Working Waterfront

Coast offers climate mitigation potential

By Susie Arnold Determining Maine’s carbon budget is a key first step in meeting Gov. Janet Mill’s 2019 pledge of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. Recent estimates coming out of the Maine Climate Council point to an under-recognized asset in the quest to becoming “carbon neutral”—vegetated coastal ecosystems. Carbon neutrality… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘An abundance of awesome’ for students in local papers

By Christa Thorpe In the past few months, teachers all over the globe have seen their email inboxes flooded with educational resources for remote instruction. One teacher’s Twitter comment received nearly 2,000 sympathetic reactions: “Anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the resources shared—it is an abundance of awesome… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Appreciate local food producers—especially now

By Sebastian Belle Times like this make one remember what really matters in life. They cause us to refocus on core values and reflect on the essentials: family, friends, and food. In an age of super stores and online shopping, food seems to magically appear with ease, and in huge… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Economy should focus on entrepreneurs

By Tom Groening If you had to describe Maine’s economy to someone who had never visited, what would you say? The caveat, of course, is the answer should reflect the state of the economy on, say, Jan. 1, not today. Another question, admittedly nearly impossible to answer, is: What will… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Carolyn Chute returns with character-rich new novel

Review by Tina Cohen In the world of contemporary Maine literature, Carolyn Chute is a prolific and highly original author. Best known for her first novel, subsequently made into a movie, The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1985), she has written six more since then. Born in Portland in 1947, she… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine can vote to close the digital divide

Seventeen houses. I don’t feel our list of “needs” was unusual for first-time homebuyers. Yet, in March and April of last year, my husband and I trudged through the snow and mud in 17 dooryards to finally find the home that would become ours. It ticked the top priority boxes—right… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine must do better at welcoming diversity

By Rob Snyder You’ve heard it said many times: “Maine is a white state,” or maybe even, “Maine is the whitest state.” Actually, Maine is not a white state. Some 74,000 Mainers are people of color. When Mainers assert that our population includes a majority of white people, whether through statistical… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How the next generation is building a better climate

By Kate Tagai Youth leadership. It is the next generation’s world to inherit, and it is they who will need resilient leadership, compassion, and strength to adapt and thrive in a changing climate, so why not start now? It can be as simple as an adult asking the question, “What… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Town meeting in the time of COVID-19

By Barbara Fernald As I write today, April 6, all through our state we are experiencing similar hardships. Isolation, worry about loved ones, and changes in how we get our groceries, to name a few. Today’s COVID-19 numbers in Maine are 499 confirmed cases and ten deaths. We watch the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The wonder of getting along with my neighbors

By Phil Crossman Given the same wildly divergent opinions that exist elsewhere, and are unmistakably present here as well, I’m impressed at how well we on the island mostly get along. Many of the people with whom I once shared childhoods and then adolescence and then the rest of our… SEE MORE