Talk of the Towns – Page 10 – WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Talk of the Towns 7/12/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Program Topic: Maine as Muse: inspiration for writers

Key Discussion Points:
a) In response to questions from Ron, each guest shares some background about their work and their writing… then each shares a published piece (saving the second piece to close to the end of the show) and shares “lightly”, any context and source of inspiration for this piece…
b)After this first go-round, we have a broader conversation about Maine as a source of inspiration for you and other writers (feel free here, to turn listeners on to those you admire)…
d) Does Maine have a distinct “sense of place” and how would you describe its essence… draw from the works/descriptions of others, if that is appropriate
e) Is that “sense of place” in any way endangered… if so, how? Is there anything to be done it? (as we teach and nurture our young people, as we support community institutions, etc)
f)Is Maine a good place to be a writer (aside from serving as source of inspiration)?
g) Move towards conclusion with the second round of readings, and depending on time available, share any public events, readings you will be involved in later in summer or fall.

Guests:

A. Kim Ridley, contributing editor, Downeast Magazine, writer, author of the forthcoming children’s book, The Secret Pool, about vernal pools, from Tilbury House this fall
B. Carl Little, poet, author of Ocean Drinker and other works, including Art of Maine’s Islands
C. Candice Stover, poet, author of Poems from the Pond and other works

Talk of the Towns 6/28/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: The role of sustainability science in helping us weather the storms

Key Discussion Points:
a) What do we know about the effect of increased numbers and intensity of rain storms on Maine cities and towns and their businesses and residents? What is the scope of the problem, overall and specifically in Ellsworth?
b) In general, how do towns handle stormwater? (civil engineering exercise: water runs downhill, towns channel stormwater in ditches and through culverts, trying to prevent erosion, damage to roads and the problems of flooding)
c) How does Ellsworth budget for repairs to roads, culverts, etc… how many years are you looking ahead to try to plan for managing storm water… how do City Council members and voters respond to your plans to invest in “infrastructure” in hopes of preventing future damage due to storm water?
d) We suspect that these sorts of storms are part of a trend related to climate change… in simple terms, what is happening in the climate that would result in greater numbers of storms and storms of greater intensity?
e) Science has always had two kind of results: advancing basic knowledge and solving problems… the University’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative helps focus science on the latter… give an overview of this effort and what inspired you to link research and municipalities to better adapt to increases in storm water.
f) How is the project working out in Ellsworth… who is involved, what are the various components of the project, what are you learning, what have you tried so far, what shows promise for the future?
g) What are messages for other towns and municipalities? How do listeners learn more?

Guests:
Esperanza Stancioff, Extension Professor, UM Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant
Michelle Gagnon, Planner, City of Ellsworth
Michelle Beal, City Manager, City of Ellsworth (by phone??)
Shaleen Jain Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Cooperating Associate Professor, Climate Change Institute

Talk of the Towns 6/14/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: A Place at the Table—Responding to Hunger in our Midst

Key Discussion Points:
a) You have chosen to screen a recent documentary, A Place at the Table, to highlight the issue of hunger and inequality… how and why did that come about?
b) What do we know about hunger and food insecurity in this part of Maine?
c) What factors contribute to persistent hunger and food insecurity?
d) What programs are in place to address these issues, and what are the gaps? (SNAP, WIC, School Lunch program, Commodity foods)
e) What are individual communities and community organizations (yours and others) doing to address these issues and the gaps?
f) Tell some stories about who is affected, their circumstances, their strengths…
g) What do you hope the screening of A Place at the Table will accomplish to raise awareness and stimulate individual and community response?
h) What do you find particularly compelling about the documentary? What would you tell a friend or neighbor who you wanted to attend?
i) Against this backdrop, Congress is debating the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which includes funding for food assistance… what is being proposed? Is there anything happening with the state budget that addresses or makes worse food insecurity?
j) Attending to food insecurity in the short term is important… what are ways forward to address the broader inequality in our country, where some have food and some do not?
k) Details about tonight’s screening and other contact info…

