Mercury Levels in Seafood
By: Robert Scarano
Mercury levels in seafood have become a growing concern for many. The mercury found in seafood is methylmercury, mercury’s most toxic form. Fish ingest mercury from their environments; this mercury then enters our bloodstream when we consume these fish. Consumers should be aware of mercury levels in various types of fish, and make sure they do not exceed healthy limits.
The EPA has estimated a safe intake of mercury to be .1 micrograms/kg of body weight per day. The FDA has put together an extensive list of fish and the average levels of mercury that they contain.
Rather than sitting down with a pencil and paper to calculate mercury intake before dinner, consumers should visit www.GotMercury.org. This website provides a free mercury calculator. You simply enter your body weight, the type of fish you are consuming and how much you are eating. It will then tell you how much mercury you are ingesting out of your weekly maximum.
Fish are still an essential component to a healthy diet. They contain lots of high quality protein, are low in saturated fats and contain Omega 3 fatty acids. Consumers should eat up to 12 ounces of seafood that is low in mercury per week.
Click here to read about Assistant Research Professor Sarah J. Nelson's research in Acadia
Mercury in Acadia
Robert Scarano
February 4, 2010
Mercury is a heavy metal that can appear in several forms. It can appear as a vapor, a liquid metal or as methylmercury as found in fish. Scientists have been studying mercury for years trying to learn its effects on the environment, in animals and in the human body. University of Maine Research Professor Sarah Nelson specializes in the study of mercury in the environment.
Mercury is both naturally occurring in the environment and also a product of coal burning across the globe. The United Stats receives most of its mercury from emissions put out from factories in Asia. The mercury travels in the air and then settles here in trees, dirt and water.
Nelson has done extensive mercury testing in the Acadia region. It was found that Acadia actually contains fairly high levels of mercury, despite being viewed as a pristine national park. This prompted scientists to study the Acadia landscape to see if it plays a roll in the storage of mercury. Starting in 1998 a watershed research project began in Acadia.
The scientists picked two watersheds to study. A watershed is an area of land that collects rainwater and then funnels that rain out through a stream. Scientists picked an area that was burnt in a wildfire in 1947 and also picked an area that was not burned. They studied the levels of mercury going in and out of these two watersheds. Mercury enters the water through the forest canopy. This is the area underneath a tree where water drips off it and onto the ground.
Nelson and her team discovered that softwood trees, such as pine trees and spruce, which there are a lot of at Acadia, are better at “scavenging mercury from the atmosphere,” Nelson says, “Even when it’s not raining, there are dry mercury particles and dust floating around and those trees capture it.” The mercury sticks to the foliage. These trees have foliage on them year-round, meaning there is more time for the foliage to gather mercury. Hardwood trees such spruce and maples do not have foliage in the winter months, this cuts down on the mercury they collect. They also have less surface area, which also reduces the amount of mercury they can collect. 
Nelson also looked at mercury in wetlands. Wetlands are very important because they are great ecological systems. They retain water and prevent flooding from happening. They are great for both animals and plants, but because they are a special environment and contain anoxic places, places without oxygen, they can be a “hot spot” for mercury methylation, the conversion of mercury into its most toxic form.
Nelson and her team also decided to investigate the presence of mercury in snow at Acadia. Not much research had been done, and the theory was that there was no mercury in snow. Because this hadn’t been extensively tested Nelson decided to do her own research into the issue. “The going statement from some scientists was that they didn’t think there was very much mercury in snow,” says Nelson, “So we wanted to test that for sure because nobody had explicitly checked.”
They put up samplers to collect snow and went out as quickly as possible after every snowstorm to collect the samples. They were set up under various types of forests. They also left one sampler out for the entire winter and collected some snow samples off the ground. They tested and compared the various samples for mercury.
They found that when snow was collected right away, it contained the highest levels of mercury, much higher than the other samples. They think it is because “mercury can turn into a gas and volatilize, or blow right back up into the atmosphere when it is it by UV light, or it could have something to do with heating,” according to Nelson. By collecting the samples right away and closing up the samplers, they trapped the mercury inside. The samples that were left out, or collected from the ground had time for the mercury to escape into the atmosphere as a gas. 
Click here to read about mercury contamination in seafood
UMaine Recycle Program: a Model to the System
By: Autumn Bell
February 4th, 2010
ORONO, Maine – UMO is the flagship and is often a role model to the other universities. This is mainly because of its large enrollment, clubs and activities. By researching the Maine state university recycling programs it showed very little progress compared to UMO.
