Catherine Schmitt
@coastcompanion.bsky.social
science writer & author of THE PRESIDENT'S SALMON and other books - TREES OF ACADIA coming April '26
catherineschmitt.com
catherineschmitt.com
no shopping, please
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
November 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
no shopping, please
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
thanks for the reminder about freezing and grating. high hopes for this one! shout out to Maine Grains and Canada for the flour and Peacemeal Farm for the pumpkin.
November 27, 2025 at 8:32 PM
thanks for the reminder about freezing and grating. high hopes for this one! shout out to Maine Grains and Canada for the flour and Peacemeal Farm for the pumpkin.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway:
New initiative lets every St. John Valley 8th grader participate in Allagash canoe expedition
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.
www.mainepublic.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway:
why do we "take" a walk but "go" for a run?
November 27, 2025 at 1:58 PM
why do we "take" a walk but "go" for a run?
and parks and urban forests and gardens. kids need to touch (chemical-free) grass, and leaves and bark and berries and feathers...
Way back in 2018 I did a walking tour of Vancouver with @brenttoderian.bsky.social and he explained how that city overcame this problem. You need family-sized units & also, crucially, *good urban schools*.
Young families typically leave cities for the suburbs. Here’s how to keep them downtown.
Urbanist Brent Toderian explains how Vancouver held onto its families.
www.vox.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
and parks and urban forests and gardens. kids need to touch (chemical-free) grass, and leaves and bark and berries and feathers...
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
Wisconsin archaeologists identify 16 ancient canoes in a prehistoric lake 'parking lot'
Archaeologists have identified more than a dozen ancient canoes that Indigenous people apparently left behind in a prehistoric parking lot along a Wisconsin lakeshore.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
I once spent a night hanging around the elver fishermen, trying to get some samples (for science!) from a guy who was later arrested for illegal wildlife tracking. Oh, the stories eels can tell!
The sign in front of the van parked just off Route 1 in Lincoln County, Maine, displayed a simple message in big, hand-written letters: “Eels. $2,000/lb.”
Read more: https://therevelator.org/cites-american-eel/
Read more: https://therevelator.org/cites-american-eel/
Can an International Treaty Save the American Eel? • The Revelator
Overfishing and other threats have depleted populations of this iconic species. A new proposal to restrict international trade under CITES could offer them a lifeline.
therevelator.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I once spent a night hanging around the elver fishermen, trying to get some samples (for science!) from a guy who was later arrested for illegal wildlife tracking. Oh, the stories eels can tell!
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
it is truly one of the treasures of nature that they look so elegant from every angle except this one
November 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
it is truly one of the treasures of nature that they look so elegant from every angle except this one
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
How Wabanaki access to sea run fish is changing - Island Institute
For thousands of years, Wabanaki people were sustained by “sea run” fish that moved between rivers and the ocean. Fish evolved this migratory strategy to
www.islandinstitute.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
How Wabanaki access to sea run fish is changing - Island Institute
For thousands of years, Wabanaki people were sustained by “sea run” fish that moved between rivers and the ocean. Fish evolved this migratory strategy to
www.islandinstitute.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Whatever comes out the other side of this, whether we are able to restore faith, rebuild community, establish true equality, deliver justice, embrace transformative solidarity, rededicate ourselves and our country to an ever stronger common good--all I know is, it will have started in Chicago.
7/end
7/end
November 19, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Whatever comes out the other side of this, whether we are able to restore faith, rebuild community, establish true equality, deliver justice, embrace transformative solidarity, rededicate ourselves and our country to an ever stronger common good--all I know is, it will have started in Chicago.
7/end
7/end
Amazing. Here are some using Pro mode on a Samsung. Cant quite get the speed slow enough.
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Amazing. Here are some using Pro mode on a Samsung. Cant quite get the speed slow enough.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Often, I’ll use a ledge, rock formations or cracks in a fallen tree to keep the phone still on “Live Mode.” Using a timer helps steady the phone a few seconds after you press the shutter. It’s not as silky as a :20 long exposure on DSLR gets you, but it does the job.
