Environmental Writer
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...
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:...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Sustainable Practices / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published May 9, 2021 · Last modified June 5, 2021
As the Maine Climate Council concluded work on its climate action plan last November, one legislator issued what Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cape Elizabeth) recalled as a “plaintive plea: ‘We have to figure out how...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Health / Pollution/Waste / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published March 7, 2021 · Last modified April 15, 2021
Amid a torrent of public comments at a recent Rockland City Council meeting to discuss a proposed Midcoast natural gas pipeline, a teenager’s honest expression of bewilderment stood out: “I am surprised by this...
Climate Change/Energy / Economics / Technology
by Marina Schauffler · Published February 21, 2021 · Last modified April 15, 2021
Central Maine Power’s most recent debacle, attempting to charge solar developers millions more for grid interconnections despite signed contracts, was shocking but not surprising from a utility that has sought for decades to undermine...
Climate Change/Energy / Ecological Values / Economics / Pollution/Waste / Sustainable Practices
by Marina Schauffler · Published November 8, 2020 · Last modified November 9, 2020
In her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett sidestepped questions about climate change, saying it was a “very contentious matter of public debate.” As a matter of...