Guests:
A) Adam Lacher, United Way of Eastern Maine
B) Sister Lucille MacDonald, Emmaus Center, Ellsworth
C) Lisa Weisker
D) Rick Traub, Tree of Life Food Pantry, Blue Hill
E) Zoe Scott, Executive Director, The Grand, Ellsworth

Talk of the Towns 5/24/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Program Topic: Eating local from land and sea—creating a Maine Food Strategy

Key Discussion Points]:
a) What is a food system and how do seafood, including aquaculture products, and products from local farming fit into Maine’s food system?
b) Are there differences and similarities between local seafood and local food from agriculture in taking advantage of consumer interest in “local food”?
c) What are the ways that seafood harvesters and local-scale processors are finding to make connections with consumers… what are the successes and challenges? (farmer’s markets, Community Supported Agriculture models, Maine Fresh Catch, etc)
d) What have we learned from these experiments and successes?
e) At some levels, food is considered a “commodity” where uniformity, volume and high degrees of processing “delivers the goods”. Where does “quality” and freshness fit in to seafood side of food system? How do these attributes play out on the landward side, in local agriculture?
f) Who are some of the people and organizations who are working to link sea food with Maine’s food system and local consumers?
g) What is the process for coming up with a Maine Food Strategy?
h) How can harvesters, processers and consumers learn more, work together?
i) List resources and contact info for your organizations
j) Wrap up with each guest sharing “hopes for the future” as Maine develops its food strategy.

Guests:
Monique Coombs, Maine Sea Food Marketing Network
Amanda Beal, Eat Local Food Coalition
Sebastian Bell, Maine Aquaculture Association

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Talk of the Towns 5/10/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Matt Murphy

Program Topic: Protecting Water Quality as you work on your land

Key Discussion Points:
a) Environmental services: what “services” do our natural systems of land, trees, water provide in a healthy ecosystem, and how does that matter to humans?
b) Why should we be concerned about erosion and other threats to water quality that result from what people do on their land? (Effects on habitat, fish and wildlife, lake ecosystems)
c) What do we know about man-made erosion—historical perspective and current trends? (1938 Yearbook of Agriculture quote) Soil and water districts set up partly in response to the Dust Bowl era, how are they organized, staffed and funded?
d) What are some of the principle causes of erosion in Maine… what are you seeing in Hancock and Penobscot Counties? (farming, home construction, camp roads, gravel and other extraction, timber harvesting, etc)
e) What are we doing about erosion and other threats to water quality? How are soil and water conservation districts approaching this work?
f) Key programs/services for landowners, Partnerships with local government and others
g) Role of education

Short phone interview with Ted Koffman or other on restoring trout habitat through work on culverts
• the status of brook trout in Maine (in comparison with the rest of the northeast)
• the threats from development, agriculture and forest practices
• the solutions that Maine Audubon and the coalition on brook trout are working on
• how listeners and landowners can find out more and get involved

Moving toward a “land ethic” (Aldo Leopold) “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Wrap-up and listing of resources for landowners and others

Guests:
A) Megan Facciolo, Hancock County Soil and Water District
B)Chris Brewer, Penobscot County Soil and Water District
C)Paul Birdsall, Horsepower Farm, Chair, Hancock County SWD
D)Ted Koffman, Exec. Director, Maine Audubon (by phone)

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Talk of the Towns 4/26/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: Preventing, Treating and supporting recovery from alcohol and drug addiction… at the Acadia Family Center
Key Discussion Points (list at least 3):
a) Overview of facts and persistent myths of drug and alcohol addiction
b) Trends, what we know about our local population (youth and adults, alcohol, illegal and prescription drugs)
c) What do we know about how to prevent abuse of alcohol and illegal and prescription drugs? How do you at Acadia Family Center approach this work, illustrated with stories?
d) Motivational Interviewing
e) What do we know about treating alcohol and drug abuse/addiction? How do you at Acadia Family Center approach this work? collaboration with others? Stories?
f) What do we know about recovery and how do you approach that work, support those in recovery? Cross-over with 12 step programs, other community and health services?
g) All disease, including addiction, is a family disease, in that everyone is affected and there is general acceptance that genetics can influence susceptibility to addiction (along with environmental factors)… what is the role of a family therapist and how does work play out… connections between the individual and the family… how can family members support the individual? (EMDR Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
h) Art therapy is employed in a number of prevention, treatment and recovery approaches… how do you introduce and use it in substance abuse? What happens when people relax into expressing themselves without words? Stories about how this work affects individuals.
i) Resources and Contact information on alcohol and drug abuse prevention, treatment, etc