Click here to see the related Profile story on the Recycling Center
Every university, including Augusta, Farmington and Southern Maine, all wanted a bigger program but couldn’t afford it. They all confessed that UMO had more funding which is why the program has more to offer.
Smaller universities do have programs which entail having recycling bins in every building and dorm. Recycling programs try to make it as convenient as possible for students and staff.
David Clement: profiling one of Orono’s most influential environmental leaders
by Thomas Owen
Orono, Maine – Sites in the Orono, Old Town, Veazie and Bangor area have always come to experience a form of land usage shift.
The latest example of this is the potential residential use for the lot that used to be home to the Webster Mill along the Penobscot River. Once the EPA grants given to the town are put to use to clean up the land, the next thing to follow could be condominiums.
Such is not the case for the entire coastal area, however.
Meet David Clement, a ten-year tenured member of the Orono Land Trust. Three years ago, he was named President of the organization.
“We moved here back in 1992,” Clement says, “and my interest was noticed by the board there and they asked me to join in 1999.”
Clement’s other life? He is an anesthesiologist at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in neighboring Bangor.
“Most days I go to work at the Hospital, and when I come home I usually have alot of Land Trust e-mails to answer and all these projects,” Clement says.
“Since this is an all-volunteer organization, the President is the de facto Executive Director and coordinates most of the work of the Land Trust.”
A self-described outdoorsman, Clement describes what the organization lists as the Caribou Bog-Penjajawoc Corridor Project.
“It’s a real mouthful,” Clement admits. “Little by little, we have acquired either easements or actual property along this area, the eventual goal being to preserve the area in its natural state for traditonal use… [A]s well as preserve this area as a corridor of natural habitat for the wildlife that normally lives there.”
“I should mention,” Clement adds, “that I’m really excited about some of the offshoots of the project [for] those of you who like to go outdoors. I foresee it as being a recreational hub for the public, becoming more and more important over the next few years.”
Sitting at his desk in what Clement describes as the “dungeon” of the Orono Historic Society on Bennoch Road, with a computer full of e-mails to his right and an enlarged assessor’s map over his left shoulder, Clement discusses his future.
“My term as President will end in April. Jerry Loncore, who is a retired wildlife biologist, will be taking my place, and I will gladly hand over the reigns to him.”
Clement says he is eager to tackle past activities that he enjoyed doing.
“We used to go dancing, my wife and I did. At least to try to dance, learning how to dance. And that got totally wiped out when I started being President of the Land Trust.”
After his term is up, “We’ve got to find more dance classes to go to,” Clement says with a smile.
For more information on land projects in the Penobscot area, click here.
Converged Journalism Editorial Series
Leland Rudner
February 4, 2010
Editorial
Everyone, or at least I do, knows that America is eventually going to be back to a Neanderthal state with cool toys that help us survive, make other toys, and interact with each other. We won’t be able to operate them, they will operate themselves and they will be superior. A subtle sign of this is the way we write news now. Back in the days before the Phone, laptops, and other media devices, a story was written. Maybe a picture made it into the middle of the print and the layout editor thought it was so clever the way he seamlessly got the picture below the fold. Nowadays, the layout editor is called the media integration specialist. He finds ways to put as much information as he can in one place so we don’t have to search all over the site and the Internet finding more about the story.
Convergence is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole. Sites such as ESPN.com, CNN.com, and washingtonpost.com integrate technology and media into web stories.
As of yesterday, I think Apple has changed the way we read news. They unleashed a large version of an iTouch, called an iPad, that has a 9inch screen and has all these apps in place to download each newspaper from around the world everyday and store it on the device so you can read it anywhere. The iPod is known for media and the Apple Company is one of great emphasis on entertainment, so why not be the first to mass produce a perfect handheld digital newspaper. In the layout, you can click on videos, upload the articles to your own blog, and even add your own comments to the articles to debate on with anyone in the eworld. It’s a fabulous new piece of technology and can change the way we see technology and the news. It’s the ultimate tool for convergence and will change the game for a long time to come. Sorry ink and paper, you’ve been demoted.
