The Truth About Lawn Chemicals
When I visited my family summer home last week I saw something troubling: the tick, mosquito and lawn chemical people were out. Everywhere. The lovely, high-end neighborhood where I grew up is right on...
View ArticleA Plastics Strategy That Works
In 1973, Dupont patented the PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) plastic bottle as an innovative and durable alternative to glass. Since then, production of plastic bottles has skyrocketed to 500 billion...
View ArticleCan Nuclear Fusion Save Us?
Some investors I know, my brother among them, are excited about nuclear fusion. Really excited. So I decided to find out why. Here’s what I learned: Nuclear fusion powers the sun in a process where...
View ArticleWhy You Should Support Pine Tree Power
One thing I can say about energy policy is that it’s a complex subject But I’ve volunteered for Our Power for the past five years, so I have some knowledge of the subject. Below is a summary of the...
View ArticleIt’s Time for Energy Democracy
How Electric Utilities Have Changed When most of our electric grid was built (1935-1960), it was owned by either municipalities or locally owned private companies. In both cases, executives and...
View ArticleThe Grid of the Future
Climate action plans in towns, cities and states call for “beneficial electrification” and “decarbonization”. These are fancy terms for electrifying transportation, businesses, and the heating/cooling...
View ArticlePine Tree Power: What Will it Really Cost?
Opponents of Pine Tree Power talk about the costs and length of time for Pine Tree Power to acquire CMP and Versant Energy as if they are huge, scary numbers. But there are real numbers. And they are...
View ArticleFinding Faith in Difficult Times
The news over the past several weeks has been hard to stomach. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Failed leadership in Congress. And now the first mass shooting in Maine, the 565th mass shooting in the US this...
View ArticleThe Importance of Shared Vision
As many of you know, I teach a course at Colby College called “Advocating for the Environment”. I’ll admit it’s a challenge for me to get up on dark January mornings and make the hour plus commute to...
View ArticleThe Truth About Climate Investments
You could say COP 28 was all about money. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) wanted to host the event primarily to make clean energy investment deals. The UAE launched their $30 billion "Alterra" fund at...
View ArticleConservatives Embrace Climate change—At Last
An assignment I give my college students is to look up “conservatives for the environment” and report back on what they find. This year I decided to do the assignment myself. What I found is an...
View ArticleEarth Day Sermon: Finding the Path to Environmental Justice
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.” -Matthew 22:37-39. You may be wondering at this choice of scripture for Earth Day...
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