Guests by name and affiliation:
A) Christine Drabek, Executive Director, Acadia Family Center (AFC)
B) Hilary Chermak, Art Therapist, AFC
C) Laurie Parker, Family Therapist, AFC

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Talk of the Towns 4/12/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities
Program Topic: Sowing seeds of hope—the work of International Partners in Mission

Key Discussion Points:
a) Joe provides overview of organizational mission and current programs, using short stories to illustrate how guiding principles are alive in IPM programs and day to day work:
Shared Partnership Global Awareness Personalization Facilitation
b) What was your own path into this work and what attracted you to IPM?
The founders, and others who have gone before, based IPM on connection between their own faith and good work in the world… currently you seem to be honoring that foundation, but building on it… tell us more…
c) Erika Murcia
What is your own background and what led to your current work with IPM?
What are some of the programs you coordinate and what issues are they working on?
What do north Americans most need to know about the lives of children, women and youth in those areas where IPM has partnerships…?
What new areas (either of promise or gravity) are emerging…
d) Jan Moore to describe her IPM immersion experience in Kenya… where she went, what motivated her, what she took from the experience and how it changed her view of the world…
e) Mahesh Upaddhyaya
You were recently in our part of the world, speaking… what were your impressions?
As you spoke to audiences here, what seemed to resonate most?
Your work in south Asia spans many geographies and cultures… what are some of the common realities for children, women and youth across the region?
Are there particular programs that you would like to highlight?
f) What trends are emerging that both support and challenge IPM approach?
Wrap up with hopes for the future and contact information for listeners

Guests:
A) Joe Cistone, Executive Director, International Partners in Mission
B) Erika Murcia, IPM Regional Director, Latin America and the Caribbean
C) Mahesh Upaddhyaya, IPM Regional Director, South Asia
D) Jan Moore, Northeast Harbor, participant in IPM immersion experience
E) Sarah Govan, IPM Outreach Coordinator, Bar Harbor

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Talk of the Towns 3/23/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Engineer: Joel Mann

Program Topic: Is it time for a closed fishing area in the Northeastern Gulf of Maine?

Key Discussion Points (list at least 3):
a) Thumbnail history of fish and fishing along Maine’s coast and Gulf of Maine
Species, abundance, fishing methods, contribution to local communities and overall economy
b)The notion of fish as a public resource, transition from hunter-gather values when fishing pressure and ecosystem and supply of fish were in balance, to a specialized, highly capitalized and efficient industry which outstripped the ability of fish to “replenish” themselves
c) Meanwhile, back on shore… dams and culverts prevented passage for free-running anadromous fish (alewives and other species) so diminished food sources for cod and other ground fish… but due to changes in policy (clean water act and others) we are removing dams (Kennebec, now Penobscot, maybe St Croix) that may mean more food for groundfish
d)How do we manage fish—transition from huge geographic scale, single-species management to exploration of managing smaller scales, multiples species/ecosystems and recognition of importance of relatively small areas of habitat… transition from managing quantity of fish caught, to managing how fish are caught, when they are caught, where they are caught…
f)Emerging—multiple rationales for New England Fisheries Management to develop a closed area in the Northeastern Gulf of Maine
g) How would a closed area work? What would be restricted, who would be affected, how are fishermen responding to the idea, what criteria would determine optimum location, how long before we could detect results, what is the process for moving the idea forward?
h)How can listeners learn more and get involved?

Guests by name and affiliation:
A) Aaron Dority, Penobscot East Resource Center, Stonington
B) Dennis Damon, Chair and board member, Penobscot East 460 0001
C) Ted Ames, Founding Board member, Penobscot East

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