CT Climate News

Clean Energy Group (CEG) and the Connecticut Green Bank are hosting a webinar series in March on Connecticut’s new Energy Storage Solutions Program, launched by Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) in January. The next webinar is Tuesday, March 29, from 3 – 4 pm, on How CEG and CT Green Bank are Helping Connecticut Affordable Housing Facilities Install Resilient Solar+Storage. To support resilient solar+storage installations in multifamily affordable housing facilities – among the most challenging sectors for clean energy development – the Green Bank has partnered with CEG to offer project-specific technical assistance grants for pre-development feasibility studies. This webinar will show examples of the kind of technical assistance developers and facility managers can qualify for, and explain the process to apply. This webinar will also include participation from an affordable housing developer, who will speak to their experience navigating the resilient power p

March 18, 2022 Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of the social media platform Reddit and venture capital firm Seven Seven Six , has announced the launch of the 776 Foundation and its first campaign, a 10-year, $20 million fellowship program focused on climate action. According to the foundation, an annual cohort of 20 fellows will receive two-year, $100,000 fellowships and access to the Seven Seven Six network of founders, investors, and partners. The foundation is accepting applications from individuals ages 18 to 23 who will dedicate two years to their climate-focused project or idea. “The 776 Fellowship Program will bring together a class of solution seekers who have grown up in the shadow of climate change and are driven to create change,” said fellowship program director Lissie Garvin. “Through the program, we will provide our fellows with the ideal environment to foster their ideas—whether that be developing a new climate tech startup or growing their community to organize around iss

Last year, ProPublica revealed more than 1,000 hot spots of carcinogenic industrial air pollution. Now they're releasing the data behind that analysis. Read the story and check out your area at  https://projects.propublica.org/toxmap/  . If you live or work near any of the hotspots or spot an error, ProPublica wants to hear from you.

By Washington Post Staff. Read the full article here . Small changes alone won’t stop climate change, but that doesn’t mean you should feel helpless, or that your actions aren’t worthwhile. Even small actions will contribute to keeping our planet habitable. Here are 10 places you can start . Read the article for lots of good detail. Create less food waste. The carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than that of the airline industry. The biggest proportion of food waste happens in the home. Ditch your grass. Replacing grass with plants is among the most important ways to keep a yard eco-friendly. The EPA says US lawn care consumes nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year, as well as 59 million pounds of pesticides, which seep into our land and waterways. Americans used roughly 3 billion gallons of gasoline just to run lawn and garden equipment. Save coral reefs by packing smartly for your beach vacation. Skip sunscreens and toiletries that contain oxybenzone and other chemicals

From the World Wildlife Fund: Good news for ending plastic pollution : Learn how the UN is taking steps toward ending plastic pollution. It may be the world's most ambitious environmental action yet. Read the article.

Sierra Club Magazine's Spring 2022 edition shares tips on ways to reduce plastic consumption. Read the full article here . Sierra Club's tips for curbing plastics include: Purchase with purpose Cleanse your closet Curb wishful recycling Compost with care Focus on companies Work with lawmakers to enact "extended producer responsibility programs and more Read the full article here .

From Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journal: The Connecticut Department of Transportation has received a $11.4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration for 22 new battery electric public transportation buses. The new buses are expected to be delivered over the next 18 months and will replace diesel-operated buses. Read the article here .

There's no word on the importance of preserving the trees--which of course remove and store carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air-- but here's what Eversource says to customers about its clean energy agenda: From Eversource: We’re committed to building renewable energy infrastructure today that creates a clean energy future for our customers, communities, and our own families. Clean Energy: Our future is clean energy. It's core to our commitment to lead our industry in sustainability and is a critical element of our business today and in the future. We're dedicated to making our operations carbon neutral by 2030 , and to bringing more clean and affordable energy to New England. Offshore Wind : We’ve partnered with the global leader in offshore wind, Ørsted, to secure at least 4,000 megawatts of total development opportunity. Our current portfolio will collectively provide enough clean energy to power more than 1 million homes. We’re proud to have started const

From the Rails to Trails Conservancy : As fuel costs rise, trails might be able to help get you where you need to go! Find a trail nearby with TrailLink—and skip a trip by car. Find a trail. In other Rails to Trails news: Looking for some terrific trails in your state? See our whole Top 10 Trails collection! Great articles and gorgeous photos from the trails you love in our quarterly flagship publication, Rails to Trails . Get the latest Rails to Trails.  

