Environmental Happenings

Environmental Happenings

Saturdays, 11/12 to 4/30 - Brunswick Winter Farmers Market, Fort Andross Building, Brunswick. Locally grown and produced vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, fish, plants, bread, yogurt, kefir, soap, maple syrup and treats, wool, baked goods, artisan crafts, prepared foods, wood products, locally roasted coffee, musicians and more. For more information, visit http://www.brunswickwintermarket.com/.

Saturdays, 12/10 to 4/21 - Portland Winter Farmers Market, 9 am - 1 pm, Maine Irish Heritage Center, State Street between Gray & Danforth, two blocks from Mercy Hospital, Portland. Root and greenhouse vegetables, storage crops, dairy products, eggs, tempeh, grains and breads, flour, meats, honey, jams and preserves, and much more. For more information, visit http://www.portlandmainewintermarket.com/.

Mon 12/19 - Rally for Clean Air in Maine, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Monument Square, Portland. Join the Natural Resources Council of Maine for a holiday-themed rally and fun street theatre performance to tell Maine's federal Senators, “Don’t put coal in our stockings! Support the EPA’s new mercury air toxics rule and give Mainers the gift of clean, healthy air this holiday season.” Take your picture with Santa Claus and the Grinch under the Christmas tree in Monument Square.

Fri 12/23 - Belfast Winter Farmers Market, 9 am - 1 pm, Aubuchon Hardware, Rt 1, Belfast. Quality products from people you know. For more information, visit http://www.belfastfarmersmarket.org/.

Sat 12/31 - NRCM's Polar Bear Dip and Dash, 10:30 am, Back Cove parking lot (across from Hannaford’s parking lot), Portland. Join the Natural Resources Council of Maine for a 5k walk/run and their 4th annual polar plunge into the Atlantic Ocean (at East End Beach on Cutter Street) to support their work to curb global warming. Register at http://supporters.nrcm.org/register. The cost is $30. NRCM encourage you to collect pledges to support their work to reduce global warming pollution.

Tue 1/3 - Permaculture (Not-to-be-Missed) Movie Night: Gasland, 6:30 pm, University of New England Blewett Hall room 006, 716 Stevens Avenue, Portland. Join the Portland Permaculture group for a potluck supper (bring a dish to share and your own potluck kit!), movie, and discussion. For more information, visit the Portland Permaculture meetup page.

Thursdays 1/5 to 6/7 - Guided Trekking at Beaver Park, 7 - 8 am, Beaver Park, Cotton Road, Lisbon. Join the park ranger along Beaver Park trails for a brisk guided morning walk.

Sat 1/7 - Writing Workshop on the Penobscot River, 1 pm, Eddington Salmon Club, Route # 9, Brewer. Exercise your mind and your body with a writing workshop paired with a nature walk. Explore what river restoration will mean to fish, wildlife, and human communities through writing exercises and field observations. Cheryl Daigle is the community liason and outreach coordinator for the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, and her writing appears in Orion magazine and elsewhere. Holly Twining, a Maine Audubon naturalist, will lead the walk. Advance registration necessary. For more information, email htwining@maineaudubon.org call 989-2591.

Tue 1/10 - Renewable Energy on the Farm at the Ag Trades Show, 9 am - 5 pm, Augusta Civic Center. Sponsored by the Farm Energy Parters Network, this day of presentations provides a unique opportunity to learn from the experts about renewable energy options for the farm: solar heating, small wind for electricity, biomass for heating, geothermal heating, and solar photovoltaic. For more information contact Claudia Lowd, Maine Rural Partners Energy Innovation Coordinator at claudia@mainerural.org or 581-4523.

Wed 1/11 - Book signing of "What's Gotten Into Us," noon, Portland Public Library. Author McKay Jenkins will be giving a talk on toxic chemicals, health and the environment, and signing copies of his book "What's Gotten Into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World." For more information, visit http://mckayjenkins.com.

Wed 1/11 - Making Financial Sense of Small and Medium Community Wind Projects, 8:30 am - 2 pm, Hilton Garden Inn, Freeport. Join Windependence, Maine's Community Wind Resource, for a practical, hands-on workshop focused on the financial incentives and policies that can assist the development of community wind projects up to 660 kw nameplate capacity. For more information, email sue@mainewindependence.org or call 751-0749.

Wed 1/11 - Notes on a Lost Flute, 6 pm, Cram Alumni House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick. Join Friends of Merrymeeting Bay for their annual meeting and potluck, and a presentation by ecologist, linguist, eco-historian, and activist Kerry Hardy, author of "Notes on a Lost Flute: A Field Guide to the Wabanaki." The public is welcome.

Thu 1/12 - Keeping Foundations Warm and Dry, 7:30 - 11:30 am, Ramada Inn, 352 North Street, Saco. Learn how to avoid mistakes in site drainage and foundation construction. Designed to educate residential building professionals on construction practices that minimize the risk of indoor air quality problems in new homes, this presentation includes complete coverage of the energy provisions contained in both the building and energy codes. Registration fee $10; register by contacting Donna Mottola at Deering Lumber, 283-3621 or dmottola@deeringlumber.com.

Thu 1/19 - By Land and By Sea: Leveraging Co-ops for Business Success, 9 am - 5:30 pm, Common Ground Education Center in Unity. A one-day conference for all Maine farmers and fishermen on the co-operative model of doing business. Snow Date: Friday, January 20, 2012 same time, same place. Cost: $25. Space is limited; register online.

Thu 1/26 - The Building Shell, 7:30 am - 3 pm, Ramada Inn, 352 North Street, Saco. Learn how to provide healthy indoor air quality while achieving all of the goals of a new home's building shell: protect occupants from rain, wind and snow; control the flow of energy, air and moisture between indoors and outdoors; provide light and a mechanism to enter and exit; exhaust pollutants out of the building; and create a comfortable indoor environment. Designed to educate residential building professionals on construction practices that minimize the risk of indoor air quality problems in new homes, this presentation includes complete coverage of the energy provisions contained in both the building and energy codes. Registration fee $10; register by contacting Donna Mottola at Deering Lumber, 283-3621 or dmottola@deeringlumber.com.