Facing a Reckoning
Ironies, like onions, come in layers and can make you cry. As I stared at a graphic showing an outline of Maine symbolically shifting down the East Coast (see bottom figure), I had an...
Category: Pollution/Waste
Dimming the Lights
A boundless dome of darkness overhead – lit only by crystalline stars – is one of Maine’s most imperiled natural assets. The Milky Way visible above Acadia National Park cannot be seen with the...
Trouble Underfoot
In Louise Penny’s engaging mystery series, chief inspector Armand Gamache often launches an investigation by asking his team, “Tell me what you know.” It’s an effective strategy when assembling clues following a suspicious death....
The Costs of Climate Instability
Flooding, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires: the evidence of climate change is not just mounting, it’s barreling down on us – inexorable as a landslide. The cost of U.S. weather and climate disasters last year hit...
Grounded
It’s been seven years since I set foot on a plane. I have not missed flying: not the sock-footed security drill, the shrinking seats or the fumes lingering in lungs and luggage. Now, it...
Pointless Pollution, Maddening Noise
It’s a gorgeous summer morning, fragrant with the scents of lilac and abelia, but my office windows are shut. A swarm of leaf blowers has descended just down the road, generating plumes of dust...
Bagging Use of Disposable Plastics
“Just because plastic is disposable doesn’t mean it goes away. After all, where is away? There is no away.” — Jeb Berrier in the documentary “Bag It” It’s easy these days to feel as...
Shedding Stuff
The bitter winds of January blow in, bringing guilt over seasonal excesses and resolve to show greater restraint. It’s an apt time to consider the advice of a self-described “personal trainer for your stuff,”...
