We face a watershed moment as important as 1973, even though oil prices are at historic lows. The opportunity this time lies with electricity production.

Ninety-five percent of climatologists agree that carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere is wreaking havoc with weather systems and driving up temperatures. (A point of reference: if your child were sick, and 95 out of a hundred doctors recommended the same cure, would you seek more opinions?)

Since lobsters live among the rocks and muck of the bottom, often feeding on dead organisms, they are on the front lines of water pollution.

The comment was poignant, maybe reflecting resignation, maybe reflecting sadness. A native of Lubec, speaking about the changes she's seen since her days working in a sardine packing plant ended years ago, described a community where she no longer knows most everyone.

There are moments in our communities here on the coast and islands when we local yokels get to have our say on big questions.

Manufacturing remains a force in Maine—you just have to know where to look.

When it comes to tourism, Maine can't be complacent and count on license plates that proclaim itself Vacationland. It's a crowded and expensive marketplace, and one in which potential visitors weigh competing lodging choices and even competing weather forecasts.

What does the Port of Seattle have to with drilling for oil in the Arctic? And if it is tied to those extraction plans, are protestors on sound footing by painting the port as an accomplice in the war against the climate?

An unusual story is playing out on the other side of the continent and it bears watching...