Working Waterfront

The ‘priestess of nature’ who took on the ‘elixirs of death’

By Tom Walsh If you don’t know much—or even anything at all—about Rachel Carson, here’s your chance. The Library of America recruited the help of editor Sandra Steingraber in recently publishing a new retrospective on marine biologist Rachel Carson and her seminal role in jump-starting environmentalism in post-World War II… SEE MORE

An aerial view of House Island in Casco Bay.

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: A focus on monitoring

How blue is Casco Bay? Friends of Casco Bay is recruiting volunteers to help monitor water quality by observing the color of the water. The color of estuaries and bays can be an indicator of nutrient and sediment concentrations and phytoplankton production. With a simple smartphone photograph, volunteers can provide… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A plethora of peaches

The peach deluge is over for this year. For two weeks from the end of August into the second week of September a flood of peaches and a surge of panic fill the house while the three peach trees in my life deposit their fruit on the ground, in waiting… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Free screening of ‘This Changes Everything’ at Rockland Strand

It has been yet another summer of alarming temperatures, the aftermath of Hurricane Maria is still part of Puerto Rico’s daily reality, and news of dramatic wildfires in the west has people across the country and across the world wondering about their future. This Changes Everything, a documentary film about our… SEE MORE

Volunteers pick up trash on a Midcoast island this summer.

Working Waterfront

Microplastics are everywhere you are, and that’s not good

By Abby Barrows Plastic—we all touch, use, and throw it out every day. It is an amazing, lightweight, and durable material. That quality of durability, however, has made plastic into a worldwide pollution problem. We use items designed to last a few minutes, made from a material that lasts thousands… SEE MORE

An audience of about 120 listens to Beth Orcutt at Bigelow Laboratories for Ocean Science in East Boothbay.

Working Waterfront

Tech’s wave may rely on deep sea

Thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface, in the deep sea near hydrothermal vents, are increasingly coveted resources. As an international body met in mid-July to discuss how to manage these resources, members of the public met in East Boothbay to hear from a deep sea scientific researcher about what… SEE MORE

An aerial view of the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park shows cars circling

Working Waterfront

From Bar Harbor to Portland, parking an ongoing challenge

By Tom Walsh The traffic tsunami inherent in Acadia National Park, which hosted a record 3.5 million visitors in 2017, has the town of Bar Harbor and the National Park Service coping with the conundrum of how best to accommodate seasonal parking for cars, trucks, tour buses, tourist trollies, recreational… SEE MORE

A sailboat off Fort Gorges in Casco Bay.

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: Tours of saltwater farms, a pesticide-free bay, and stripers

Tours of estuarine farms, studios, and gardens Estuaries have always been good places to live and have a farm, with rich meadow grass for cattle, floodplain soils, and access to water. On July 22, three bicycle tours of coastal farms and art studios will offer riders of all ages a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gardening as a way of putting down community roots

Eight years ago, as a symbol of our intention to stay on North Haven indefinitely, I bought apple trees and asparagus crowns for Bill as a Chanukah present. I gave him a drawing of the plants then, and in April, a package arrived from Fedco. Two tiny whips with root-balls… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Put a price on what’s poisoning our atmosphere

By Eric Toder Rising carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and other activities that release greenhouse gases threaten the future well-being of all of us. These emissions warm the planet, raise sea levels, shift rainfall patterns, boost storm intensity, and increase the risk of sudden climate change. They pose a… SEE MORE