A few weeks back, while visiting the NSF, a colleague and I met, an engaging, passionate advocate for an alternative future for education. One of the first things he said when we met stuck in my head, “if we believe that each of our children are different, then education should make them more so.” This
Audubon turning Hog Island over to Camp Kieve
A Muscongus Bay island, famous among birders, will likely have new owners, the National Audubon Society says. Hog Island, in the past host to legendary luminaries such as ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson and naturalist Rachel Carson, has been losing money for years and could change hands by the end of the year. Discussions between Audubon
Cranberry Isles launch commuter ferry
Scheduled to make pick-ups on both Islesford and Great Cranberry, the commuter boat will arrive in Northeast Harbor around 7 a.m. To avoid competition with the extended summer schedule of the Beal and Bunker mailboat, the new ferry didn’t start its late afternoon run until mid-October. The commuter contract is being split between two companies,
Journal of an Island Kitchen: The Generosity of Apples
Apple trees are so generous and right now they are throwing tons of apples on the ground for any comer. Islanders deliberately planted some of these trees long ago. By now many have acquired statuesque proportions, and largely unattended, produce apples of remarkably good quality. Creatures planted some accidentally, skinny ones stuck in woods or
Proposed aquaculture project under dispute
Most public hearings can cure insomnia, but the proceedings surrounding a proposed oyster farm near Trenton are keeping people up at night. The hearings for a lease on a proposed 50-acre Goose Cove oyster farm have lasted three nights, with proceedings going into the early morning two of those nights. And the Maine Department of
Long View: Ocean wind coming to a coast near you
Coal came to the Maine coast as an industrial fuel beginning in the 1880s, when railroads linked the coalfields of West Virginia and Appalachia with the seaport at Newport News on the Virginia coast. This new source of energy also brought wrenching economic changes. Steamships that burned coal transformed ocean transportation, driving even the fastest
Rockweed provides jobs in Jonesport
Look likes that Jonesport is harvesting rockweed. “Washington County is a fading area,” he said. “No jobs. No work.” He went on, “Jonesport and the crew up here, we need this. We need the fishing industry. This is our livelihood.” Look started working with rockweed almost forty years ago, back in the days when lobster
Isle au Haut drafts comprehensive plan
It has taken four years of hard work and community input, but the community of Isle au Haut is nearing completion of its first comprehensive plan in over 30 years. There are some major challenges facing the island. “I don’t want to use the word ‘crisis’” explains Comprehensive Plan Committee Co-Chair Morgan Witham, “but we
Portland company builds locally sourced life boats
Having spent time as an industrial designer Hulbert had worked on a number of other transportation modes from airplanes to trains, but when he came back to Maine his focus turned to watercraft. Immediately, he knew that using inflatable materials was out of the question. “Those [inflatables] are designed for immediate rescue in warm water
Working-waterfront funding on the ballot
Among the noise and tumult of the November election, Maine voters will be asked to approve referendum question number 3, a bond measure totaling $9,750,000 to support conservation of Maine’s open spaces, farmlands and commercial waterfront properties. This will be the third time since 2005 that bond funds would refresh the coffers of the Land