Water is arguably the number one natural resource in Massachusetts. The state is surrounded by ocean on the east and due to glacial formation of the state's surface, there are numerous glacial lakes and rivers. The waters provide habitats for a variety of fresh and salt water life. The number one water related industry has been fishing. Unfortunately, human contact has contaminated most of the water sources in the state. There is both" point source pollution" and "nonpoint source pollution". Early factories and lumber mills were direct sources of pollution while urban development and the destruction of land and water habitats have been nonpoint sources. According to an article in USA Today by Jennifer Marlowe, the Division of Ecological Restoration has completed or created more than 150 restoration projects that are specifically aimed at water restoration.
Artificial obstructions are removed to restore tidal flow
Forests (and land in general)
Since the landscape of Massachusetts is almost 70 percent forest, forests have to be one of the most important natural resources. The only problem with this is that most of the forest land in the state is privately owned. The government can't control what private citizens do with this land the way they could protect government owned lands and state parks. The Department of Energy and Environmental affairs has offered monetary incentives to private forest land owners who are willing to preserve and restore these private forests. There are actually incentive programs for all private lands that involve the "sustainable development" of plants and animal habitats.
Recycling
Massachusetts seems to be involved in traditional "cradle to grave recycling". The efforts in Maaschusetts to recycle are numerous, as you can see if you visit the link below.
http://www.recyclingworksma.com/
The government recycling programs and private organization like Massrecycle.org are based upon the idea of reduce, reuse, recycle and use recycled products. These concepts always seem to lead to "downcycled" products in the long run. There have been some new attempts at either "upcycling" as programs are developed to used recycled plastics for rugs by Mohawk or new lawn furniture. One really interesting program is Greenbean Recycling, who have sites on many of the major university campuses. They have created incentive competitions to encourage college students to recycle and become eco-aware. The company has created recycling machines that are "reverse soda machines" that keep track of what is recycled and give ecological information about what each contribution has done for the environment.
The Greenbean Recycle Machine
Energy
Massachusetts is much further ahead in the area of renewable energy. They were one of the first states to require a specific percentage of energy used in state buildings to come from renewable sources. The government also offers incentives to private companies to use renewable energy sources. These sources include solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources.
Massachusetts has also begun required and incentive based "green energy buildings". There are a number of state and local city building that now meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards. Cities such as Cambridge and Lowell have already made great progress in becoming TODs (Transit Oriented Developments) which also supports the use of renewable energies and reduces the "environmental footprint" on the state.
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