Conserving Land to Save Our Future
The ethereal refrain of the white-throated sparrow runs through memories of childhood. My own children have rarely heard its call. Bird populations in the U.S. have plummeted since 1970, with 1 in 4 birds...
Category: Sustainable Practices
‘Time for Boldness:’ Acting on climate at every governmental level
It was a strange scene to encounter on a January night, sitting in my car among more than 100 other parked vehicles, all populated but dark, at a drive-in town meeting. Townspeople had gathered,...
Cultivating Innovation: Supporting Agroforestry
Agroforestry, an age-old concept, could provide a path to Maine’s future. Part of the regenerative agriculture movement, it involves an integrated approach to cultivating trees with crops and – sometimes – livestock. These diversified...
“All We Can Save” Anthology
I can’t recall reading a book I so wanted to recommend to others as the new climate anthology, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and...
This Year’s Silver Lining
It is the eve of Winter Solstice, the nadir of a harrowing year. Ordinarily, holiday gatherings would buoy our spirits and tide us through this season of brittleness, when hope itself can seem dormant....
Much to Gain — or Lose
The Maine Climate Council’s 15-month process preparing Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-year Plan for Climate Action was a refreshing affirmation of constructive, nonpartisan policymaking. Roughly 230 working group volunteers and many more citizens weighed...
Making Way for Ducks
As loveable as ducks are, they are – undeniably – fowl, exuberant in start-to-finish mess-making. Domesticated ducks routinely splash into full bowls of food or water, and – if the spirit moves them –...
More Consensus than Controversy
In her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett sidestepped questions about climate change, saying it was a “very contentious matter of public debate.” As a matter of...
