Environmental Writer
Ecological Values / Food / Health / Sense of Place
by Marina Schauffler · Published March 13, 2022 · Last modified April 3, 2022
Maine farmers are resourceful and resilient, but nothing could have prepared them for this invisible and insidious disaster. “We are… the human collateral of PFAS-contaminated biosolids,” observed organic farmer Nell Finnegan of Albion, casualties...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Health / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published February 27, 2022 · Last modified March 29, 2022
After five years enduring a rain of toxic hairs from browntail moth caterpillars, Sally Donelson is ready for a novel solution. She has to suit up at her family’s lakefront camp in Litchfield —...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published January 2, 2022 · Last modified March 30, 2022
“Sign up to stop climate change,” the mailer read: “Save the world with renewable energy.” Even simplistic sales pitches can draw in electricity consumers. Purchasing green power to accelerate the transition off fossil fuels...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Education/Family / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published October 24, 2021 · Last modified March 30, 2022
The leaf colors in our yard resemble a wine tasting, with shades from chardonnay to merlot. Amid this autumnal collage, incongruous pink and white cherry blossoms have emerged in response to the warm fall....
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 / 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 / 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...
Ecological Values / Economics / Food / Housing / Sense of Place
by Marina Schauffler · Published May 23, 2021 · Last modified June 5, 2021
The balance of deposits in Maine’s financial institutions is roughly $45 billion. That figure raises an obvious question to experts in socially responsible investing like Scott Budde, who runs Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union:...
