Environmental Writer
Climate Change/Energy / Coastal Issues / Ecological Values / Sense of Place / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published September 26, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
Along a stretch of shore I routinely visit, chestnut-gold rockweed and barnacle-encrusted rocks form a natural collage that is quintessential Maine. The sprawling rockweed encompasses two species: willowy manes of knotted wrack and the...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published September 12, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
In the wake of Ida, a hurricane intensified by the warming climate, more than a million electric consumers in Louisiana and hundreds of thousands more households across the eastern U.S. lost power. It was...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Economics / Sense of Place
by Marina Schauffler · Published August 29, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
In a summer awash with climate catastrophes, stories of creative solutions float like lifeboats. One Maine example is particularly heartening: an unusual partnership between philanthropists and state policy leaders that has directed more than...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published August 15, 2021
The U.S. electricity grid is a dinosaur, a huge, unwieldy relic of the past. Built with an expected lifespan of 50 years, much of its infrastructure is now more than 60 years old. Its...
Climate Change/Energy / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published July 25, 2021
Switching on a light, you may not think about where that power is coming from – whether a gas-fired generating plant, biomass boiler, hydropower facility or one of the new solar farms springing up...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Education/Family / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published July 11, 2021 · Last modified July 14, 2021
The climate crisis is disrupting more than ecosystems, economies and societal infrastructure. It’s inverting the normal developmental progression from youthful optimism to an acknowledgment of limitations with advancing age. Older people – with diminishing...
Climate Change/Energy / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published June 20, 2021
Shortly after passage of a 2019 bill, construction of community solar farms began ramping up in Maine and the search for subscribers began. These farms hold great potential to help Maine transition off fossil...
Climate Change/Energy / Coastal Issues
by Marina Schauffler · Published June 6, 2021 · Last modified June 8, 2021
The 1,157 wildfires that occurred in Maine during 2020 included a fire at Baxter State Park that was controlled after 45 acres had burned. Since wind-driven fires tend to be most damaging,wind speeds are...
