We need more investment in targeted research to determine which species are likely to be most vulnerable to ocean acidification and at which stages of life.

Our social ties are very tight along the coast, and there is a great deal of information available to leaders working to solve community challenges.

To call this an industry would be a stretch, but they are certainly a group of businesses with the potential to become an industry. What would the industrial scale look like? Well, there will be choices.

It has been a good summer on the coast of Maine, and for those who like to learn, it can be a place where community members are happy to become teachers, and in the process they lend depth to our understanding of the debates about who we are becoming.

That ability to know each other makes it possible to talk about what happens when the lights go out, and how to get them back on.

What is the value of a fishing permit when the 18 stocks on that permit are in various states of collapse or rebuilding?

Earlier this year, I found myself among the most committed of preservationists at PastForward, the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I was invited talk about impact investing for the purposes of proactive preservation.

Town meeting is a celebration at best, or a tense endurance test at worst. Sometimes, it's both. It really depends on what seat you're in.

If you ask a lobsterman if he works from a business plan, the response might be something like, "I'm trying to get through next week," or "I take it year by year." Some will say that they used to have one, but they stopped when the timing of the shed became so unpredictable.