Decent Enviro News:

Boston Turns Bus Stops Into Living Shields Against Deadly Heat·

Written by Matthew Russell

Boston has turned 30 bus shelters on the #28 route into pocket gardens. The drought-tolerant plantings sit atop waterproof trays, shading riders, soaking up rain, and greening a corridor long hit hard by summer heat, Boston.gov reports.

The project is a three-year demonstration tied to the city’s Heat Plan and its “Cool Commutes” strategy.

Two men lean over a green, flowering landscape feature in an urban setting.

Photo: YouTube / Weston Nurseries
Thirty bus shelters now host green roofs.

Heat Relief Where It’s Needed

The Route 28 line runs through Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury. These neighborhoods are designated environmental justice areas and face higher, longer-lasting heat on hot days, Bay State Banner reports.

By replacing sun-baked clear panels with living roofs, the shelters cut radiant exposure and reduce the local heat-island effect.

Person in a neon shirt tending to a green rooftop garden.

Photo: YouTube / Weston Nurseries
Roof trays retain stormwater during downpours.

Stormwater Kept Out of Streets—and Harbor

Every downpour loads gutters, outfalls, and ultimately coastal waters. These roofs slow that flow. City officials estimate the 30 shelters will capture on the order of 1,400–1,500 gallons across the pilot period, helping curb runoff that can carry pollutants to drains and waterways, according to The Boston Globe. The city will also track water quality of roof runoff to understand filtration benefits.

City bus showing "29 RIDE FOR FREE" sign at a street corner.

The #28 route was chosen for high ridership.

Small Roofs, Big Biodiversity

Sedum forms the hardy base layer. Native plants will be added to attract bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators, building a tiny habitat network along Blue Hill Avenue, per Mass. Municipal Association. That boost matters in dense blocks with limited tree canopy.

Climate Action With Community Hands

Social Impact Collective designed the system and helped lead installation with YouthBuild Boston and Weston Nurseries, while JCDecaux, the city’s street-furniture partner, enabled the retrofit. The work revives a 2014 pilot and scales it across the city’s busiest bus corridor, The Architect’s Newspaper reports.

The #28 line is fare-free through 2026, positioning the program to reach riders who are most exposed to heat and least served by rapid transit.

Measuring Impact, Planning Scale

Over three years, Boston will collect data on temperatures, plant growth, stormwater retention, air quality, and pollinators to guide future standards for bus-shelter design, Mass. Municipal Association reports. If expanded to all 280 shelters, the city’s green roofs could hold roughly 15,000 gallons during storms—a meaningful dent in street flooding that also protects downstream marine habitats.

“Enigma Of The Pacific”

Marbled Murrelet

Brachyramphus marmoratus

About

The petite, quail-sized Marbled Murrelet has been called the “enigma of the Pacific.” So much about this stub-tailed seabird is unusual and remains poorly known. The bird’s range extends from Alaska to California; in northern treeless areas, it nests on the ground, but in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, it flies inland as far as 55 miles to nest high in trees. Its nesting habits remained one of North America’s great bird mysteries until 1974, when a tree surgeon working 147 feet up in a 200-foot-tall Douglas fir found an active nest. The only other bird in the alcid family that shares this nesting behavior is the murrelet’s close cousin, the Long-billed Murrelet, found in Asia.

Marbled Murrelet populations are in steady decline, due in part to the clearing of old-growth temperate rainforests, habitat shared with the imperiled Northern Spotted Owl. But nest predation by clever corvids like Steller’s Jays and Common Ravens can also adversely impact murrelets. These birds gather where people enjoying the Pacific Northwest’s forest leave garbage behind — the picnic areas and campsites more than 100 feet below nesting murrelets — making it all the more important to clean up and pack out what you bring in.

Threats

Seabirds are declining faster than any other bird group. The Marbled Murrelet faces many of the threats that endanger all seabirds, but the loss of its old-growth forest nesting habitat is unique among seabirds. Listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992, the Marbled Murrelet is also listed as a Yellow Alert Tipping Point species by Partners in Flight, a result of the loss of more than 50 percent of its population in the past 50 years. (snip-MORE on the page)

https://abcbirds.org/birds/marbled-murrelet/

Clips from The Majority Report on Criminal Israel and their illegal war crimes against Palestinian adults and children

What’s new at the NASA Earth Observatory

It is indeed good to see the NASA Earth Observatory newsletter in my Inbox again, since the shutdown ended. This is one of the things we the people own and pay taxes to maintain, and it’s a wonderful thing, good for all to learn about our world. Even if a person never gets farther than their own downtown, they can still learn about the world with the information we receive from the Observatory. We need to keep the stuff we’ve paid for!

Go and explore here: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/ . There is all manner of stuff! And you, too, can have a newsletter!

Snippet: We are back! After the lapse in appropriations at the beginning of October, and therefore a lapse in our ability to pay for our newsletter platform, the Earth Observatory team is back to publishing our Image of the Day and we are happy to be back in your inbox. We have a slate of new stories to share with you (I will include them all below so you can catch up) and more planned. But in other news…

Satellites Detect Seasonal Pulses in Earth’s Glaciers

More bad things by bad people. Old ones in my open tabs.

