Rich Calhoun
@richcalhoun.bsky.social
Environmental science teacher and developer of sustainable businesses and housing in rural New England mill towns.
Except Florida
a cartoon alligator is swimming in the water with its mouth wide open .
ALT: a cartoon alligator is swimming in the water with its mouth wide open .
media.tenor.com
August 7, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Except Florida
Agreed, there is no silver bullet.
Beavers are keystones though, that peculiar geography is somewhat due to their influence over the past 10,000 years of post-glacial ecological evolution. Early accounts indicate that our landscape was radically different before trapping, they transform watersheds.
Beavers are keystones though, that peculiar geography is somewhat due to their influence over the past 10,000 years of post-glacial ecological evolution. Early accounts indicate that our landscape was radically different before trapping, they transform watersheds.
July 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Agreed, there is no silver bullet.
Beavers are keystones though, that peculiar geography is somewhat due to their influence over the past 10,000 years of post-glacial ecological evolution. Early accounts indicate that our landscape was radically different before trapping, they transform watersheds.
Beavers are keystones though, that peculiar geography is somewhat due to their influence over the past 10,000 years of post-glacial ecological evolution. Early accounts indicate that our landscape was radically different before trapping, they transform watersheds.
We’re doing work with beavers in western Maine and finding early success. VT only has a tiny fraction of its historical beaver numbers, they are the keystone for New England water systems. Get beavers back into the highlands and downstream assets are much safer. uwm.edu/news/uwm-res...
UWM researchers find that beavers could be a remedy for downstream floods
Beavers were once abundant in the Milwaukee area, but fur trappers wiped them out more than 200 years ago. But restoring some of their population upstream could alleviate urban flooding, research show...
uwm.edu
July 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
We’re doing work with beavers in western Maine and finding early success. VT only has a tiny fraction of its historical beaver numbers, they are the keystone for New England water systems. Get beavers back into the highlands and downstream assets are much safer. uwm.edu/news/uwm-res...
❤️
Folks should come ride mountain bikes in Rumford! Or, make plans to ski Black Mountain of Maine’s 600+ acres of lift-served backcountry skiing next winter! Building a strong community economic base helps local families. woodsandtrails.org/pennacook-ar...
Folks should come ride mountain bikes in Rumford! Or, make plans to ski Black Mountain of Maine’s 600+ acres of lift-served backcountry skiing next winter! Building a strong community economic base helps local families. woodsandtrails.org/pennacook-ar...
Pennacook Area Community Trails – Inland Woods + Trails
woodsandtrails.org
July 1, 2025 at 4:20 PM
❤️
Folks should come ride mountain bikes in Rumford! Or, make plans to ski Black Mountain of Maine’s 600+ acres of lift-served backcountry skiing next winter! Building a strong community economic base helps local families. woodsandtrails.org/pennacook-ar...
Folks should come ride mountain bikes in Rumford! Or, make plans to ski Black Mountain of Maine’s 600+ acres of lift-served backcountry skiing next winter! Building a strong community economic base helps local families. woodsandtrails.org/pennacook-ar...
So f’ing enraging, the mercury data in Rumford is a shameful indictment of the EPA. Dems had so much time to act or fund clean energy in the paper industry. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/28/m...
Paper mills in Maine release above average levels of greenhouse gas - The Boston Globe
As the Trump administration eyes rollbacks on industrial emissions limits, a new report claims that paper mills are already dirtier than they appear.
www.bostonglobe.com
June 29, 2025 at 3:23 AM
So f’ing enraging, the mercury data in Rumford is a shameful indictment of the EPA. Dems had so much time to act or fund clean energy in the paper industry. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/28/m...
And they kept bragging about how much money went to red states, even as those politicians ripped the IRA/IIJA apart! It won Dems zero Senate or House seats and punished blue districts by steering investors away from blue/purple regions. Our projects in rural ME mill towns are now failing.
