Independent Journalist
Maine’s transition to clean energy hinges on a wholesale transformation of the electrical grid. Several laws passed in recent years may improve grid planning, but legislating institutional change in the utility field could prove...
Climate Change/Energy / Coastal Issues / Economics / Sense of Place / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published January 30, 2022 · Last modified March 30, 2022
Weather disasters inflicted $145 billion in damages in the U.S. last year. The Northeast escaped largely unscathed, but that could change at any moment. More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Health / Pollution/Waste / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published December 5, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
The plastic industry could soon surpass coal in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, its growing climate impact is largely unnoticed. Plastic is ubiquitous, filling stores, overtopping landfills and littering shorelines. It’s even within us,...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology / Transportation/Travel
by Marina Schauffler · Published November 7, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
Our family got an electric car two years ago and I have one major regret: I wish our previous cars could have been electric. Recalling years spent contending with the expense, pollution, noise, mechanical...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published September 12, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
In the wake of Ida, a hurricane intensified by the warming climate, more than a million electric consumers in Louisiana and hundreds of thousands more households across the eastern U.S. lost power. It was...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Economics / Sense of Place
by Marina Schauffler · Published August 29, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
In a summer awash with climate catastrophes, stories of creative solutions float like lifeboats. One Maine example is particularly heartening: an unusual partnership between philanthropists and state policy leaders that has directed more than...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published August 15, 2021
The U.S. electricity grid is a dinosaur, a huge, unwieldy relic of the past. Built with an expected lifespan of 50 years, much of its infrastructure is now more than 60 years old. Its...
Ecological Values / Economics / Food / Housing / Sense of Place
by Marina Schauffler · Published May 23, 2021 · Last modified June 5, 2021
The balance of deposits in Maine’s financial institutions is roughly $45 billion. That figure raises an obvious question to experts in socially responsible investing like Scott Budde, who runs Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union:...
