Last week this column described a sailing voyage from Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn and through the Beagle Cannel I took with four old (emphasis added) friends. In addition to the rigorous sailing, the graceful seabirds and majestic scenery, we spent a day and a half at an estancia (the Spanish for ranch) at
Objects in Mirror: Never say no to an island
When I was a graduate student in 1975, more than anything else, I wanted to work in the North Maine woods, where the last unsettled acreages in the Eastern United States seemed to invite individual exploration and adventure. But that was during a serious housing recession at the time, so the big forest landowners were
Fathoming: What we know about rockweed
This article is made possible, in part, by funds from Maine Sea Grant and the Oak Foundation. In the last several years, Acadian Seaplants Limited (Nova Scotia), has expanded their rockweed harvesting into Maine, stimulating new regulations from Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and raising old and new questions about potential impacts of commercial-scale harvesting.
Vinalhaven basketball teams have a good tournament run
The Vinalhaven Vikings basketball teams came close to the state championship finals this year. The boys’ season ended last Saturday after an appearance in the Western Class D finals of the Maine Principals’ Association Basketball Tournament, losing to Richmond High 47-32. This team is one only five Vinalhaven boys teams ever to make it this
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Islands can help fight global warming
The larger international community needs to take coordinated responsibility for monitoring and mediating problems caused by global warming. Individuals can accelerate efforts to prepare for climate change. On the islands, that includes community organizing. Environmentally, that includes protecting sea grass, restricting fertilizer use, green building and redesigning infrastructure at shorelines to account for habitat migration.
As electric co-op conducts sound experiment, Vinalhaven residents debate solution to turbine noise issue
On February 1, the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, Inc. began an experiment in which the three 1.5 megawatt General Electric wind turbines on Vinalhaven will be randomly slowed down at night for one month. On January 29, the co-op’s board of directors sent letters to 38 households located within a half-mile of the 388-foot tall
Islesboro Community Center celebrates opening
A potluck supper with 170 attendees, fitness center equipment demonstrations, and Sunday brunch in the café marked the opening on February 6 and 7 of the long anticipated Islesboro Community Center. The project has been in the works for 10 years. While the island school is being renovated, kindergarten through fourth grade have occupied a
Field Notes: Time for a National Working Waterfront Coalition
Standing on the Bluffton Oyster Company wharf in South Carolina feels a world away from Maine, where snow is pummeling the coast. The live oaks up on the hillside behind the oyster company’s processing plant shine a lush green against a clear January sky. But the issues of retaining access to the water in the
Objects in Mirror: Gotcha
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Never argue with a man who buys his ink by the barrel.” I assume that the Maine Sunday Telegram buys ink by the barrel, but I’ve got a serious bone to pick with them over their January 24th front-page coverage of the Fox Islands wind-power project. “Wind Turbines Turn Into Headache