June 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
And they kept bragging about how much money went to red states, even as those politicians ripped the IRA/IIJA apart! It won Dems zero Senate or House seats and punished blue districts by steering investors away from blue/purple regions. Our projects in rural ME mill towns are now failing.
My students are excited about the potential for industrial heat pumps to help regulate water temperature, is that a viable concept? As freshwater systems warm and H2O quality degrades, could we extract energy for our use? Drinking water reservoirs as well. www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
Temperature of Charles River can be exploited as renewable source of energy
New heat pump technology under construction will pull energy out of the river and convert it to steam for heating industrial buildings in Boston and Cambridge
www.wgbh.org
June 26, 2025 at 11:22 PM
My students are excited about the potential for industrial heat pumps to help regulate water temperature, is that a viable concept? As freshwater systems warm and H2O quality degrades, could we extract energy for our use? Drinking water reservoirs as well. www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
Biden promised his base he’d be a “wartime President” on climate but never declared an emergency and IRA policies that directly benefited voters were slow to roll out. Trump declared an “energy emergency” on Day 1 and has since assaulted the environment nonstop, his campaign promise.
It all sucks.
It all sucks.
June 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Biden promised his base he’d be a “wartime President” on climate but never declared an emergency and IRA policies that directly benefited voters were slow to roll out. Trump declared an “energy emergency” on Day 1 and has since assaulted the environment nonstop, his campaign promise.
It all sucks.
It all sucks.
After generations of pollution in our mill town and a recent opioid epidemic that wiped out our young people, it is hard to build up here. But, we have no zoning/NIMBYs and we've spent the past 4 years chasing investors/grants to no end. Why not here, for the ME-02 votes?
wgme.com/news/local/t...
wgme.com/news/local/t...
Town of Rumford warns residents not to touch 'brown snow'
The Town of Rumford is warning residents to stay away from "brown snow."
wgme.com
May 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
After generations of pollution in our mill town and a recent opioid epidemic that wiped out our young people, it is hard to build up here. But, we have no zoning/NIMBYs and we've spent the past 4 years chasing investors/grants to no end. Why not here, for the ME-02 votes?
wgme.com/news/local/t...
wgme.com/news/local/t...
When I was young in NC, my friend’s Dad was shot+killed by KKK and Nazi radicals allied w/ local leaders and the mill. He was a Duke doctor, trying to help textile mill workers fight for safer working conditions. There is a human cost to sending that $ South. www.politico.com/magazine/sto...
The Massacre That Spawned the Alt-Right
Forty years ago, a gang of Klansmen and Nazis murdered five communists in broad daylight. America has never been the same.
www.politico.com
May 23, 2025 at 7:18 PM
When I was young in NC, my friend’s Dad was shot+killed by KKK and Nazi radicals allied w/ local leaders and the mill. He was a Duke doctor, trying to help textile mill workers fight for safer working conditions. There is a human cost to sending that $ South. www.politico.com/magazine/sto...
Large scale industrial policy was a weird way to materially impact everyday voters. CO Dems passed big rebates on electric lawn equipment and e-bikes, their policies are wildly popular.
Plenty of us made this point to elected Dems and pundits but very few listened.
Plenty of us made this point to elected Dems and pundits but very few listened.
May 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Large scale industrial policy was a weird way to materially impact everyday voters. CO Dems passed big rebates on electric lawn equipment and e-bikes, their policies are wildly popular.
Plenty of us made this point to elected Dems and pundits but very few listened.
Plenty of us made this point to elected Dems and pundits but very few listened.
Pretty terrible “I told you so” moment for advocates who’ve been begging their blue state Rep/Senators to speed up IRA funding. I’ve lost 2 projects already and several others are barely hanging on. We worked decades to get here, it feels like Dems stabbed us in the back, I don’t see a path forward.
May 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Pretty terrible “I told you so” moment for advocates who’ve been begging their blue state Rep/Senators to speed up IRA funding. I’ve lost 2 projects already and several others are barely hanging on. We worked decades to get here, it feels like Dems stabbed us in the back, I don’t see a path forward.