Articles
Island Institute(s)?: Part 3 of 3
On a recent weekday in Rockland the fourth floor of the Island Institute was buzzing, filled with electricians from 14 islands and coastal towns. They attended a one-day workshop hosted by the Island Institute to learn about how to install energy monitors in the homes and schools participating in Energy for ME, a National Science
Island Institute(s)?: Part 2 of 3
This is the second of a series of columns that will discuss an inflection point in our organization’s history: what is the proper scale of the/an Island Institute? There used to be a joke among the staff of the Island Institute about dreading the moment when you might be pulled aside at a community meeting
Island Institute(s)?
This is the first of a series of columns that will discuss an inflection point in our organization’s history: what is the proper scale of the/an Island Institute? I begin this discussion in Portland, Oregon at an organization called Ecotrust. I draw on Ecotrust’s experience as a way to introduce some of the ways that
Apparel and Seafood: Paving the road to values-based living with questions
I had been following the innovations at Patagonia since middle school when by chance I learned through reading a friend’s Patagonia catalog that clothes could be made out of recycled milk jugs. Wow, really? This was remarkable to me, and although I couldn’t afford the cloths, my eyes were opened to a world where the
Leading from behind
Lets put aside the problem of conflating human behavior with far less thoughtful decapods. Leaders come into existence without being pulled down in the process. Leadership exists; it just looks different than social climbing. The numbers of leaders on islands are legion. Nothing shows this more clearly than the mandatory “volunteer” positions filled annually to
Passion in Place
Recently I heard it said that people argue in all communities, but in some communities these arguments are over how to become more vibrant, with an emphasis on more. A place is doing well, and its residents want to do better, and they struggle over what that means. In other communities the tenor of discussion
Field Notes: Educating for difference, for the future
A few weeks back, while visiting the NSF, a colleague and I met, an engaging, passionate advocate for an alternative future for education. One of the first things he said when we met stuck in my head, “if we believe that each of our children are different, then education should make them more so.” This
Field Notes: Traceable, locally-frozen fish: The future of sustainable seafood
Not so for the rest of the country. What kind of fish do most consumers want? They want fresh, flakey, mild, white-fish that can be breaded. Munk, haddock, hake, sole, cod-it’s all the same to the person who has never experienced a whole fish, let alone cleaned one. People want mystery fish and they want
Field Notes: Community-Supported Fisheries – Why They Matter
I just attended the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association’s (MFA) fish bake on August 22. If you missed it, don’t let it happen again! Community members new, old and even a few young, piled into the town office down the St. George peninsula for a meal of steamed potatoes, breaded hake with Newberg sauce, salad, biscuits and
Field Notes: Island and remote coastal schools: a national model for rural technology education
I recall visiting a middle-school classroom on Swan’s Island in 2003. The teacher sat behind her desk looking at a new Apple laptop, thanks to legislation passed in 2001 that would ensure one-to-one computing for Maine’s 5th and 6th grade students. Sitting there, she wondered aloud about the best way to put the computer to