  From the CT Public Radio's Patrick Skahill, Connecticut's trash future unclear after closure of processing plant: Nearly 50 towns choose to send their trash to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority or MIRA. MIRA burns that garbage, but it says it will soon close its Hartford plant because of money and mechanical problems. DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said Connecticut’s waste future boils down to two things: finding new disposal sites for garbage and reducing what we throw away. Tom Kirk, president of MIRA, said good policy needs to be in place to make sure that happens. Otherwise, towns will just chase the cheapest option for getting rid of their trash. “And that, today, is putting it on a truck or train and sending it west,” Kirk said. “That will not change until there is either a regulatory statutory restriction against dealing with your garbage that way, or the economics change.”   The legislature is considering setting up a task force on the issue. But MIRA

You can find the IPCC's Interactive Atlas  here .  

If you want climate action, please send your comments in support of the SB-4 to the Transportation Committee at tratestimony@cga.ct.gov by Thursday, March 10 before the public hearing on Friday, March 11. Find Your Legislator Not sure what to say? Keep it simple and go straight to the point: Tell the committee you support SB-4 and why. Urge them to support the bill. Be courteous. Say thank you. Include your name and town of residence. Please put the bill number in the subject line. And copy your legislator ( find them here ). Ta-da! You're done. The purpose of SB-4, AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONNECTICUT CLEAN AIR ACT , is to reduce carbon emissions by expanding public and private utilization of electric vehicles in Connecticut to protect human health and the environment. Here's the language of the committee bill . And since it's 28 pages long, here's a handy guide from the Safe Streets Coalition of New Haven , at right.

From Citizens Climate Lobby: Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the latest section of its Sixth Assessment Report summarizing the latest scientific research on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities. In this report, the IPCC makes several mentions of carbon pricing and the positive impact that it would have on the reduction of greenhouse gases. CCL’s Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli breaks down the IPCC report. “As CCL volunteers are well aware, coupling dividends with carbon pricing is an important measure to ensure that low- and middle-income households do not bear the financial brunt of the policy. On this point, the IPCC report also agrees with CCL.” The report also acknowledges that many other countries are already implementing a carbon price and that a carbon price can spark innovation for clean, new technologies. Read the CCL summary .

Your state legislators want to know what you think of proposed legislation before they vote on it. You can email them or call their office to express your views. You can find out who your legislators are and how to contact them here , by entering your town and street address. Your state legislators will be listed first, then your Members of Congress will be listed. As a general rule, you'll want to contact your state legislators about state legislation and your Members of Congress about federal legislation. Click on your legislators' names to be taken to their home page, which will show their email address and other contact info, along with their latest news.

From Nature and New Scientist: On March 2, leaders of 175 nations agreed to forge a treaty to tackle plastic pollution. Delegates rose in a standing ovation as the resolution was adopted at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Kenya. A negotiating committee will spend the next two years hammering out the final deal. Crucially, the treaty will be legally binding and will address the full life cycle of plastics . Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN Environment Programme, called the agreement the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris climate accord in 2015. “We now have one text. It speaks to full life cycle; it speaks to legally binding; it speaks to a financing mechanism; it speaks to understanding some countries can do it more easily than others,” says Anderson. “It has been a long, hard road, but I’m very happy.” Read the story at New Scientist | 4 min read Reference: Full text of the adopted resolution | 4 pages

"Nature can be our saviour," said Inger Anderson, the head of the UN Environment Programme. "But only if we save it first." "A new report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) looks at the causes, impacts and solutions to climate change. The report gives the clearest indication to date of how a warmer world is affecting all living things on Earth. Here are five things we learnt from it." 1- Things are way worse than we thought 2 - Loss and damage gets scientific backing 3 - Technology is not a silver bullet 4 - Cities offer hope 5 - The small window is closing fast. "... It's not just about spending on green energy and electric cars. The authors say that investing in education, health systems and social justice could help people to cope with the impacts of rising temperatures. Investing in nature will also be a bulwark against the worst, says the IPCC, which calls for 30-50% of the world to be conserved." Read th

From the Courant: Mar 1 - The US Supreme Court took up an appeal from 19 mostly Republican-led states and coal companies that contend the EPA has only narrow authority to regulate carbon output. Some conservative justices appeared skeptical of broad EPA authority over carbon dioxide emissions, but there could be obstacles to issuing a major ruling. Read more . From the Boston Globe: Feb 27 - In the most important environmental case in more than a decade, the Supreme Court on Monday, February 28 , will hear arguments in a dispute that could restrict or even eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to control the pollution that is heating the planet. A decision by the high court, with its conservative supermajority, could shred President Biden’s plans to halve the nation’s greenhouse emissions by the end of the decade, which scientists said is necessary to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Read more here (may be paywalled).