Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • Recycling Matters: Remember when…?

    By Sally Chappell Bridgton Recycling Committee It surely can be agreed that change of any type is difficult. Change provokes anxiety — something we try to avoid, but when that something becomes so glaringly upsetting that it causes us misery, then change becomes not only possible but necessary. We only have to look at societal […]

  • Earth Notes: Groundhogs and Their Diets

    By Nancy Donovan, Ph.D.,PT Master Gardener Volunteer A few years ago, I was on my knees in my garden placing the pots of newly purchased plants in potential permanent spots. Something was moving near my front stairs and so I stood up to look. Lo and behold, it was a groundhog looking straight at me […]

  • Earth Notes: Summer song, temporarily interrupted

    By Mary Jewett Guest Columnist In the past two years, where I live in Lovell, we have been visited by spongy moth caterpillars. Last year, they showed up after the leaves were already out, methodically munching their way through our trees. Oak, maples, beech, witch hazel, birch, no species was safe. At the end of […]

  • Recycling Matters: The Science of Garbage

    By Sally Chappell Bridgton Recycling Committee The Bridgton Recycling Committee notes a certain amount of pushback on the prospect of the town converting to a Pay Per Bag system. Fear of the unknown may be driving the concern. Also, with no restrictions on the amount of trash presently deposited, it is understandable that a service […]

  • Earth Notes: Competition kills, cooperation heals

    By Rev. Robert Plaisted Guest Writer At her death in 2011, Lynn Margulis was Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She had been an Associate Professor at Boston University while I was in seminary there. Sadly, our paths never crossed. It would have been great to have known her personally. She […]

  • Recycling Matters — Questions asked, BRC provides answers

    By Maureen McDevitt Bridgton Recycling Committee The Recycling Committee recently received a letter with the following questions. These were great questions that we thought everyone would be interested in, and we will answer them here. I’ve attempted to put as much information as I could find. If anyone has more information that I’m missing, or […]

  • Recycling Matters: Composting to reduce trash

    By Maureen Harpell, RN, MSN, FNP Bridgton Recycling Committee I am passionate about avoiding unnecessary waste, of any kind. Perhaps, it is a lesson learned from my grandmother, who survived the Great Depression, but my husband and I work on the old Yankee adage of, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or […]

  • Earth Notes — Longing for nothing to do

    By Marian Caiem Guest Columnist We have entered extended winter in Maine. My friends down South are starting to appear in shorts and sandals in their photos, and me? I’m hoping for another solid snow to play in before this period of dormancy awakens. Each season offers new ways to experience myself in Nature’s healing […]

  • Recycling Matters — Pay Per Bag is about equity

    By Sally Chappell Bridgton Recycling Committee      In dealing with municipal solid waste, the financial and environmental benefits of Pay Per Bag (PPB) are well documented. The equity factor also plays a role in the appeal of PPB. How often have we wondered why people bringing in a trailer full of bags of trash to the […]

  • Recycling Matters — Explaining Pay Per Bag proposal

    By Kate Fitzcharles Bridgton Recycling Committee What is Pay Per Bag? PPB is an incentive to encourage the average citizen to recycle more. It is a way for consumers to control their solid waste expense, rather than blindly pay a portion of their property tax for the municipality to transport and dispose of their solid […]