Those attending the Island Institute's Climate Symposium listen to a presenter. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Climate symposium centered on conversation

What if a conference for climate practitioners and problem solvers was based on conversation? We answered this question in September with around 140 gathered in Portland to hear—and discuss—climate-related presentations from a wide variety of those working on such issues. And we learned that it works. Equal time and focus… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Lawyer’s lunch,’ history reminders

‘Lawyer’s lunch’ To the editor Your article on innovation (November issue, Rock Bound, “Will innovation save lobstering?”) brings to mind one I read recently in The Spectator, wherein the history of the barcode was discussed. It required investment and understanding. The lobster industry as a whole, not just in Maine,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Logistical challenges of shipping off-island

I relish the November energy of the island “getting ready” for winter. On the dock and on the roads visitors from tour boats have been replaced with trucks and trailers loaded with traps as fishermen start to bring in their lobster gear. Caretakers have closed most of the summer houses… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why hide the heart of the home?

Spotted recently in a mainstream national newspaper: the phenomenon of the “back kitchen.” Apparently increasingly common in million-plus dollar homes, the back kitchen accommodates all the messy business of actually preparing food and cleaning up after it, while the other kitchen stays neat and tidy for social events like children’s… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How to shrink your seafood footprint

Farmed oysters, along with their cousins the clam and the mussel, are extremely carbon-light. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Study: lobster has small carbon footprint

In the spring of 2021, the Island Institute undertook a carbon footprint study with Maine-based seafood company and Island Institute partner Luke’s Lobster. It was the first time greenhouse gas emissions were measured along one company’s supply chain of Gulf of Maine lobster. Both the Institute, publisher of The Working… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Op-ed: MDI housing crisis affects much more

The town of Mount Desert asserts in clear terms an underlying problem that radiates out into so many other issues. “The high cost for housing is currently one of the primary driving forces behind many of the issues facing the town of Mount Desert,” the town’s comprehensive plan argues. “An… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Transitions and transformation on MDI

When neighbors talk to neighbors, focused on solutions, we build momentum by connecting based on what we value. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Deer Isle causeway’s curvy history

The excellent article on the vulnerability of the Deer Isle causeway (The Working Waterfront, November issue) prompts me to add some history, as well as some things to consider when planning future modifications. Before the causeway was built, passage between Deer Isle and Little Deer, unless by boat, was at… SEE MORE

Port Clyde, 1993, by Malcolm Morley (oil on canvas, 38 by 52 inches Private collection, Maine). Copyright the estate of Malcolm Morley.

Working Waterfront

Malcolm Morley’s Port Clyde collage

An artist with a checkered past—he served time in a U.K. reform school and prison before finding his way to art school and subsequent fame as a painter in New York City—Morley became a U.S. citizen in 1991 at age 60. SEE MORE