Blog

This week, we're once again teaming up with Luke's Lobster to share some of our favorite things about Maine with you. Maine's pristine coastlines, harbors, and working waterfronts are part of both our state's character and economy. We depend on the ocean for its resources and the inspiration and opportunity it provides artists, visitors, local entrepreneurs, and people who make their living on the water. If you're looking for an outside-of-the-box gift this holiday season, check out some of these uniquely Maine ideas that support the sustainability of the coast…

What do 40,000 heat pumps, 5,577 electric vehicles, and 2,043 homes weatherized all have in common? If you guessed that they are all highlights from a year of climate action…

It seemed like a no more than a week would go by and we would be at it again; handling calls or emails from individuals, businesses, and communities about the…

This year on Giving Tuesday, in collaboration with our friends at Luke's Lobster, we’re reigniting our series, “A Few of Our Favorite Things,” highlighting the organizations, people, and places that…

I first discovered Jay Fleming back in 2017 shortly after I became the Island Institute’s multimedia storyteller. My research led me to a contemporary counterpart who has been doing similar work for many years in the Chesapeake Bay region where the fisheries...

Whether you live on an island in one of the Great Lakes or off of the coast of Maine, the commute to and from your community is over water. However, ferry, water taxi, and air services provide more than just transportation to and from island communities. They act as emergency medical transportation, provide school and extracurricular transportation, and deliver mail and other essential freight such as groceries and prescriptions.

Throughout our nearly 40-year history, the Island Institute has often played a role to help connect Maine’s island communities to other, similarly situated communities in the U.S. and beyond. By participating in networks, learning exchanges, and even research publications, we’ve seen the value in helping Mainers expand their networks and even build their confidence as leaders by providing an avenue for them to share the stories of their hard work.

We work collaboratively with communities to tackle challenges and build resiliency. While this often means spending time in the places where we live and work, it also means focusing on what’s happening further inland at the State House. This “long” session of the Maine Legislature lived up to its name this year as significant legislative work happened well into mid-July. The policy landscape shifted dramatically during this session, with more than $300 million available to support economic and climate resilience work.

For the next feature in our ongoing series of Archipelago artist profiles, the Island Institute’s Lisa Millette introduces us to Maine jewelry maker, Gail Miller, whose upcycled scrap metal jewelry has been featured in Archipelago since it opened in 2000.

Today, we’re celebrating a delicious bivalve that grows in Maine’s cold, clean waters—the oyster. Oyster farming, and other types of shellfish and seaweed aquaculture, offer an array of benefits for our ocean and Maine’s island and coastal working communities. We asked three Maine oyster farmers 10 questions about their work on the water and what it means for our coast.