Portland, Maine Mayor Ed Suslovic will announce next week the formation of a new City Committee focused on energy and the environment. The councilors serving on the new committee will most likely be Jim Cohen, Dave Marshall and Mayor Suslovic.
The EEC is going to tackle issues like decreasing the City’s energy costs, installing renewable energy [...]

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“We should be preserving the pre-oil industrial waterfront, not destroying it to build condominiums.” Kevin Donoghue
This strong sentiment is echoed loudly across the coast of Maine, and especially from Portland (Maine) City Councilor Kevin Donoghue. There is no better way to get the Councilor’s attention than over a pint of beer - and that’s exactly [...]

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On Broadway in Lower Manhattan, there is some construction going on. Not really a surprise. But it is always fun to see people take advantage of an opportunity to do things a little differently and enliven the pedestrian experience.
The Downtown Alliance and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council have commissioned several artists and architects to design [...]

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Artificial skiing is nothing new. Folks have been using carpet like materials to create ski-like conditions for portable slopes and indoor parks for years. So why not build a mini-mountain in Texas? Were Texans after all, and we already produce more carbon emissions than any other state in the US, so what could be the [...]

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A paper published this month in the Journal of Environmental Science & Technology revealed levels of Dechlorane Plus (DP) in Niagara Lake and in the bark of nearby trees.
Dechlorane Plus is fire retardant produced by Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s OxyChem plant near the Niagara Lake. Although DP has been used for more than 40 years, [...]

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Pay up sucker – 5 cents soon for every bottle of water sold in the City. Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago have created a new “Tap Water Delivers” campaign starting in January to be rolled out with the new tax.
The program is aimed at getting people do drink tap water. In my opinion [...]

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If you missed the energy bill debate this summer and didn’t see the few obscure articles about its contents, then you may be surprised to learn of the unlimited loan guarantees that will be offered to large energy corporations. These guarantees will help fund the construction of new Liquid Coal and Nuclear plants. What a [...]

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Yup, next time you go into the Tate Modern watch out for the giant crack. Doris Salcedo has convinced the gallery to let her crack the floor. Her work titled Shibboleth is an actual crack in the Turbine Hall floor, stretching from the entrance all the way down to the ticket window. The exhibit opened [...]

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Representative Ted Koffman, a Democrat and co-chairman of the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has a mission, to decrease the amount of plastics used and disposed of in the State of Maine. Everything from plastic shopping bags to plastic diapers is up for debate.
Mr. Koffman, has a long up-hill battle, although Maine and is a rather [...]

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The Building Magazine, a UK publication launched the Sustainability Awards last year which recognizes sustainability excellence in 15 areas. Among the winners this year were BioRegional, a UK based consulting firm specializing in sustainable buildings, products and lifestyles. (www.bioregional.com)
Visit Building Sustainability for a list of the nominees and winners.
(no Amish were nominated, they are still [...]

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The New York Times had two good articles this morning that I enjoyed reading. Both messages were about the lack of consumers interest in the products they buy and the way they pay for them. The first story titled, New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India by Photo Journalist Adam Huggins had a very [...]

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That’s right, Buy Nothing, what a f-ing concept. People all over the world protest greed, consumption, waste and inequality a few inadequate times a year.  Like this Friday and Saturday when the US and the International Buy Nothing Days occur. Who in their right mind would ever try going to a store with thousands of [...]

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Plastic is a bad idea no matter what way you cut it, especially when it is filled with water and transported massive distances to reach your mouth. If you think it is a good idea to use 7 million barrels of oil each year to make having a drink more convenient – you are not [...]

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Maine Green Building Supply in Portland, Maine showcases a variety of great building products including American Clay, a southwest product which is a non-toxic wall-covering, mud, that is colored from stone and minerals - a great replacement for paint. I helped my brother Dave pick up a little over a ton of base and mud [...]

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Last Friday I attended a slide lecture and art show at the Slayards Center for the Arts in Conway, New Hampshire. The event titled, The Art of Climbing was organized by the Kismet Rock Foundation, which is a non-profit that works with children in the outdoors. The slide lecture featured climber Mark Synnott.
For those of [...]

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The Portland Buy Local holiday campaign, Give Portland a Gift is aimed at directing holiday shoppers to local retailers, restaurants and businesses. The Buy Local crew with help form local craftspeople decorated three store front windows to promote the buy local message. These store front displays are meant to be high visibility, crafty and low [...]

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This is a video of a prototype windmill created by the San Francisco Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. The goal is to build a small-scale inexpensive ($100) wind turbine that can be used in remote villages in Guatemala to power lighting systems and cell phone chargers. Here is some more info about the project. They [...]

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Check out this post at Vigorous North. I would love to wake up to the sight of a windmill moving in the breeze on the Eastern Prom. Clearly that sentiment isn’t shared by the folks up near the proposed Black Nubble wind project, who feel it might contaminate their wilderness (and their views).
So let’s do [...]

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One of the highlights of my weekend in Austin was the moment when I zeroed in on a cool-looking silk screened poster, and noticed 1) that it was for the indie craft fair Stitch and 2) that it was going to happen when I was in town. I was thrilled.
Another highlight was the fair itself. [...]

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Can you make a 100% local meal this November? I bet you can! The other night Peter whipped up a lovely dinner for me and our friend Dave, and it wasn’t until afterwards that we realized it had been 100% local– even the Maine sea salt (we did also use pepper though, so maybe it [...]

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