Kids’ bodies, minds and spirits need time outside
In a fluorescent-lit room decked with posters, people slouch in their seats, shoulders rounded and spines curved. A few bent forms prop their heads on elbows, seemingly unable to sit up without...
View ArticleOur health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet
“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary...
View ArticleApproach college debt with caution or rue the consequences
“What education giveth in terms of freedom and opportunity, student debt often taketh away.” – Zac Bissonnette, “Debt-Free U” Too many high school students stumble through applications for college...
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It’s time to get brighter about LED lights
“There is no such thing as a free lunch,” biologist Barry Commoner wrote in 1971, proposing that as one of four “laws of ecology.” We’ve had decades to absorb that lesson but it still comes hard. Each...
View ArticleBridging chasms: An open letter in support of science
After a recent conversation with a self-described “climate agnostic,” I found myself trying to articulate why that was not a tenable stance. I wrote that person, whom I will call Jane here, a letter. I...
View ArticleU.S. leaders fiddle while rest of world seeks climate action
The politics of climate change are starting to resemble the surface of a melting glacier split by crevices. We appear to be at a shear zone, a major discontinuity between the perspective of most world...
View ArticleIn the depths of mud season, houseplants will lift your spirits
I have a bowl of paper whites, Of paper-white narcissus; Their fragrance my whole soul delights, They smell delissus. E.B. White, “Window Ledge in the Atom Age,” 1946 Winter may finally be over, if we...
View ArticleTry these 3 ways to green your household
“It’s not easy being green,” Kermit the Frog bemoaned back in 1970. What was, for a Muppet, a whimsical play on words has become code for the challenge of trying to live with a lighter environmental...
View ArticleTwo-dimensional living increasingly separates us from real life
“When our attention is perpetually narrowed onto a small screen, our world shrinks to meet it.” — Nancy Colier, “The Power of Off: The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World”” How quickly some...
View ArticleEnergy-saving programs that help Earth and economy need defending
Ask a dumb question and – contrary to the old adage – you might just get a smart response. Take this question, first posed a quarter-century ago to American consumers: “In choosing between similar...
View ArticleThe U.S. barely regulates personal care products, despite the many chemicals...
“Raise your hand if you’re SURE!” a deodorant ad once proclaimed, playing to widespread insecurities about appearance and body odor. The promise of radiant confidence and magnetic appeal is what sells...
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George Mitchell: ‘Shocking’ denial of science blocks climate solutions
A “low point for the American environment,” a “dark and difficult time,” a period when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was in “chaos and despair.” Those could be contemporary descriptors, but...
View ArticleEnvironmentalist Paul Hawken’s newest project, and book, offers real,...
In a month that began with the president’s misguided decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, I was heartened to discover an inspiring new project and book, “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive...
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Tiny houses on the rise in Maine to solve cost and environment problems
“Life started feeling very much like a double-edged sword – to be working so much to pay for a house we don’t own, are never at, and don’t have time to enjoy because all our time is spent working to...
View ArticleSince 2006, visitation at Acadia has gone up a whopping 55%
Biking Mount Desert Island’s Park Loop Road over Memorial Day weekend, Friends of Acadia Conservation Director Stephanie Clement witnessed vehicular chaos. She has seen a lot in Acadia National Park...
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New book on Trump finds sliver of hope in lowering clouds
If political turbulence has you feeling sick, the patch you might need is Naomi Klein’s new book, “No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need” (Haymarket Books,...
View ArticleIt’s really OK, even encouraged, to slow down
“I have struggled all my life with a constitutional impatience with anything that threatens to waste what’s left of my minutes here on earth. I start fidgeting at any community meeting where the first...
View ArticleShrink wrap may protect Maine boats, but it can harm the environment
Before long, the recreational boating season will draw to a close and owners will batten down their craft for the winter. Many will choose the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic better known as...
View ArticleEPA’s Scott Pruitt’s push to roll back vehicle emission standards is a disaster
As ineffectual as this president appears, his Cabinet members are stealthily orchestrating destructive changes. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is intent on subverting that...
View ArticleClimate refugees could see safety in Maine
At first, all eyes were on Hurricane Harvey. Then attention turned – momentarily – to the wildfires raging out West before riveting on Hurricane Irma. Cascading natural disasters in a warming world...
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