Working Waterfront

A poor report card from Maine’s ocean

Arctic warming and accelerating ice melt are leading to changes in global ocean circulation. With a northward shift of the Gulf Stream and a retreat of the Labrador Current, more warm, salty, low-nutrient Gulf Stream water is entering the Gulf of Maine. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Brenna Cohen makes electrical connections

Name: Brenna Cohen Title: Community development officer in Island Institute's Center for Climate and Community Focus: The Energy Transitions Team collaborates with state and national experts to help island and coastal communities build energy resilience. We work to reduce power outages, boost the local energy supply to support electrification and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate plan: What you need to know

Ultimately, the "Maine Won’t Wait" plan is essential because it guides the state’s approach to critical issues like climate change, economic resilience, and community well-being. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cooking on wood

Last weekend we stacked firewood in the barn, collecting and piling small pieces separately for kindling. Over the 30-plus years I’ve cooked on a wood burning kitchen stove, I’ve gotten mighty fussy about firewood, and can tell just by looking at a stick whether it will fit the kitchen stove… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Matinicus visit highlights coastal challenges

If you’ve had the opportunity to fly in a four-seater Cessna from Owls Head to the island of Matinicus on Penobscot Island Air, like I did last month, you’ll know why it’s a trip worth taking. On a clear day, Penobscot Bay stretches out in front of you with its… SEE MORE

Students at work in courses on electric outboard maintenance and repair. PHOTO: YVONNE THOMAS

Working Waterfront

Going electric—Training technicians to work on electric outboards

The topic was electric outboards and the course was created with boat yard technicians in mind, but designed for a wide range of levels of familiarity with the content. It was offered in Rockland at Mid-Coast School of Technology in July and in Farmington at Foster Career and Technical Education Center in August. SEE MORE

From left, new Island Institute Fellows: Mark Gorski, Lucia Daranyi, Thomas McClellan, Erin Dent, and Taylor Rossini. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Island Institute welcomes five new Fellows

Island Institute’s flagship fellowship program, which is celebrating its 25th year, welcomes five new Island Institute Fellows, two new community partners, and five continuing Fellows. The program brings recent college graduates to island and coastal towns to work for two years on a community’s public priorities. The new Fellows are:… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bike and walk to a better climate future

Climate change arguably is one of the biggest challenges we face as a nation, as a world. It is a challenge that does not have a single solution, but requires us to deploy a wide range of actions to drastically reduce global warming, pollution, and to prepare for the climate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

No surprise: Bad weather causing outages

Severe storms (other than tropical cyclones) and winter weather accounted for nearly three-quarters of these outages. Hurricanes and tropical storms accounted for 14% of outages... SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Hope: A framework for climate action

Hope is a framework for action. There is a great distinction between hoping (which is all about action) and wishing (which is passive, having a desire but believing there is nothing we can do). SEE MORE