I think the greatest investment I’ve made so far in the 25 years I’ve been alive is Stella Blue, a 2006 Chevy Express cargo van with questionable brakes that came into my life in 2019 and started my adventure into “van life.” My partner Carter and I bought her together and spent a month outfitting Read More
NRCM Rising: Emerging Environmental Leaders
Maine is fortunate to have a long history of environmental champions. In these blog posts, you’ll hear directly from some of Maine’s emerging environmental leaders who are part of NRCM Rising.
NRCM Rising is a project of the Natural Resources Council of Maine that seeks to engage, connect, and mobilize Maine’s emerging generation of environmental leaders and advocates. Read these posts from the NRCM Rising Leadership Team and others about their environmental advocacy and outdoor Maine adventures.
Your Voice Matters: Preservation of Maine’s Iconic Moosehead Lake Region
There is a view in Maine, one that is not secret and is likely blazoned upon many a postcard and photograph, that takes my breath away and puts me at ease every time I see it. You only get it for seconds, maybe minutes, before it vanishes, not to be experienced until you return to Read More
2020 Showed Us that There is No Time to Waste
For much of the past year, if someone asked how I was, I would give the same reflexive response: “Well enough…for 2020.” I heard this addendum frequently: from friends, coworkers, and family; an acknowledgment that the year forced us all to confront hardship, fear, loss, and the unsettling suspicion that the ground had shifted irreversibly Read More
Building an Appreciation for the Natural World
“We have to get up WHEN?!” No matter the year or the group, every 15-year-old camper hearing that they’ll be waking up to watch the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain thinks the same thing: why do we have to get up so early? I first came to Maine in 2013 to spend a summer teaching horseback Read More
Thankful for Peace & Quiet in the Maine Woods
It’s been an exhausting year. I don’t need to recap it all for you, but by the end of October I found myself glued to ever-present screens almost every waking hour and being bombarded by anger, sadness, and all-around bad news. This isn’t healthy. I needed to get away. A restorative few days far from Read More
Must-visit State Parks in Maine
How did we come up with this master list? We are the Rubys. We have been to every Maine State Park as a family and have camped at all of the Maine State Park family campgrounds. Lucky for us, we’ve camped at some of them on multiple occasions. What started as a silly idea back Read More
We All Need Clean Air and a Healthy Climate
As I sat down to write this post, I had other topics in mind, public lands, trail networks, or adventuring locally this summer, all things that I have more of a background in. Yet looking out at a sunset dimmed by the haze of the wildfires raging on the West Coast, it’s hard to not Read More
Revisiting Trails and Revealing New Insights
One reason I love living in Maine is access to public land. I am reminded of the importance of the Natural Resource Council of Maine’s goal of protecting Maine’s environment whenever I spend time outdoors. When my husband and I find ourselves in a different area of the state, we often seek out a new Read More
Environmental Health is Public Health
One would be hard pressed to find a topic or issue that is as interwoven in our lives and well-being as the environment. As a public health professional, I don’t treat people or provide direct services, but I do work to ensure policies, programs, and systems are in place to prevent people from getting sick Read More
