Burning less coal isn’t just making air cleaner. It’s making your tuna safer.

Studies of tuna caught in the Gulf of Maine between 2004 and 2012 revealed that levels of methylmercury in their bodies decreased at a rate of 2 percent per year, or nearly 20 percent over a decade.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/29/burning-less-coal-isnt-just-making-air-cleaner-its-making-your-tuna-safer/?utm_term=.a18fd66bc527
Article courtesy of the Washington Post by Darryl Fears

Automakers fund European electric car charging sites to boost demand

Four of the world's top carmakers have agreed to invest in thousands of fast-charging sites across Europe to boost mainstream acceptance of electric cars, the companies said on Tuesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-electric-idUSKBN13O25J
Article courtesy of Reuters by Andreas Cremer and Bernie Woodall - Berlin/Detroit

California regulates cow farts

GALT, Calif. (AP) — California is taking its fight against global warming to the farm.
The nation's leading agricultural state is now targeting greenhouse gases produced by dairy cows and other livestock. Cattle and other farm animals are major sources of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas. Methane is released when they belch, pass gas and make manure.   http://www.fox5ny.com/news/220448846-story
Article courtesy of Fox5 by Terrence Chea /Associated Press

Look no farther than Richland, Wash. for ways to combat climate change

Just across the state in Richland, Wash. at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, researcher Pete McGrail has figured out a way to pump carbon dioxide into basalt bedrock, which then turns the gas into solid stone.   http://mynorthwest.com/473986/look-no-farther-than-richland-wash-for-ways-to-combat-climate-change/
Article courtesy of MyNorthwest by David Ross-Kiro radio host.

Massachusetts Uber, Lyft screenings called toughest in US

BOSTON (AP) — Drivers for ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft will undergo what state officials call the most comprehensive background checks in the U.S. under agreements announced Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.  http://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/11/28/uber-lyft-regs-in-massachusetts-called-toughest-in-us
Article courtesy of boston.com by Bob Salsberg

Hackers attack San Francisco's light-rail system, forcing agency to give free rides to passengers

Some passengers on San Francisco's public railway enjoyed free rides during part of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend after hackers infiltrated hundreds of its workers' computers and email accounts.  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-hacker-sf-20161128-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Jeff Chiu of the Associated Press

The Arctic is a Seriously Weird Place Right Now

The sun set on the North Pole more than a month ago, not to rise again until spring. Usually that serves as a cue for sea ice to spread its frozen tentacles across the Arctic Ocean. But in the depths of the polar night, a strange thing started to happen in mid-October. Sea ice growth slowed to a crawl and even started shrinking for a bit.  http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-sea-ice-record-low-20903
Article courtesy of Climate Central by Brian Kahn

A Slow Ride Toward the Future of Public Transportation

HELSINKI, Finland — A small electric bus chugged along at a slow but steady seven miles per hour when a white van, entering the street from the side, cut in front of it. The bus slowed, as if its driver had hit the brakes, and got back up to speed after the van moved out of the way.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/science/finland-public-transportation-driverless-bus.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of The New York Times by Henry Fountain

US, 35 states to boost electric vehicle charging network.

The White House said on Thursday it will establish 48 national electric-vehicle (EV) charging networks on nearly 25,000 miles of highways in 35 U.S. states.
The Obama administration said 28 states, utilities and vehicle manufactures, including General Motors Co (GM.N), BMW AG (BMWG.DE) and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), and EV charging firms have also agreed to work together to jump-start additional charging stations on the corridors.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-electricvehicles-idUSKBN12Y1L3
Article courtesy of Reuters by David Shepardson

Floating homes: A solution to flooding, crowded cities and unaffordable housing.

 

It’s a timber-clad house with open-plan living, pale floorboards and large windows giving views across Chichester canal. This building designed by London-based Baca Architects has a unique feature – it floats.
The house is intended to be practical, affordable (a two-bed unit will sell for £200,000) and equipped to deal with floods, by rising with the water levels. Ultimately the company wants to unlock redundant waterways by building on “bluespace” sites – manmade docks, canals and marinas – across London.  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/oct/29/floating-homes-architecture-build-water-overcrowding-cities-unaffordable-housing
Article courtesy of The Guardian by Eleanor Ross and Laura Paddison

China's largest freshwater lake turns into prairie

The water level of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, continues to drop to 10.6 meters, and the water area has shrunk to 924 square kilometers, one eighth of that of wet season, turning the lake into a prairie on Nov 3, according to Lake's Xingzi Observation Station data.
Article courtesy of chinadaily.com.cn

Shocking new studies: Silicon Valley’s ‘megacommute’ even worse than L.A

SAN JOSE — Silicon Valley’s economic boom has created a surge of new jobs and slashed unemployment rates — but it also has drastically worsened the region’s commutes and contributed to the housing crisis, according to two new studies released Wednesday.
One takeaway from the studies that stunned experts: The Silicon Valley “megacommute” — defined as a single motorist driving 90 minutes or longer one way to work — is actually worse here in the Bay Area than is the case even in traffic-choked Los Angeles County.  http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/11/02/job-boom-intensifies-traffic-and-housing-woes/
Article courtesy of The Mercury News by George Avalos

NASA Satellite Imagery Shows Utah's Great Salt Lake Is Drying Up at Alarming Rate

Five years of drought and over-use of water from feeder rivers has seen Utah's Great Salt Lake shrink by almost 40 percent. The changes were dramatically revealed in before-and-after photos taken by the Landsat 8 satellite, recently released by NASA.  http://www.ecowatch.com/great-salt-lake-utah-2077769555.html
Article courtesy of ECOWatch by Dan Zukowski

Massachusetts-Rhode Island- Fall Commuter Rail Schedules Effective 11.21.16

The Fall Commuter Rail schedules will be in effect starting on Monday, November 21st. You'll find more information and updated schedules for all lines at the following link:

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_events/?id=6442456990&month=10&year=16

Note: There will be no schedule changes for the Greenbush, Kingston/Plymouth, Middleborough/Lakeville and Worcester Lines. For the Worcester Line, the re-print also includes the adjustments made in July to the final arrival time of certain trains (Inbound trains 588, 522 and 526. Outbound trains 517, 519, 521, 593, 523 and 525).

Full service to Wachusett begins November 21st.

Paper copies of the schedules will be available in the Boston-based stations (North Station, South Station, and Back Bay) starting on Monday, November 14th.

Each line now has a legend that indicates service level information in the event of severe weather.  We will operate at various 'colors' in the event of severe weather.

o Purple is standard service
o In the event of Blue we will not operate the trains shaded in blue on the online schedules
o Orange will have a unique schedule for that day that is not currently available online
o Gray means no train service that day

If you have any trip planning questions related to the Fall schedules, please contact Customer Service at 617-222-3200 or on Twitter @MBTA_CR.
We value your feedback and thank you for riding with us.

Sincerely,

The MBTA/Keolis Commuter Rail Team

You are responsible for melting this much Arctic sea ice per year

The next roundtrip flight you take from New York to Europe means you will personally contribute to the melting of 32 square feet of Arctic sea ice by September in a given year, according to a groundbreaking new study published Thursday. http://mashable.com/2016/11/03/arctic-sea-ice-melt-responsibility-study/#Fr.UIiDUiOq0
Article courtesy of Mashable by Andrew Freedman