Independent Writer
Maine’s transition to clean energy hinges on a wholesale transformation of the electrical grid. Several laws passed in recent years may improve grid planning, but legislating institutional change in the utility field could prove...
Maine made headlines in April as the nation’s first state to ban the spreading of sludge and sludge-based compost. Supporters of the law recognized an urgent need — in the Act’s language —...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Pollution/Waste / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published June 5, 2022
The vacation promised to be high in enjoyment and low in carbon. Rather than flying somewhere and staying in a hotel, we would sail to a cabin powered by solar electricity. Our only fossil-fuel...
Ecological Values / Food / Housing
by Marina Schauffler · Published May 22, 2022 · Last modified June 5, 2022
Spreading like dandelion fluff, a “No Mow May” initiative to support bees and other pollinators is taking seed in Maine. It began when two Rockland residents sent City Councilor Nathan Davis a New York...
Ecological Values / Pollution/Waste / Slower Living / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published May 6, 2022 · Last modified June 5, 2022
We are consumers of convenience. Offer us a faster, easier, wrinkle-free, nonstick option, and we’re sold. We need no convincing that convenience is an inherent good; a lifetime of ads has done that...
Climate Change/Energy / Food / Health / Sense of Place / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published April 22, 2022 · Last modified June 5, 2022
Picture your community transformed. In place of drab lawns around houses, town buildings, schools and businesses, there is a colorful collage of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, perennial vegetables and annual crops —...
Food / Health / Pollution/Waste / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published April 10, 2022 · Last modified June 5, 2022
Imagine giving soil the legal protections that air, water and marine ecosystems have. That’s the momentous step the European Union is taking to recognize healthy soil as critical for climate stability, ecological diversity and...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Food / Health / Pollution/Waste / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published March 27, 2022 · Last modified April 3, 2022
During the growing season, I periodically join a crew of volunteers on a local farm, harvesting crates of vegetables headed for food banks. It lifts our spirits knowing that all this beautiful, wholesome produce...
