Category: Animals_Extinction_CN Maine_CN MIGRATION_CN

Maine is home to the largest moose population in the lower 48 states. But in one of the moosiest corners of the state, nearly 90% of the calves tracked by biologists last winter didn’t survive their first year.

Hundreds of feet below a remote forest near Hudson Bay, Serge Abergel inspected the spinning turbines at the heart of the biggest subterranean power plant in the world, a massive facility that converts the water of the La Grande River into a current of renewable electricity strong enough to power a midsize city.

This year’s “State of the Air” report, released by the American Lung Association, finds Maine still has some of the cleanest air in the country. However, some areas saw mixed progress for some of the most harmful and widespread types of air pollution. Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, and Washington counties all saw improved grades for ozone, while Aroostook saw a worse grade for short-term particle pollution.

On the heels of record-breaking warmth this week, Maine is set for another winter storm with freezing temperatures Friday. It’s an example of “winter weather whiplash,” which scientists believe may be happening more often as New England’s climate gets warmer and more volatile.

Given the rate at which the waters in the Gulf of Maine are heating up, Mainers may need to swap out the lobsters on their license plates for squid. All of New England could issue new specialty plates featuring creatures threatened by the speed climate change is slamming the gulf: a critically endangered right whale, a cute puffin or a vanishing cod.

Maine is a remarkable place with many advantages. The agency Efficiency Maine is one of them. It offers energy-wise information, advice, rebates and/or loans to homeowners, renters, businesses, electric car purchases, and recommendations for appropriate contractors and vendors. Its goals align with the climate goals of the

A Pennsylvania company is working to build a facility that would turn the methane released by decomposing trash at the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town into pipeline-quality natural gas.

Central Maine Power, the state’s largest utility, has reached an agreement with solar power companies over the expansion of the industry in the state.

Among the deep underwater valleys off Maine’s craggy, crooked coast crawls one of the must lucrative species in American waters — Homarus americanus, the American lobster.

One element of Maine’s climate action plan is to transform buildings and homes throughout the state so that they are more environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and sustainable. We’ll learn what “green building” entails, and what efforts are happening in Maine to make communities more socially responsible and ready for the future.