Environment

Pizza + Heat Pumps in Acton

December 13, 2024
by
On Wednesday, December 4, the Town of Acton Sustainability Office, in collaboration with Energize Acton, hosted a Heat Pump Pizza Party in Room 204 of Acton Town Hall to educate residents about the benefits of heat pumps as a sustainable alternative for home heating and cooling. (Yes, heat pumps do both!) The event drew approximately 130 participants, including State Senator Jamie Eldridge and State Representative Dan Sena, who joined residents eager to learn about heat pumps. The event featured presentations from David Martin, one of Acton’s Clean Energy Coaching Program coaches, and Kit Wu of the Laminar Collective, a group…
Read More
A nighttime picture of a bobcat. The night camera gives the cat a ghostly glow and its eyes look like little lights.

Acton Nature Watch: Snow Moon (Feb. 2025)

March 1, 2025
by
January sightings 17: Three male WHITE-TAILED DEER in Spring Hill Conservation Area stand off and stare each other down, eventually tangling racks until one of them wins grazing rights. [Click blue hyperlinks to see Rebecca Harvey’s stunning trail camera videos.] 26: A RACCOON stands on hind legs to…
Read More

January 2025 (Wolf Moon): Acton Nature Watch

February 8, 2025
by
December December 15: A CRAYFISH scuttles across the gravel bottom of Nagog Brook, still free of ice cover. Kyran Vig, a student at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School who monitors stream depth weekly for the Green Acton Water Committee, noticed the crustacean next to the stream gauge. Biologists at…
Read More
A map of the New England coast. A yellow star shows off the coast of Maine and many little dots show where people reported feeling the quake. The dots extend from north of Portland to south of Providence, RI and west of Springfield, MA.

Earthquake felt in Acton

February 1, 2025
by
On Monday, Jan. 27, at 10:22am EST, an earthquake shook the seafloor offshore York, Maine, sending out shock waves that were felt throughout New England, including in Acton. For the next two days, I asked every Actonian I met if they had felt the earthquake and I asked…
Read More

Environment Massachusetts launches campaign to save the bees

November 22, 2024
by
Native bee populations are facing a sharp decline due to climate change, habitat destruction, disease, and pesticide exposure. Neonicotinoids, a specific class of pesticides, are especially harmful to bees and contribute significantly to bee mortality. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate neonic-coated seeds, further endangering bees.…
Read More

LAND grant for Wetherbee Woods

November 2, 2024
by
State Sen. Jamie Eldridge has announced that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) has approved a Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity (LAND) grant of $500,000 to help Acton preserve Wetherbee Woods. Working as the Acton delegation, Eldridge and state Reps. Simon Cataldo and Dan…
Read More

Invasive aquatic species invade Acton Town Hall

November 2, 2024
by
On October 22, Town Hall was transformed into a plant identification biology lab, as thirty-five lovers of local ponds and rivers gathered to learn to identify invasive aquatic species. The Workshop on Invasive Aquatic Species attracted environmentalists and municipal staff from seventeen towns throughout the SuAsCo (Sudbury/Assabet/Concord) watershed.…
Read More
A group of people standing in the woods with dappled sunlight.

Acton Conservation Trust Fall Community Service Day

November 2, 2024
by
Acton Conservation Trust ‘s (ACT) 2024 Fall Community Service Day volunteers worked in the 176 Central Street Conservation Restriction (CR). A conservation restriction is a “legal agreement that prohibits certain acts and uses while allowing others, on private or municipally-owned property in order to permanently protect conservation values…
Read More

How and why to recycle batteries in Acton

October 12, 2024
by
Every day, we use devices powered by batteries – and these batteries contain hazardous materials. This article reviews how Acton residents can dispose of used batteries safely right here in town – and why it is important to do so. Batteries in our devices contain a variety of…
Read More

Bears, bears, everywhere

September 14, 2024
by
In a recent video posted on Facebook from East Acton, a hulking figure ambles across the lawn, unaware they are being recorded by a doorbell camera. No, it is not a criminal casing the neighborhood. It is an Ursus americanus, also known as an American black bear. The…
Read More
1 2 3 … 6

Donate

Help support the cost of bringing accurate, relevant news to the Acton community.

Subscribe

Sign up to receive a weekly email newsletter providing links to our new articles.

Categories

Look here to access all articles in your areas of interest.