Maine Environment Spring 2018: What’s Inside!
In this issue of Maine Environment, we feature an important story about big-picture implications of plastic waste, and why we need to shift away from the use of “convenience plastics.” It also highlights the work Sarah Lakeman, NRCM’s Sustainable Maine project director, is doing with local Maine towns to pass single-use plastic bag and foam food container bans. These bans are helping to reduce the plastic pollution that is harmful to Maine’s marine animals and other wildlife. The sidebar about our Community Toolkits describes resources available to concerned citizens and communities wanting to make a difference.
We feature the work of NRCM communications intern Lily Bailey, who describes this year’s middle school projects in eight schools throughout Maine – from Topsham to Jonesport, and Unity to Old Orchard Beach. Students learn about Maine’s environment and the need to protect it through their various projects, all of which received funding from the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s middle school grants program. Learn more and apply for a grant for your school.
This Maine Environment also includes information about two threats to Maine’s North Woods – a proposal by Irving, Maine’s largest landowner, that would rezone more than 51,000 acres in the Fish River Chain of Lakes area of Aroostook County. This is the second largest development proposal ever submitted to the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC). Read the article and visit our website to learn more about our concerns and the threats to these pristine lakes. We also share our opposition to LUPC’s proposal to eliminate their adjacency principle’s “one-mile” rule, protection that has been in place for 40 years and has successfully kept the Unorganized Territories from falling under siege to sprawling development.
Read about the remarkable environmental legacy of former NRCM Board President Wick Skinner; find out what is happening at the federal level that could affect Maine’s environment; and read about another successful Earth Month partnership with Aveda salons throughout Maine. They cleaned up local beaches and parks while raising money in support of our clean waters work. We also highlight NRCM Rising, which engages Maine’s young professionals in protecting the nature of Maine. And don’t miss Lisa’s column for a bit of encouragement in these trying times.
Finally, check out our “My Family and ME: Enjoying the nature of Maine” web feature. Share photos of your family enjoying Maine’s outdoors to help us celebrate the diversity of our state’s environment and the families who want to protect it.
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Banner photo: Bold Coast, Cutler, by NRCM member Tom Meredith
