Climate change “super” solutions, like increasing solar and wind power, are well underway in New England. But in a region where residents see the effects of climate change year round, everyday solutions are also essential: like how we bury our dead or get the kids to school.
For Earth Day 2023, journalists from the New England News Collaborative worked together to tell stories of people in New England who are finding unexpected and creative ways to act on climate change.
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Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News CollaborativeSalt marshes play an outsized role in fighting climate change — and they’re an important part of New England’s ecosystem. To survive, they’ll have to adapt to warmer temperatures and higher sea levels. -
Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News CollaborativeOne of agriculture’s top climate change solutions is not a new idea, but it’s starting to gain momentum in New England, a region that in recent years dealt with extreme rainfall and periods of extended drought.
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Dozens of cemeteries across New England have started offering green burials. That’s where bodies can decompose underground, without the use of embalming fluids or concrete vaults. -
Fourteen communities in New Hampshire are launching programs this spring that aim to bring cheaper, greener power to residents. -
A project in Beverly, Massachusetts offers an alternative on-demand power source in the summer: the school district uses their electric school buses’ giant batteries as mini power plants to send energy back to the grid. -
Construction waste clogs landfills, worsens climate change. Two women's solution: salvage it insteadIn 2017, Ann Jarosiewicz and Liz Prete left their jobs as developers and started WasteNot, a building materials recycling company on Cape Cod. Since then, they’ve diverted over an acre of hardwood flooring, roughly 570 kitchen cabinets, and 500 windows from landfills. -
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The problem for southern Maine and New England producers is erratic winter weather and shortening sap season. -
As capacity shortages in slaughterhouses complicate business for livestock farmers, two specialty sausage makers are starting their own animal processing facility.
