Environmental Protection

Latest Articles

Back from vacation

Gubernatorial Scorecard
Governor Paul LePage recently returned from a Jamaican vacation, which provided fodder for some political controversy, and probably helped him avoid getting into new messes.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | May 04, 2011

Running a clean race

Charles River weekend
Johnny and his crew of knuckleheads were playing a round of ding-dong ditch in the Back Bay when they were spotted by a cop.
By NEELY STEINBERG | April 29, 2009

The shovel-ready lessons of the New Deal

Action speaks!
Action Speaks!, AS220's always-engaging panel discussion series, is back. "So soon?" you ask. Why, yes.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 22, 2009

38. Lang Lang

DORKESTRA
More painful than watching the seemingly endless loop of female synchronized divers that NBC kept shoving down our throats during the Beijing Summer Olympics were the Up With People–meets–Flower Drum Song musical schlock-stravaganzas featuring this classical-cum-pop mutant pianist. We know classical music is dying, but we’re not sure a guy with more bad wanker-solo poses than Yngwie Malmsteen is gonna save it.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Saving the earth

Seeing the climate-change forest for the carbon-storing trees.
Former Green gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Carter's 120 acres in Lexington township will be the first-ever officially designated "carbon sequestration forest." It remains to be seen whether they will also be the only one.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 25, 2009

Mountains, not windmills

Portland Phoenix Letters: February 27, 2009
I just read your article (" Transmission Troubles ," by Deirdre Fulton, February 13) in the Portland Phoenix, great article.
By Portland Phoenix Letters | February 25, 2009

Youth infusion

The surprisingly diverse leaders of team DeLeo. Plus, do environmentalists have reason to worry?
In DeLeo's restructuring, white, non-Hispanic men older than 45 fell from power in droves.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 19, 2009

Advocates renew push for publicly-financed RI elections

Talking Politics
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon in the State House rotunda, proponents of significantly expanding publicly financed elections in Rhode Island — a concept they call "Fair Elections" — cited a litany of reasons for why it would be good for the Ocean State and its citizens.
By IAN DONNIS | February 04, 2009

Toilet talk

The new world of going green in the bathroom
Bathroom math used to be simple: Number 1 or Number 2. That was it.
By PHILIP EIL | January 09, 2009

20 reasons the Earth will be glad to see Bush go

As our 43rd president scrambles to screw further with Mother Nature, a look at the ways our planet will be better off under Obama
The planet Earth usually tries to stay out of politics. It doesn't endorse candidates. It doesn't run attack ads. It doesn't even register as a lobbyist.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 19, 2008

Changing the DC climate

Meet Obama's Green Dream Team
The past eight years have been marked by alternating feckless inactivity and outright hostility toward the environment.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 18, 2008

New Justice League takes on foes of the environment

Activism
The folks who live in poor, urban neighborhoods get less than their fair share.
By MARY GRADY | December 10, 2008

Kicking the bottle

Water supply
As several Maine towns battle the plans of Poland Spring to expand water-pumping operations across the state, a group of water-rights activists will bring the issue to Portland this Saturday.
By BRIDGET HUBER | November 26, 2008

Expert: Expanding wind power could unhinge insects

Unintended Consequences
Last spring, a red tail hawk was hit and killed by Rhode Island's one functioning wind turbine at Portsmouth Abbey School. Brother Joseph Byron says the bird was the first animal fatality he has seen since the 241-foot-high structure started producing 660 kilowatts in March 2006.
By STEVEN STYCOS | November 25, 2008

Green around the gills

Politics and other mistakes
Spotting environmentalists used to be easy.
By AL DIAMON | October 02, 2008

Activists pitch green jobs as a win-win for Rhode Island

Clean Energy
With global warming looming and the US economy in a mess, environmentalists have a simple answer for promoting environmental protection and economic development.
By IAN DONNIS | September 25, 2008

A field guide to activism in Rhode Island

Issues + organizing = real-world experience
If you’re interested in becoming an agent of change, identify a cause close to your heart and connect with one of the groups working on it.
By MEGHAN GRADY | August 28, 2008

Portland City Council highlights water needs

Water ways
City councilor Dave Marshall will speak at this Wednesday’s farmers’ market in Monument Square about the importance of creating a national water trust fund.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 20, 2008

China, Tibet, and the Olympics

Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman explains the Dalai Lama’s political wisdom, the myopia of the Chinese, and the essence of the Olympics
It is difficult to imagine an American — perhaps any Westerner — with a greater sympathy for, and understanding of, Tibet than scholar-activist Robert Thurman.
By PETER KADZIS | August 08, 2008

Giving back

Going Green
What does it take to get young people to give money to environmental organizations?
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 12, 2008

Shifting sands

The real lesson of the Desert of Maine
If you want to know what the future holds, take a ride up to the Desert of Maine in Freeport.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 18, 2008

It's easy staying green

New England offers a variety of eco-friendly lodging options
This summer, don't leave home without your environmentalism.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 09, 2008

Eating righteously

Responsible summer dining has arrived
Worried that your favorite dining haunts leave a big, fat carbon footprint?
By LINDSAY CRUDELE | June 09, 2008

Campaign continues to cut diesel emissions

Pollution
Diesel vehicles may be a familiar part of any city, but the pollutants left in their wake can take a serious toll, particularly on the residents of Rhode Island’s capital.
By KATE MAYHEW | May 28, 2008

Progressive union coalition gathers in Providence

Annals of labor
If there was an “intelligent designer” who could design a coalition to unify the disparate, passionate elements of the American left, the result would resemble Jobs with Justice (JwJ).
By MATT JERZYK | May 08, 2008

Look at Maine’s alternative-transport options

Commute another way week
Check it out: the Portland Green Streets initiative (through which locals can get free coffee on the last Friday of every month — if they choose an eco-friendly method of getting to work) has taken off.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 07, 2008

A stormwater popsicle

What the Bayside Glacier can teach us about Portland’s sewage problem
You’ve probably seen the Bayside Glacier: it’s that pile of dirty snow and ice that rises each winter to rival the redeveloping neighborhood’s new office buildings in bulk and height.
By CHRISTIAN McNEIL | April 09, 2008