Working Waterfront

Bar Harbor man is helping an anxious world

By Jacqueline Weaver Between out of control bushfires in Australia and rising sea levels isolating neighborhoods in Key Largo, Florida, it’s difficult not to be preoccupied by changes in climate around the world. Concern, though, can become obsessive and almost debilitating, which is an issue Dennis Kiley is addressing in… SEE MORE

The Island Institute's press conference on the Cranberry Isles getting a USDA grant.

Working Waterfront

Rural communities continue to find paths to broadband

By Tom Groening Public spending to bring high-speed internet—also known as broadband—to rural Maine is not on the horizon. Not yet, anyway. Broadband proponents argue that bringing this infrastructure to remote corners of the state is comparable to how electricity was brought to pockets of the country in the 1930s.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rebuilding the bond between people and nature

By Stephanie Bouchard When Richard Louv published his book, Last Child in the Woods, in 2005, he argued that it is fundamental to human well-being for people to spend time in nature. His argument launched an international movement. His new book, Our Wild Calling, takes that argument a step further… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Considering Frenchboro’s always-open library

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. By Natalie Hyde-Petersen I love libraries. The whole idea of making knowledge available for free makes the ideal of equality feel… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The latent image of Millinocket

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. Column and photos by Diana Furukawa A year ago, I took an afternoon walk down my street, following it across Millinocket… SEE MORE

Mount Desert Island High School's Eco Team includes: Winslow Jeffery

Working Waterfront

On the record with… MDI High School’s Korstanje and Dowling

By Laurie Schreiber A group of Mount Desert Island High School students, with faculty advisor Ruth Poland, are tackling climate change and sustainability issues as the school’s Eco Team. Among many projects, the group helped organize and participated in climate strikes and assisted plans for the school’s solarization. Ongoing initiatives… SEE MORE

Cliff Island residents gathered to celebrate establishing broadband service on the island

Working Waterfront

Cliff Island celebrates securing broadband

By Jack Sullivan More than two years ago, three Casco Bay islands began in earnest their pursuit of high-speed, reliable internet, otherwise known as broadband. One of the three, Cliff Island, just crossed the finish line, and the excitement for that achievement was evident at a community meeting on Aug.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Native history of North Haven an eye-opener

By Courtney Naliboff This fall marks the first time Maine’s October three-day-weekend will be held in honor of indigenous people in the state, rather than that guy who accidentally landed in the Caribbean and instigated the first of many Western hemisphere genocides. The change on the calendar is part of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fishing, college go hand-in-work-glove for this teen

By Tom Groening Danielle Weaver blows up stereotypes about slacker teens. The young woman has been lobstering since she was 13, works several shifts weekly at the busy Rock City coffee shop in Rockland, and, at 19, has already completed enough courses at the University of Maine at Augusta’s Rockland… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

UMaine study looks at Gulf of Maine temperature trends

Gulf of Maine temperature trends and variability during the past 11,000 years will be the focus of a five-year study led by a University of Maine paleo-oceanographer to enhance long-term environmental prediction and planning. Katherine Allen, a UMaine assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and on… SEE MORE