Trump Won’t Rule Out Sending Troops Into Venezuela

DHS To Carry Out Migrant Raids In New Orleans

Feds Charge NYPD Sergeant With Impersonating ICE

ICE Employee Arrested In Underage Sex Sting [VIDEO]

Millions Likely To Lose SNAP Under New GOP Rules

Feds Award $1B Loan To Reopen Three Mile Island

The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant has been awarded a $1 billion federal loan guarantee that will enable it to shift onto taxpayers some of the risk of its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft for its data centers. Amid rising energy demands, the taxpayer-backed loan will go toward the unprecedented effort to reopen a mothballed U.S. nuclear plant that suffered a partial meltdown decades ago.

Hannity: I Don’t Care What Epstein Said About Trump

Nexstar Seeks FCC Payoff For Backing MAGA On Kimmel

WH Intervened To Aid Accused Rapist Andrew Tate

Homocon WH Nominee Exposed For Inflammatory Past

Abbott Effectively Defies Order To Release Musk Emails

How Trump Insiders Brokered Ballroom Donations

Watters: Rubio Is Like Your “Funny Mexican Friend”

DOJ Offers To Defend Rioter Who Tried To Burn Quran

JoeMyGod Mod12 days ago

You’ll note that brave patriot Jake Lang wore a Kevlar vest to address the Dearborn City Council

Heavily armed Mexican Navy personnel came to investigate the scene and discovered that the men had landed in Mexico by mistake and intended to plant the signs in South Texas. The situation was resolved without violence, and the Mexican Navy removed the signs

If this were reversed, Mexican contractors would have been shot or had a bomb dropped on them by drone.

Border Patrol Tracked Cars Of “No Kings” Protesters

Astronomy Pic Of The Day Today

M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA, L. C. Ho, D. Thilker

Explanation: What’s happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster (Cetus). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies. M77’s active core glows bright at x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows details of the spiral’s winding spiral arms as traced by obscuring red dust clouds and blue star clusters, all circling the galaxy’s bright white luminous center.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

“Virginia Partridge”

or “Virginia Quail.”

Snippet:

The Northern Bobwhite, also known as Virginia Quail or Virginia Partridge, is in the same family as the Montezuma and Scaled Quails, but the bobwhite is the only native quail species in the eastern United States. This delightfully round little quail is capable of strong, short bursts of flight — particularly when fleeing predators — though they prefer to walk or run, scuttling about under the dense, low cover of vegetation in grasslands, agricultural fields, and open forests.

The Northern Bobwhite is more often heard than seen, its namesake whistled bob-white! call sounding from the brushy undergrowth, where their dappled brown-and-white plumage provides excellent camouflage. But sometimes, especially when calling in spring, males will occupy highly visible locations, perching atop fenceposts and tree limbs.

A popular game bird, the Northern Bobwhite has a whopping 22 subspecies across its range, one of which — the Masked Bobwhite — is federally listed as Endangered. Its status as a game bird has made it one of the most well-studied birds in the world, and scientists have observed sharp declines, likely owing to multiple causes that include habitat loss and the increased use of pesticides.

Threats

Populations of Northern Bobwhite plunged between 1966 and 2019, resulting in an overall decline of 81 percent, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight considers the Northern Bobwhite as a “Common Bird in Steep Decline.” For years, an explanation for such drastic declines has been elusive. However, most biologists agree that multiple causes are to blame. (snip-MORE on the page)

https://abcbirds.org/birds/northern-bobwhite/

Clips from The Majority Report

Trump Epstein Removal Happening?

MTG Begins Wave Of Republicans Quitting Congress

Fox News Can’t Spin Their Way Out Of This

Some Good Eco News-

Norway Turns Ocean Forests Of Seaweed Into Weapons Against Climate Change

Written by Matthew Russell

Off Trøndelag’s coast, long lines of kelp now do double duty. They grow fast. They also lock away carbon. A new pilot farm near Frøya aims to turn that promise into measurable removal of CO₂ from the air, according to DNV.

The site spans 20 hectares and carries up to 55,000 meters of kelp lines. First seedlings went in last November. The goal is proof of concept, then scale.

How the Pilot Works

The three-year Joint Industry Project, JIP Seaweed Carbon Solutions, brings SINTEF together with DNV, Equinor, Aker BP, Wintershall Dea, and Ocean Rainforest, with a total budget of NOK 50 million, Safety4Sea reports.

Researchers expect an initial harvest of about 150 tons of kelp after 8–10 months at sea. Early estimates suggest that biomass could represent roughly 15 tons of captured CO₂. This is a test bed for methods that can be replicated and expanded, DNV explains.

There’s a second step, as kelp becomes biochar. That process stabilizes carbon for the long term and can improve soils on land, SINTEF’s team told Safety4Sea. The project is designed to test both the removal and the storage.

Serene coastal landscape with rocky shores and calm water under a cloudy sky.

