by Stephen Mulkey for the Natural Resources Council of Maine “An essential paradox of wilderness conservation is that we seek to preserve what must change.” Steward Pickett and P.S. White 1985 “We must focus our attention on the rates at which changes occur, understanding that certain changes are natural, desirable, and acceptable, while others are not.” Read More
Nature of Maine Blog
The Natural Resources Council of Maine’s “Nature of Maine” blog gives you the inside scoop on some of the latest issues facing Maine’s environment. From environmental news to threats to opportunities, NRCM is on the frontlines of the latest goings-on—and we’re often leading the charge on efforts to protect Maine’s precious lands, air, waters, and wildlife. Read what NRCM staff members have to say and get the perspective of some of our members and supporters who have been guest contributors.
Perhaps you have an issue you’d like to write about. Maybe you’re an expert on a particular topic and are inspired to share your expertise. Maybe you’ve recently made a visit to a spectacular Maine nature preserve or other natural area and would like to write about it (captioned photos welcome!). For submission guidelines, email nrcm@nrcm.org.
What Qualifies as Scientific Authority?
“Listen, I’m not qualified to debate the science over climate change,” Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH) “…this 97% [of climate scientists accepting human-caused global warming], that doesn’t mean anything.” Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert, satirist Recently I sat dumbfounded watching Marco Rubio tell South Floridians about all Read More
Winter: Moosehead Lake, Final Day
For our final day, we journeyed up the west side of the lake. Though The Birches Resort was our final destination, we made multiple pit-stops to explore the shoreline on the way there and back. First stop: Rockwood’s public boat launch facing Mount Kineo. In the summertime, this area on the water is alive with Read More
Peaks Island Students Change Habits Beyond an Island in Maine
Students at Peaks Island Elementary School recently engaged in an endeavor created to align with their new, project-based learning program, RRR-Evolution. The idea is to help the youngsters understand the impacts of their decisions with hands-on (quite literally in this case) examples of how those decisions effect the world around us. Students spent one week Read More
Higher Education in the Environmental Century
“….what we’re doing today with greenhouse gas emissions — which is just a moment when you look at the geophysical timescales — has consequences for decades, centuries, millennia.” —Ricarda Winkelmann, Climate Scientist, Potsdam Institute, 2016 “Mobilizing to save civilization means restructuring the economy, restoring its natural systems, eradicating poverty, stabilizing population and climate, and, above all, Read More
“Think About It!” Freeport Interact Club Starts School-wide Recycling Program
On our final school visit, Gabby Grunkemeyer and I headed to Freeport Middle School’s “Interact Club” meeting to hear about their NRCM grant project designing and implementing a school-wide recycling system. As we entered the school, we were greeted by teacher and club leader Lucy Lloyd and a lively group of middle schoolers eager to Read More
Carbon Capture and Sequestration the Old Fashioned Way
This week the mainstream media and many of the social media outlets have hailed the experiment in Iceland that has demonstrated the ability to capture CO2 from the air and turn it into rock. The Guardian proclaimed “CO2 turned into stone in Iceland in climate change breakthrough” and the journal Science headlined “Inject baby, inject!”. Read More
A Day of School Visits with NRCM!
On June 6th, three NRCM staff members took a trip to Windham and Gorham middle schools to get the inside scoop on how their “Engaging Maine Middle School Students in Protecting the Nature of Maine” grant projects are shaping up. NRCM staffers had a fantastic time this Monday as we visited Windham and Gorham middle Read More
Camden-Rockport Middle Schoolers Study Maine Organisms
Seventh grade Camden-Rockport Middle School teacher Patty Crawford inspires her students one science experiment at a time. Whether it’s filling tomatoes with eggs through osmosis, constructing worm composting bins, sketching natural area as they change through the seasons, or releasing classroom-raised salmon, the students are engaged in hands-on learning that they are not likely to Read More