Fay Augustyn
Conservation Associate

Blog Posts By This Author

Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure

January 26, 2012 | Clean Water, Global Warming, Greening Water Infrastructure, Protecting Rivers, Restoring Rivers, Water Efficiency, Water Supply

In Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama reconfirmed his commitment to clean water, “I will not back down from making sure our food is safe, our water is clean…” Our communities and waterways need this commitment more than ever.  In the second decade of the 21st century, our nation’s water infrastructure is at a crossroads.

Are Extreme Weather and Climate Change like a Baseball Player on Steroids?

January 6, 2012 | Water Efficiency, Water Supply, Clean Water, Restoring Rivers, Protecting Rivers, Floods & Floodplains, Global Warming, Greening Water Infrastructure

That is the connection Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and cofounder of the Weather Underground, described climate change and its effect on extreme weather events like floods, droughts and heat waves in a recent PBS broadcast; “They all tend to get increased when you have this extra energy in the atmosphere. I call it being on steroids … for the atmosphere.” From record breaking heat and droughts to blizzards, hurricanes, floods and tornados, we saw 12 weather disasters in 2011 that each caused one billion dollars or more in damage.

Preparing for Climate Change: Massachusetts

December 15, 2011 | Clean Water, Dams & Dam Removal, Floods & Floodplains, Global Warming, Water Supply, Small Streams & Wetlands, Water Efficiency, Greening Water Infrastructure, Restoring Rivers

Earlier this fall, Massachusetts released its Climate Change Adaptation Report. Following in the footsteps of many other states, such as Wisconsin, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, Massachusetts’ report analyzes strategies to adapt to a changing climate across many sectors from natural resources to infrastructure and the economy.

A Fresh Plan for Managing Freshwater

December 9, 2011 | Clean Water, Dams & Dam Removal, Floods & Floodplains, Small Streams & Wetlands, Water Supply, Water Efficiency, Restoring Rivers, Protecting Rivers, Global Warming, Greening Water Infrastructure

Water has had made a serious splash in news headlines this year. From the extreme heat and droughts in Texas to flooding in the Mississippi basin and in the Northeast, water has impacted Americans in every way imaginable. Unfortunately, as the climate continues to warm, serious changes to our supply of freshwater are expected to occur, and the extreme weather events we’ve seen this year will increase in intensity.

Making Our Communities SAFE

December 1, 2011 | Clean Water, Global Warming, Water Efficiency, Water Supply

The increasing trends of extreme weather we’ve seen over the last couple of years have just been confirmed; last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) new report found that the number of extreme events: increasing temperature, drought, rainfall and flooding, are in fact long term trends, so we’d all better get ready! Preparing our communities for these extreme weather events will help to prevent the structural and economic damages that we’ve seen this year.

Extreme Weather and Climate Change?

September 9, 2011 | Floods & Floodplains, Global Warming, Protecting Rivers, Clean Water, Greening Water Infrastructure

Earlier this week, Climate Communication, released a new report “Current Extreme Weather and Climate Change,” which found that many types of extreme events are occurring more frequently, and the ties to human-induced climate change are clear.

Small grant programs mean a lot to local communities

August 16, 2011 | Dams & Dam Removal, Protecting Rivers, Restoring Rivers, Floods & Floodplains, Wild and Scenic Rivers

With the state of the economy leading every newscast and talk of a “super committee” in Congress that will slash federal spending, it is to lose sight of all of the good things happening around us and positive impact many state and federal programs still have on local communities. Earlier this summer we announced, along with our partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Restoration Center, over $860,000 in grants that will improve river health, restore fisheries, improve public safety and reduce flood risks.

Let’s Keep Our Water Clean with The Water Infrastructure Resiliency Act

August 15, 2011 | Clean Water, Global Warming, Greening Water Infrastructure, Water Supply, Water Efficiency

This year’s unprecedented storms and flooding are just a glimpse of the changes and challenges our nation will face in the future from a changing climate.  Increased extreme drought, severe storms and flooding, and rising sea levels are forecast to be more frequent and damaging and pose big threats to public health and the economy.