Connecticut lawmakers are debating a bill right now that would help keep millions of bottles and cans out of Connecticut’s parks, beaches, and streets every year – at no cost to taxpayers. But the bill won’t pass if the plastics industry and big beverage brands get their way.
Here in New England, we rely too much on fracked gas to heat and power our homes and businesses. If we want to avoid a climate catastrophe, we need to end fossil fuel use by 2050.
This blog was first published as an opinion piece in the Connecticut Mirror on April 15, 2019. Suddenly, recycling is costing cities and towns across Connecticut money. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities reported that China Sword – China’s new policy of refusing United States’ plastic and paper recyclables – has flipped the economics of Connecticut’s… Continue reading It’s Time to Update Connecticut’s Bottle Bill
Brayton Point Station spewed toxic emissions for nearly 60 years. Today, the massive cooling towers finally came down, bringing us one step closer to the end of coal in New England.
Plastics are everywhere, and they aren’t all recyclable. Until there’s a new system that creates a structure for using less plastic from the beginning, here’s a handy guide to what can and can’t go in the bin.
Check out the winning artwork from CLF and Bow Seat’s Healthy Whale, Healthy Ocean Challenge. This art contest invited K-12 students from the New England and Gulf of Maine regions in the U.S. and Canada to use their creative voices to highlight the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and the need for conservation of marine ecosystems and resources.
If Connecticut wants to cut disposal and recycling costs, and if the state wants to increase redemption rates, and improve the quality of recyclables to avoid prices tanking in the future, the Bottle Bill is one of the best tools we have.
American recycling is in a crisis. But this crisis is a chance to create a better system for tomorrow. Today’s products and their packaging are often made from plastic and designed for disposal. By holding the producers of those products accountable for their polluting products, we can create a system that’s better for our communities and better for our planet.
Seven new North Atlantic right whale calves are migrating with their mothers and other whales back up the east cost into New England and Canadian waters. But this journey is full of threats: ship strikes, noise pollution, and entanglement in fishing gear all threaten their survival. We must work to make our oceans a safe and welcoming place for right whales.
Since Sean Mahoney, CLF’s Executive Vice President, and his wife put a rooftop solar panel system on their barn, they’ve noticed a huge difference in their energy bills. All told, their annual energy costs have decreased by up to 80 percent! For the Mahoneys, installing solar panels was about both saving money on electricity and about reducing their carbon footprint.
