Can’t Save the Forest for the Trees
In forests, we expect slow change. Trees gain height and breadth by small degrees, and the mix of species shifts gradually over decades. But reality no longer conforms to our expectations. Many tree species...
Category: Ecological Values
A Tangle of Plastic Pollution Ties Back to Our Clothes
The soft clouds of gray lint that slide off clothes dryer screens are tangible evidence of the dryer’s tumbling abrasion. Each handful comes at a cost, shortening the lifespan of garments. But the true...
The Climate Impacts of Stuff
The vacation promised to be high in enjoyment and low in carbon. Rather than flying somewhere and staying in a hotel, we would sail to a cabin powered by solar electricity. Our only fossil-fuel...
Make Way for Pollinators
Spreading like dandelion fluff, a “No Mow May” initiative to support bees and other pollinators is taking seed in Maine. It began when two Rockland residents sent City Councilor Nathan Davis a New York...
Countering the Culture of Convenience
We are consumers of convenience. Offer us a faster, easier, wrinkle-free, nonstick option, and we’re sold. We need no convincing that convenience is an inherent good; a lifetime of ads has done that...
The Time Is Ripe for Food Recovery
During the growing season, I periodically join a crew of volunteers on a local farm, harvesting crates of vegetables headed for food banks. It lifts our spirits knowing that all this beautiful, wholesome produce...
‘Forever Chemicals’ on Farmland: A Slow-motion Disaster
Maine farmers are resourceful and resilient, but nothing could have prepared them for this invisible and insidious disaster. “We are… the human collateral of PFAS-contaminated biosolids,” observed organic farmer Nell Finnegan of Albion, casualties...
At the Cutting Edge: A New Drone Innovation
After five years enduring a rain of toxic hairs from browntail moth caterpillars, Sally Donelson is ready for a novel solution. She has to suit up at her family’s lakefront camp in Litchfield —...