#JusttheTip
#photography
#JusttheTip
#photography
November 17, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Often, I’ll use a ledge, rock formations or cracks in a fallen tree to keep the phone still on “Live Mode.” Using a timer helps steady the phone a few seconds after you press the shutter. It’s not as silky as a :20 long exposure on DSLR gets you, but it does the job.
#JusttheTip
#photography
#JusttheTip
#photography
"The new owner of the mountain was Mark Zuckerberg." still a rumor but either way is not good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Mystery Fuels Unease in Maine Woods: Who Bought Burnt Jacket Mountain?
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM
"The new owner of the mountain was Mark Zuckerberg." still a rumor but either way is not good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
November 16, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Using asbestos as a metaphor for the current industry-driven AI push is genius.
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Using asbestos as a metaphor for the current industry-driven AI push is genius.
Reminds me of this story I wrote on lake stratification (and mixing) - I think some parts of the ocean are experieincing similar changes...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
November 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reminds me of this story I wrote on lake stratification (and mixing) - I think some parts of the ocean are experieincing similar changes...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
It is a bubble.
AI has yet to make money on a scale that even remotely matches the “mind-boggling investments” made to develop it, Hanna Rosin says. She spoke with Charlie Warzel to examine whether the AI boom is actually a bubble. | The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
What If AI Is a Bubble?
America’s economic fate looks tied to AI—for better or worse.
www.theatlantic.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
It is a bubble.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
[Good news]
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
November 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
[Good news]
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
When I was a lonely Native on the east coast I tried 2 find Cherokees where I lived. I googled Baltimore Cherokee. The results were Jeep dealerships. Jeep stopped using Cherokee after a request frm the tribe post-2020. It's popular to be racist again & the Jeep Cherokee is back.
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 AM
When I was a lonely Native on the east coast I tried 2 find Cherokees where I lived. I googled Baltimore Cherokee. The results were Jeep dealerships. Jeep stopped using Cherokee after a request frm the tribe post-2020. It's popular to be racist again & the Jeep Cherokee is back.
You had me at mealy peaches.
You thought you were too punk for Sufjan Stevens. Now you hear a song of his in the car and sob uncontrollably, thinking: Sufjan, you may be young enough to have been a Comp 101 student of mine back when I was adjuncting in the ’90s, but you’re still the only one who understands me.
Signs That You Are a Gen-Xer Going Through Menopause
1. You sweat those newly-applied purple streaks right out of your hair. 2. You use the word “fuck” more now, even more than you used it in ...
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM
You had me at mealy peaches.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
You thought you were too punk for Sufjan Stevens. Now you hear a song of his in the car and sob uncontrollably, thinking: Sufjan, you may be young enough to have been a Comp 101 student of mine back when I was adjuncting in the ’90s, but you’re still the only one who understands me.
Signs That You Are a Gen-Xer Going Through Menopause
1. You sweat those newly-applied purple streaks right out of your hair. 2. You use the word “fuck” more now, even more than you used it in ...
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
You thought you were too punk for Sufjan Stevens. Now you hear a song of his in the car and sob uncontrollably, thinking: Sufjan, you may be young enough to have been a Comp 101 student of mine back when I was adjuncting in the ’90s, but you’re still the only one who understands me.
November 9, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Saturday reading suggestion: an essay on the gutting of the #NPS from Trail Crew Stories, a project to share the stories, methods, writings, and art of the community of trail workers. www.trailcrewstories.com/stories/the-... #trailcrew
The Gutting of the National Park Service — Trail Crew Stories
Mass firings, decades of neglect, and creeping privatization are dismantling America’s best idea.
www.trailcrewstories.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Saturday reading suggestion: an essay on the gutting of the #NPS from Trail Crew Stories, a project to share the stories, methods, writings, and art of the community of trail workers. www.trailcrewstories.com/stories/the-... #trailcrew
yes.
Have people forgotten what the air and water were like before environmental regulations? https://therevelator.org/why-we-need-environmental-regulations/
Why We Need Environmental Regulations • The Revelator
Many people are unaware of what life was like before major environmental laws. That makes it easier for corporate interests to push for harmful deregulation.
therevelator.org
November 8, 2025 at 10:37 PM
yes.