Hampden Citizens Coalition Victory Over Pine Tree Landfill
Pine Tree Landfill - Image Courtesy of Hampden Citizens Coalition
Cassandra Coulthard
February 4, 2010
Casella Waste Systems’ Pine Tree Landfill was the first site in Maine to use the landfill’s methane gas to produce renewable energy. Since January 2010 the commercially owned landfill has closed. Many Hampden residents are relieved that the landfill is being capped off, eliminating the strong foul odor which can be detected for miles and increasing the attractiveness of the landfill’s appearance. Who is responsible for this defeat? None other than the Hampden Citizens Coalition.
Pine Tree Landfill opened for business in 1975, in the 1980s the Hampden Citizens Coalition congregated for the first time to contest the landfill. Coalition Co-Chair, Bill Lippincott, claims that now that the landfill has closed the coalition has reduced to only 12 members, and that the coalition meets less often and much less formally. Lippincott explains their endeavors.
Lippincott first joined the coalition in 1998 when the landfill sought a 3.3 million cubic yard expansion. In 1998 the expansion was not legal under the town zoning laws. As Casella appealed to the state, the coalition submitted a referendum opposing the expansion. “The citizens overwhelmingly rejected changing the zoning laws,” Lippincott said.
Casella’s landfill expansion appeal was approved; however, it still violated the town’s zoning laws. Casella was rejected when they appealed to the zoning board of appeals, so they sued the town.
“When the case went to the state supreme court, they ruled that the state decision trumped the town’s decision. And the expansion went through,” Lippincott explained.
Since the first expansion Pine Tree Landfill has continuously dumped more waste into the landfill than the original application projected. The application projected that Pine Tree would accept up to 250,000 tons of waste each year. Lippincott explained how Pine Tree has more than doubled their projected waste intake. “In 2002, a couple of years after the expansion, they were putting 443,000 tons of waste in, and the next year they put in 630,000 tons of waste,” he said.
In 2005, Pine Tree sought expansion once again, looking to change the slopes of the landfill, making it larger. The Department of Environmental Protection issued a public meeting in January of 2006 to test whether the expansion would be a public benefit.
“Around this time,” Lippincott said, “there were reports of fires within the landfill and contamination in the surrounding waters. Even though we had ice and bad weather, more than 100 people showed up. Not one citizen spoke positively of the expansion.”
The coalition’s primary focus was closing the Pine Tree Landfill. Pine Tree’s renewable energy plant was initiated in 2007, one year after the decision to close the landfill. Lippincott explained that it was never a goal of the coalition to close the plant. “As long as the methane is there, I see the rational of turning it into energy,” he said. He also warned of the consequences of pulling the methane from the landfill. According to Lippincott, by drawing the gas out from the landfill Pine Tree is actually releasing more gas into the atmosphere now than they were before the energy plant was in use.
Very environmentally conscientious, Lippincott recycles everything that he can and composts most leftover food for his garden. “I’d like to see the day when everything goes back to its source and nothing is landfilled,” he said. He promoted the idea of charging consumers, per bag, to throw away their garbage, giving them an incentive to recycle.
Lippincott recognizes the current need for a landfill, but one with more restrictions. He explained that a state owned landfill wouldn’t be bad because, unlike commercially owned landfills, they will only accept Maine waste.
Lippincott explained that in addition to restricting out of state waste, the landfill should be completely secured, lined under the landfill to eliminate ground water contamination, and located away from any water sources. Water contamination was one of the main reasons the coalition was formed.
Lippincott explains what should be considered when locating a landfill.
This Image was taken more than 10 years ago, before Pine Tree expanded. Click the image to view maps of the landfill and its potential damage.
Click here to view part I, Don Meagher explaining the benefits of Pine Tree Landfill and how they use the landfill’s methane to produce renewable energy, Maine’s First Gas-To-Energy Landfill Closes.
Olde Oak Farm Makes Dairy Goat Farming an Art
Briana McCormick
January 28, 2010
With more attention being brought to where and how our food comes to us, with films like “Food Inc.” and books such as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, it’s no big surprise that people are starting to take notice and care about what they eat.
With this new awareness comes more involvement with organically grown foods and shopping locally at community Co-Ops and farmer’s markets.
Scott Belanger, owner of Olde Oak Farm in Maxfield, Maine sells his dairy goat cheese at the Orono Farmer's Market.
Scott Belanger is the owner of Olde Oak Farm in Maxfield, Maine where he raises over 30 Nubian goats on 100 acres of secluded land. Belanger decided that after 18 years as a nurse practitioner, it was time to leave the fast paced world of medicine and go back to his roots.
