds

The authors of the report estimated that the costs of transforming power grids in the Northeast, Southeast, and Texas will range between 21 percent and 36 percent higher than if nothing was done to promote storage-backed renewable energy.

The declining size of North Atlantic right whales threatens the endangered species, new study finds

Smaller female right whales don’t raise as many offspring, according to a new study. Previous research found the whales may be shrinking because of fishing gear entanglements.

Two years after asking for future of gas investigation, Healey asks state to reject results

In a move hailed by climate advocates, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is now asking the state to scrap its blueprint for phasing out natural gas, saying the plans favor gas company profits over a healthy climate.

Featured projects

As Earth’s temperature rises, Massachusetts residents’ sense of urgency on climate change declines

Despite increasingly urgent international warnings, fewer Massachusetts residents see the climate crisis as a very serious concern than they did in 2019, a new poll from MassINC and the Boston Globe shows.
The Lobster Trap: Part 1

The lobster trap

The plentiful catch that brought wealth to fishing families is at risk, as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine. A way of life is on the line, but lobstermen can't, or won't, imagine another.
Climate change on Cape Cod

At the edge of a warming world

The flexed arm of Cape Cod has challenged the power of the sea for centuries, but the contest has escalated. Climate change is altering our vacation paradise in myriad ways, perhaps forever. The message in the sand is clear — if only we will look.

Accountability

McGovern calls on Biden to pardon embattled attorney Steven Donziger

A group of lawmakers is urging President Biden to pardon Steven Donziger, the embattled human rights lawyer who won a groundbreaking multibillion-dollar case against Chevron over pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.

MWRA fails to protect water quality in Boston Harbor, lawsuit alleges

The agency has failed to enforce requirements that industrial facilities pretreat waste water containing elevated levels of toxic substances that were ultimately discharged, the suit claims.

Municipal electric companies slow to incorporate clean energy, often rely on nuclear power

The state’s 40 municipal light plants make up 14 percent of the state’s energy grid. According to a new report from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, they may represent some of the dirtiest energy in the state.

Biden restores parts of environmental protection law, reverses Trump policy

The Biden administration will announce Tuesday that it is restoring parts of a bedrock environmental law, once again requiring that climate impacts be considered and local communities have input before federal agencies approve highways, pipelines and other major projects.

Climate Science

Maine dam company to make changes to try to save salmon
The owner of hydroelectric dams in Maine said Monday it’s going to make changes to some of its operations to try to help save the final remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the United States.

On Earth Day, UMass Amherst unveils major renewable energy overhaul

In an effort to curb Lyme disease, scientists hope to release thousands of genetically altered mice on Nantucket

Politics and Policy

New England climate activists sentenced for anticoal civil disobedience action

Four climate activists have received suspended jail sentences for attempting to stop a train from delivering coal to a power plant in Bow, NH in 2019.

Theoharides announces new position in the offshore wind industry

Former Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, who announced her resignation last week, will take a new position with a renewable energy developer.

McGovern calls on Biden to pardon embattled attorney Steven Donziger

A group of lawmakers is urging President Biden to pardon Steven Donziger, the embattled human rights lawyer who won a groundbreaking multibillion-dollar case against Chevron over pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.

Maine dam company to make changes to try to save salmon

The owner of hydroelectric dams in Maine said Monday it’s going to make changes to some of its operations to try to help save the final remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the United States.

An interactive look into climate change

How Massachusetts feels about climate change in 12 graphics

The percentage of Massachusetts residents who believe climate change is as a very serious concern has decreased since 2019. That’s just one finding from a new poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group for the Boston Globe.

Maps: These parts of Boston, Revere, and Quincy are vulnerable to rising sea levels

One measure of a warming planet and human-caused climate change is rising sea levels, which Massachusetts’ coastal towns are increasingly grappling with.

Boston’s ‘heat islands’ turn lower-income neighborhoods from hot to insufferable

In a recent city report, officials noted that temperatures in leafier neighborhoods are often significantly lower than in more densely populated areas.

Into the Red: How the Globe will cover climate change

To report on the most pressing issue of our time, the Globe’s climate team is expanding and rethinking its coverage.

The Globe's climate team wants to hear from you

Share your thoughts and questions about the impact of climate change in your community.

How-Tos

As war rages, a struggle to balance energy crunch and climate crisis

Biden bill includes boost for union-made electric vehicles

Heat pumps could be key to fighting climate change, but how? We answer your burning questions

More Climate stories

A house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina collapsed into the sea in May 2022.

Two North Carolina beach houses collapse into ocean in one day

The unoccupied homes on the seashore of Rodanthe, N.C., collapsed into the ocean on Tuesday — and officials warned that more may follow “in the near future.”

A pump jack in an agricultural field near Stanton, Texas, on Feb. 21, 2019.

Biden fights states’ bid to boost oil leasing on public lands

President Biden may yet fulfill a campaign promise to slash oil and gas development on federal lands and waters, if an appeals court rejects an effort by 13 states to expand domestic energy production.

Mayor Michelle Wu leaned forward to listen to a question at a press conference held to announce a new renewable energy pilot program in East Boston that will help residents install solar panels.

Wu unveils new programs to reduce carbon emissions

As part of Boston’s effort to reduce its carbon emissions, Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday launched new initiatives to increase residents’ energy efficiency and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

A lone cyclist passes as vehicles drive near downtown during the afternoon commute on April 4, 2022, in Los Angeles, California.

To curb the climate crisis, transforming forestry is key, UN says

Protecting forests — including those in New England — will be crucial to achieving a livable future, a major new UN report says.

Kathleen Theoharides photographed at Walden Pond.

Theoharides announces new position in the offshore wind industry

Former Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, who announced her resignation last week, will take a new position with a renewable energy developer.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice May 5, 2022 in Washington, DC. During the press conference U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Regan announced that the Department of Justice will place increased emphasis on the enforcement of environmental cases that disproportionately harm marginalized and low income communities.

Justice Department boosts focus on environmental cases that harm the poor

The Justice Department is ramping up enforcement of environmental cases that officials say disproportionately harm poor and marginalized communities, creating an office to help coordinate investigations and expanding the breadth of litigation against companies and local or state governments that appear to violate federal laws or commit civil infractions.

Globe Magazine
An aerial view of a solar panel array in a wooded area with some residential homes nearby.

A solar battle in sleepy Wareham is pitting environmentalists against each other

The town at the heart of cranberry country has about 300 acres of solar farms, with roughly 500 acres more in the works. So why are some people so unhappy about it?

Nantucket residents overwhelmingly voted to ban the use of fertilizers on the island, fearing the lawn chemicals have contributed to a sharp decline in the local scallop fishery.

With coastal water quality declining, Nantucket residents vote to ban the use of fertilizers

Local shellfish harvesters have raised concerns for years about the declining water quality in the town’s harbors, where algae blooms have killed off eelgrass, which is vital to the island’s scallops and other fisheries.

Opinion

Michael E. Mann and Wanjira Mathai

UN IPCC report can lead governments to the climate action door, but they must walk through

We have the technology to achieve the necessary reductions in carbon emissions. The obstacles that remain aren’t technological, they’re political.
Bill McKibben

Heat pumps could help ease the climate crisis — and the war in Ukraine

Ko Barrett

Humans are responsible for climate change and humans have the capacity to solve it

Tim Fitzgerald

We can eat our way out of climate change

Sharon E. Burke and Bram Govaerts

Multiple breadbasket failures: Nations must address looming food emergencies