Working Waterfront

Marijuana activist McCarrier believes it’s time to legalize

Forget the stoner stereotype: Paul McCarrier, 29, is serious, animated, maybe even intense as he talks about his work as the leading proponent of the effort to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, one of two proposals Maine voters will see on their state ballot in November 2016. He's not… SEE MORE

Cal Trumann of ReVision Energy installs photovoltaics.

Working Waterfront

The case for solar electricity

Editor's note: Bill Behrens is the founder of ReVision Energy, based in Liberty. Behrens was a guest on the "Common Ground Radio" program on WERU-FM on Sept. 4, where the topics included energy produced by photovoltaic technology, which Behrens' company installs. Homeowners can let the electricity power the building and, if… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How Chebeague Island crossed the digital divide

Islanders provide for themselves and Chebeague Island is no exception. Over the years, we Chebeaguers have built our own library, recreation center, museum, daycare center and affordable housing; created an assisted living facility; and even provided our own ferry service. Plus, we became our own town, seceding from Cumberland. So it should… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How many lightbulbs does it take?

When your community's electric rates are among the highest in the nation, it pays to consider ways to cut consumption. Work done on Monhegan Island, with help from the Island Institute (publisher of The Working Waterfront), was both simple and effective, and could reduce the island's collective annual electric bill… SEE MORE

Members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe celebrate with a dance.

Working Waterfront

Passamaquoddy Tribe returns to traditions

SEE THE SLIDESHOW For the first time in years, the Passamaquoddy tribe used the traditional tribal inauguration ceremony on Aug. 9 to honor its leaders in an event held at Sipayik, the tribe's reservation at Pleasant Point in Perry. Fred Moore III and Vera Francis were elected as tribal chief… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Writer Paul Greenberg has vision for restoring fish, food link

By Catherine Schmitt Paul Greenberg is the author of American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood and Four Fish: The Future of Our Last Wild Food. A lifelong fisherman, Greenberg has written for The New York Times, National Geographic and GQ, among other publications. Greenberg received both a… SEE MORE

Courtney Naliboff as Annie Oakley in the North Haven production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Working Waterfront

Teaching is doing, and teachers can do what they teach

There is a particularly odious saying that gets bandied about from time to time: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Rather than get my hackles up, I let it goad me into action. I teach music, theater and English. I studied music and theater as an undergrad at… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Chebeague Island and the tides of time

What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross – Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI In the blue distance of inner Casco Bay, the smokestacks of the Cousins Island power plant could be seen poking into the sky. This was in 1980, looking northeast from the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A summer of learning, leadership along Maine coast

On Swan's Island, community leaders and nearly 200 residents debated the future of the Swan's Island Electric Cooperative, the ratepayer owned distributor of electricity on that island and nearby Frenchboro (Long Island). There is nothing so heartening as watching community members of diverse background and economic standing give stump… SEE MORE

Vinalhaven village as seen from the harbor.

Working Waterfront

A deal too good to be true

A few weeks ago, a big man burst into the Tidewater Motel lobby mid-morning carrying a half-dozen unmarked white cardboard boxes, each about 18-inches by 18-inches and 4-inches deep. He’d emerged from an unmarked white pickup that held three white chest freezers in its bed, tied down haphazardly with pot… SEE MORE