“I’ve always had my hand in farming… My father was a large animal dairy farmer.”
So, in 2006, Belanger and his partner, Jennifer Maeverde, got their state dairy license and began to produce their artisan goat cheese and goat cheese products.
Olde Oak Farm has what they call a “cheese lab” right on their property. This is where they create their products, from goat cheese mozzarella, to goat milk yogurt.
Click here for photos of a day at the farm.
“I kind of like the artsiness of it,” says Belanger.
Not only does he enjoy the process of making his products, Belanger is also dedicated to teaching about organic benefits and the process that goes into everything his farm is about, from the biology of the cheese, to the health of his goats. The farm is always open to visitors who want to stop in and see a days work at a dairy goat farm.
Along with Scott’s work on the farm and taking care of the business aspect of it, he is a member of the Orono Farmer’s Market where he sells his goat cheese products year round.
The Orono Farmer’s Market runs the second and fourth Saturday of every month, December through April, and every Tuesday and Thursday the rest of the year.
UMaine Recycle Center, What About It?
Autumn Bell
January 28, 2010
ORONO, Maine – What do you do with your cans, bottles, and cardboard? Here at the University Recycling Center students can make up to 10% on returnables.
The UMaine Recycles Center is located on campus just beyond the UMaine Security building. They are open Monday through Friday 12:00pm to 6:00pm and Saturdays from 10:00pm to 2:00pm.
Depot sign in front of the building
Students and locals prefer visiting this redemption center because of the service and convenience provided. Students also receive 10% extra on their returnables.
This is where all returnables are brought and counted.
Ashley Hicks, a junior at UMaine, agrees that the “service and convenience” that UMaine Recycles offers is a huge benefit.
The supervisor at the Depot is Dennis Grant. He is there from 7:00am till 3:00pm. Grant over looks the employed students service and productivity.
The community returns recyclables to the Depot Recycling and Redemption Center. While the students return them to the UMaine Recycles. Both are in the same room just categorized separately because the student’s share is part of the university and the community half is strictly for the locals.
“The community depot is run completely by the students. I’m their supervisor but it’s their organization,” said Grant.
For both the community and students the Depot recycles cans, cardboard, magazines, bottles, paper, and the newest addition, cell phones and cell phone chargers.
Grant hopes that in the near future they will have cell phone bins on campus in the union and library. This will prevent people from throwing away-unwanted cell phones and adding to the trash intake.
The recycling center sends all the rubbish to PERC (Penobscot Energy Recovery Company), an organization located in Orrington, Maine, that incinerates it for energy or fuel. Depot employees travel there everyday during the week. Footnote: Article from BDN about PERC.
“Over the past (2009) year we had two and a half million pounds that went to the incinerator,” said Grant.
The employees at the Depot are more than willing to make your trip convenient by helping carry bags and boxes into the redemption center.
“We haven’t had a lot of publicity, something like this is great to get the word out … we are open all year long and we are here for the students and the community,” Grant said.
Click here to see part two of the UMaine recycling center vs. the other university recycling programs.
UMaine Student Goes Green
Derek McKinley
January 28, 2010
On a campus with thousands of students trying to make their mark before their academic career is over, it’s hard to stand out.
In a country where millions of people hardly try at all to maintain a sustainable society, it may be difficult to change their minds.
Mike Maberry is trying to do both.
As the coordinator of the Green Campus Initiative at the University of Maine, Maberry is primarily responsible for overseeing all of the organization’s employees in their efforts to promote sustainability, as well as personally getting the pro-recycling message out to all parts of the university.
Recent economic troubles have forced GCI to rethink how they’re getting that message across with their advertising campaign, which was minimal to begin with.
Coordinating anything of that magnitude might seem like a daunting task, but for Maberry it’s just one in a laundry list of activities he is involved in. In addition to being a resident assistant in Penobscot Hall, he is currently working on his senior thesis to earn a degree in history.
Maberry is most recognizable, however, for being a host on “Mike and Mike“, a late night talk radio show on WMEB, UMaine’s campus radio station. Maberry, along with broadcasting partner Mike Moody, often used the show as a forum for publicizing GCI’s efforts, until Moody’s graduation brought an end to the show.
Those efforts currently include participation in the nationwide recycling competition known as Recyclemania which began on Jan. 17 and spans a period of ten weeks. Over 500 colleges and universities competed in 2009, recycling a total of nearly 70 million pounds of waste.
