Working Waterfront

How to best crunch the greenhouse gas numbers

Carbon pollution, also known as greenhouse gas emissions, is detrimental to the current way of life on Earth. In 2003, Maine became a climate leader for the nation when it became the first state to enact legislation setting specific greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. Since then, many other states have… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Artists and makers prepare for reboot

Maine’s beauty and diversity has long inspired a plethora of art and craft. Maine’s artists and makers are a varied bunch—whether crafting beer in Southern Maine, cutting earrings from recycled olive oil tins in the Midcoast, blending body care products from dulse, or painting abstractions of Downeast seascapes, they are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Steeped in grief’ as time in Maine ends

Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. These are my last two months in Maine for a long time. I am nearing the end of my two… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ocean economy changing—so should conversation

Drive down any part of Route 1 and you’re bound to spot at least a few signs sporting phrases like “Save the Fishermen, Stop the Mills,” or “Stop Ocean Industrialization.” Given the challenges facing Maine’s fishing industry, it’s no surprise people are concerned about the future of their coastal communities.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Closing a rural school raises key questions

It is school budget time. For remote and rural towns, it is common for the sustainability of small schools to be in question: do the economic benefits of the school outweigh the cost to local property tax payers? On the surface, closures or consolidations often seem more cost effective. In… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering that first kiss

Some people wait for the mail ritually, gathering at the post office after the mail van arrives. They are in no hurry and talk about the weather and about the folks that come and go as soon as the door closes and they’ve come and went. One day I walked… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What Mainers should know about energy corridor

Editor's note: The Working Waterfront has featured several opinion pieces on the corridor Central Maine Power wants to build/is building linking hydropower projects in Quebec with the New England grid. The issue is a bit out of our wheelhouse, but since renewable energy does relate to challenges for our climate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Adventures with a colonoscopy

“Have you had a colonoscopy?” asked Owen, one of our health center’s physician assistants. I was in for a mild gastric complaint. I probably rolled my eyes. I explained how I was very skeptical of the need for such a procedure. Having heard that so many of my peers were… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rituals with fire and water

So I turned 40. This was inevitable, and quite predictable—having been born in 1981, I would certainly turn 40 in 2021. But it’s still strange to say: I am now a 40-year-old woman. I remember when turning 40 was an occasion for doom and gloom. My father’s surprise 40th birthday… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

U.N. report on ocean goes beyond warning

Earlier this year, the United Nations announced the publication of its second World Ocean Assessment, presented as “the only comprehensive global analysis that looks at social, environmental, demographic, and economic trends affecting the state of the ocean...” The announcement described the first World Ocean Assessment, released in 2015, as a… SEE MORE