Commentary
Licensing for landscape architects is a matter of public health and safety
A bill pending in the New Hampshire Legislature would remove the licensing requirement for landscape architects in New Hampshire. The health, safety, and well-being of the public – as well as the revitalization of local economies – hang in the balance. I’ve been a New Englander my entire life. Twenty-two years ago I moved to […]
School choice proposals rarely go before voters – and typically fail when they do
Arizona lawmakers decided in late 2022 that the state will pay tuition, related education expenses, or both for children at any school parents select, including private and religious schools. It’s the latest step in an effort to provide public funds for private schools that in Arizona began in 2011. And that step was taken along […]
New Hampshire has a responsibility to do its best for the land and climate
The forecast, sung by the legendary Bob Dylan, is simple: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” What does it predict for New Hampshire? Eric Orff, wildlife biologist in the Merrimack River Valley and self described “watcher of nature,” said last month it was the first winter in 60 years […]
The good, the bad, and the water: Dispatches from the Bedford PFAS citizen commissioner
My experience as Bedford citizen commissioner on the state PFAS Commission has been eye-opening, and includes advocacy at all levels. Fear of PFAS chemicals is justified because they cause cancer, disrupt hormones, and take years to dissipate, but this is not an issue we should hide from in Bedford, or anywhere else. Clean water and […]
Is wood in streams always good?
In the face of long-term declines in the wild populations of our state fish, the Eastern brook trout, one of the actions being taken across the state and region is putting wood into streams. For many decades, it was assumed that getting wood out of streams was important to protect water quality, bridges, and river […]
Editor’s Notebook: The way of the woods
I woke up early on Wednesday morning – and not in a carpe diem kind of way. Two hours before the alarm was set to go off, I started dreaming up things to worry about – work and the world, my family’s well-being and our future paths. I worried about worrying. By sunrise, before my […]
Climate resilience in New England: How does New Hampshire stack up?
OK, the weather on our continent in recent weeks has been weird. Snow falling in Los Angeles, minus-9 degrees in Montana, and a high of 95 in Texas. Yet taking the long view, this is unsurprising. We are now inescapably committed to some amount of change in the global climate. How severe the changes are […]
March 2 marks the third anniversary of COVID in NH. For hospitals, the challenge continues.
March 2 marks the third anniversary of the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Hampshire. It was on that day that the first case of COVID-19 in New Hampshire was diagnosed. And while strains of COVID have shifted and become more manageable, the challenges facing New Hampshire hospitals today remain as significant as they’ve […]
What is spillover? Bird flu outbreak underscores need for early detection
The current epidemic of avian influenza has killed over 58 million birds in the U.S. as of February 2023. Following on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, large outbreaks of viruses like bird flu raise the specter of another disease jumping from animals into humans. This process is called spillover. I’m a veterinarian and a […]
State’s community mental health centers could use a rate bump
New Hampshire’s 10 community mental health centers that make up the community-based mental health system provide critical services to more than 60,000 New Hampshire citizens in our state every year. But the shortage in the workforce pipeline has reached a crisis level: We cannot hire the staff we need, and retain the dedicated staff we […]
Night skies are getting brighter every year as light pollution erases stars for everyone
For most of human history, the stars blazed in an otherwise dark night sky. But starting around the Industrial Revolution, as artificial light increasingly lit cities and towns at night, the stars began to disappear. We are two astronomers who depend on dark night skies to do our research. For decades, astronomers have been building […]
In rural America, right-to-repair laws are leading pushback against growing corporate power
As tractors became more sophisticated over the past two decades, the big manufacturers allowed farmers fewer options for repairs. Rather than hiring independent repair shops, farmers have increasingly had to wait for company-authorized dealers to arrive. Getting repairs could take days, often leading to lost time and high costs. A new memorandum of understanding between […]