Maberry also hopes to host other events on campus to raise awareness of sustainability, including a “trashion show” where competitors create clothing out of recycled materials.
The group’s current focus is on the First Year Resident Experience (FYRE) dorms, which Maberry says are recording very low recycling tallies this year.
GCI employs a staff of 12 employees and has a handful of volunteers. Maberry says he likes the small group atmosphere, but would never turn away an interested student. For more information, Maberry is available via First Class, or at 581-3322, and also in his office in the basement of Androscoggin Hall.
New Orono Restaurant Stays Local
Spencer Morton
January 28, 2010
ORONO, Maine – Environment, climate change, global warming, sustainability; these words have been tossed around by the media and by politicians on a seemingly daily basis for the past few decades. Citizens know what they can do to protect our environment. Knowledge, however, does not always lead to action.
For every person that sees a recycling bin and puts something in it, there is a person who sees it and doesn’t use it. There are those that know buying local, organic food is more environmentally conscious, yet they don’t do it. There is a new restaurant in downtown Orono that strives to buy locally and be as sustainable as possible.
Verve, a burrito, smoothie, and coffee joint was opened in October 2009 by local businessman Abe Furth and his wife Heather. Furth, the owner of popular Orono bar and grill Woodman’s, has had dreams of opening up a place like Verve for nearly eight years.
After making many trips out West to find ingredients for the “perfect burrito,” the couple got an opportunity to make their dreams a reality when the Mill Street location was put on the market. Since Verve opened in September, the owners have been trying to buy as much local product as possible.
A customer places an order at the Verve burrito bar
“It’s hard in the winter, because most things are out of season,” Abe Furth explained. “Right now we get our tomatoes from Backyard Farms in Madison. We got a great price, and the quality is excellent.”
The salsa added to the burritos is made fresh daily using these Backyard Beauty tomatoes. During the summer, the Furths hopes to buy all produce from local farmers.
The bagels served at Verve are baked fresh each day at Bagel Central in Bangor. Verve also bakes fresh cookies on a daily basis instead of buying prepackaged, frozen cookies.
Other local products Verve uses include: coffee from Carrabassett Coffee Company in Kingfield and Maine Root organic sodas which are brewed and bottled in Portland.
“Supporting local business is imperative. You can’t beat the product. It’s fresh and you don’t have to deal with transportation or packaging,” Abe Furth said. “Also knowing where your food comes from is a pretty enjoyable feeling.”
Pictures of local businesspeople line the lime green walls of Verve. “We want to make customers aware of other local businesses as well. It’s important for our community to work together, have everyone endorse one another,” Abe Furth said.
Verve also puts other environmentally friendly ideas into practice. Instead of using disposable plates, silverware, and cups, they use regular, reusable glass tableware. This cuts down on the waste caused by using disposable paper products. “If you think about it, a customer can come in 100 times and use the same mug to drink coffee out of. That’s 100 less coffee cups we have to throw away,” Abe Furth said.
Also, in the napkin boxes on each table, customers will find napkins made from recycled paper.
Recently, there have been major concerns about excess. What exactly do restaurants do with their leftovers or scraps? Verve gives their scraps to a local chicken farm. This is another example of local businesses helping one another. It’s a cyclical effect.
An employee prepares a made to order burrito with vegetarian black beans.
Orono resident Kelly Washington said Verve’s focus on supporting local business is a big attraction for her. “I’m pretty granola as it is, but it’s very nice to see a business make an effort. The burritos are pretty darn good too,” Washington said before she took another bite of her gigantic chorizo burrito.
Let’s say, for example, Verve decided to buy Thomas Bagels instead of bagels from Bagel Central. Thomas Bagels are a brand of Bimbo Bakeries USA. The closest Bimbo Bakeries factory to Orono is located in Lewiston, Maine.
That’s a four hour drive round trip. Going to Bagel Central in Bangor is merely 25 minutes round trip. The motor vehicle emissions and carbon footprint are exponentially less if Verve owners shopped at Bagel Central. That alone is incentive to buy locally. Not to mention the fact that products from large distributors are likely to be frozen and sit around for awhile.
Perhaps University of Maine student Zach Hunt said it best while taking a sip of his blueberry smoothie, “If you can buy local, why wouldn’t you? It’s healthier, more environmentally friendly, and it boosts local economy.”