A Long History, A New Mission

Seaweed isn’t new here. Norwegians have cultivated kelp since the 18th and 19th centuries for fertilizer and feed. Scientists advanced modern methods in the 1930s, laying the groundwork for today’s farms, according to SeaweedFarming.com. Cold, nutrient-rich waters support species like Laminaria and Saccharina. They grow quickly and draw down dissolved carbon and nitrogen.

The country’s aquaculture backbone also helps. Norway already runs one of the world’s most advanced seafood sectors. That expertise now extends to macroalgae.

Policy, Permits, and Ecosystems

Commercial cultivation began receiving specific permits in 2014, and activity has expanded across several coastal counties, according to a study in Aquaculture International. Researchers detailed the risks that accompany scale: genetic interaction with wild kelp, habitat impacts, disease, and space conflicts. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, where seaweed grows alongside finfish, can recycle nutrients from farms and reduce eutrophication pressures.

Vibrant yellow seaweed covers dark rocky surfaces near shallow water.

Engineering for Open Water

Getting beyond sheltered bays is crucial. One path is the “Seaweed Carrier,” a sheet-like offshore system that lets kelp move with waves in deeper, more exposed water. It supports mechanical harvesting and industrial output without using land, Business Norway explains. The same approach can enhance water quality by absorbing CO₂ and “lost” nutrients.

The Frøya project is small in tonnage but big in intent. It links Norway’s long kelp lineage with new climate tech: fast-growing macroalgae, verified carbon accounting, and durable storage as biochar. If these methods prove reliable at sea and on shore, Norway will have more than a farm. It will have a blueprint for ocean-based carbon removal that others can copy.

More Music: I Read This Yesterday, & Thought You Might Like It, Too

On the world’s coldest stage, a military musician plays with a plastic horn and double gloves

By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY Updated 4:06 AM CST, November 20, 2025

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On the frozen edge of the world, staying in practice as a professional musician takes ingenuity, grit and a plastic instrument for schoolchildren that’s guaranteed not to freeze to your fingers or face.

Natalie Paine is a French horn player in New Zealand’s navy who since October has been among 21 military members stationed in Antarctica. There, her melodies drift across the frozen Ross Sea from perhaps the most remote practice room on Earth.

“It’s beautiful and very inspiring,” Paine told the Associated Press. “I’ll sit there by the window and I will do my routine and play music in my time off, which is not very often.”

An unlikely journey to the ice

The story of how she arrived in Antarctica is an unlikely one. Paine grew up in the hot, dry climate of Adelaide, Australia, where she dreamed of visiting the frozen continent as a scientist.

She studied music at university instead, putting Antarctica out of her mind. Years later however, as a musician in New Zealand’s navy, Paine learned members of the country’s military were stationed in Antarctica to support the work of scientists.

When she asked, her instructor said any military member could win one of the coveted assignments.

“My eyes lit up and I was like, what? Even a musician?” Paine said. “He’s like, heck yeah, why not?”

The most remote practice room on Earth

Her dream was revived but enacting it wasn’t simple. It took four years of unsuccessful applications before Paine landed a posting as a communications operator.

It’s a consuming job, worked in six-day stretches that leave little time for music. Paine monitors radio, phone, email and other communications traffic at New Zealand’s mission at Scott Base, sometimes speaking to people on the ice who haven’t heard other voices for weeks.

In whatever window she can find, Paine squeezes in scales and mouth exercises, going to great lengths not to disturb others on round-the-clock shifts. That means slipping out of the main base to a hut built in 1957 under the leadership of explorer Sir Edmund Hillary as New Zealand established its presence in Antarctica.

While she plays by the window, watching seals on the ice, Paine finds new musical motifs bubbling up.

“There’s so much beauty and it’s not tame either, it’s this wild, untamed beauty of the land around you and the animals as well,” she said. “It’s just so overwhelming, spiritually, emotionally, physically sometimes as well.”

A hostile climate prompts ingenuity

Her practical dilemmas included finding an instrument suitable for Antarctica — something hardy, lighter than a brass French horn and less likely to freeze to her hands. The winner, called a jHorn, isn’t elegant.

“It was designed to be a beginner brass instrument for children,” said Paine. “So it was like, super compact, super light plastic, very durable, nowhere near as much maintenance required.”

New Zealand’s navy doesn’t have records of another military musician being posted to Antarctica so Paine, who will be there until March, could be the first. Her presence has delighted Scott Base and she has provided live music for ceremonies, such as the changing of the flag, instead of the usual tunes from a speaker.

“I had to have ski gloves on with double layers and hand warmers on the inside to be able to hold the trumpet and still my fingers were freezing,” she said. Paine is, however, likely one of the few musicians to perform a solo Antarctic concert in minus 21 degrees Celsius (minus 6 Fahrenheit).

She said the collective effort between nations to work together on the frozen content had a familiar theme. It reminded her of music.

“Music is the universal language and it’s something that reminds us that we’re all connected,” she said. “It brings that connection back to home, back to land and back to the people you’re with as well.”