| Hi Everybody,
My name is Sophie Pinstein. I am currently interning with EwA. I have greatly enjoyed my internship so far, and I look forward to continuing to get to know this amazing community! This is my fourth News Digest. Thank you for reading! |
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| Horn Pond water treatment plant under construction. In March of 2025, construction began near Horn Pond in Woburn, with the goal of updating the water treatment plant to remove PFAS compounds from the water. PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of “forever chemicals” used most notably in non-stick cookware and food packaging. They can accumulate in fish and other animals, causing health problems. By updating the water treatment plant, the city of Woburn will stay in compliance with the stricter federal regulations for PFAS contamination passed in 2024. |
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| | 📸 Sign in front of Horn Pond construction site | Credit: Sophie Pinstein |
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| | | 📸 A tree killed by herbicide drift | Credit: Prairie Rivers Network |
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Herbicides in Illinois are harming more than weeds. For the last seven years, the Prairie Rivers Network has run a volunteer-based monitoring program to investigate the cause of death and disease to native oak trees. The trees have been observed growing irregularly shaped leaves, and many have died. When they sent tissue samples from the trees for analysis, they found high levels of several different pesticides. While the organization has published its findings, and sent multiple complaints to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the state has yet to take action against herbicide drift. |
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| What can old air samples teach us about climate change? Starting in the 1960s, the Swedish military collected air samples, initially intended to test for radiation caused by nuclear testing. Recent research has found that the DNA of moss spores found in these air samples reveals how climate change is affecting moss phenology. The study examined 16 different groups of moss, and found that mosses today release their spores four weeks earlier on average than they did in 1990. |
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| | | 📸 A Laysan Albatross and its egg | Credit: Dan Rapp |
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A live camera can show you what it’s like to be an Albatross in Hawaii. In an effort to raise public awareness about its unique habitat, Friends of the Midway Atoll have set up a live camera on the island, where over 2 million Albatross, belonging to 20 different species, come to nest. The camera has shown both the beauty and cruelty of life for the birds, with viewers observing both mating rituals and hatching eggs, as well as predation by invasive mice. |
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| Beaver dams may help forests heal from wildfires. In a new long term research project, scientists from Colorado State University built artificial beaver dams to study how wetlands created by beaver dams affect ecosystem restoration after wildfires. The study takes place in areas of Colorado’s northern mountains affected by wildfires in 2020. Artificial dams of varying complexity have been built in the affected watersheds and will be monitored over the next few years. Scientists hope the dams will encourage beavers to return to the watershed and will observe where and how they build natural dams during the study. |
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| | 📸 Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain |
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| | - Sophie PinsteinEarthwise Aware | Spring Intern |
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