“Regardless of what was to be a Maine boy’s occupation or profession, an indispensable part of his upbringing was a voyage or two in the West India trade. In the days when the privateers of France and England, not to mention the piratical craft swarming the Caribbean, might be sighted at any time in almost […]

With increased storm activity and flooding from climate change, the resilience of South Portland’s coastline has never been more challenged. Last week, we introduced Climate Ready Casco Bay, a coastal resilience project happening in our region. An important part of building this coastal resilience is educating community members about future climate risks, so this week, […]

In South Portland, we are connected to our coast economically, recreationally, and environmentally. As this beloved coast begins to face more severe weather events — and as a result is at risk of flooding, storm surge, and erosion — it is important that we build the resilience of our coastlines to withstand these risks. Luckily, […]

After World War II ended and the last of the Liberty ships were launched and outfitted, the South Portland shipyard was a massive, vacant complex of buildings, just waiting for a new life. We’ve written previously about some of the larger employers who moved into the yard over the years, like Portland Machine Tool Works, […]

Age Friendly South Portland needs more volunteers to help shovel walks and mailboxes of older residents who can’t do it themselves. We had a good response to our first request for volunteers, but the requests for shoveling have grown. We need more shovelers to help these people. Each helper is being asked to commit to […]

In last week’s column, we mentioned how George Kern had partnered up with local lobsterman William V. Benson in his seafood business in the former South Portland Shipyard. Let’s take a closer look at Benson and his company known as Benson Lobster. William Valentine Benson was born in 1917 in Southwest Harbor. His father Peter […]

As our second year implementing our One Climate Future plan wraps up, we’re taking the time to reflect on progress we have made toward our big climate action goals in 2022. The ambitious, overarching goals – such as reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and running 100 percent of municipal operations on […]

As we continue our research into some of the seafood processing companies that were located in the post-war West Yard of South Portland’s former shipyards, let’s take a look at George Kern and his connection with South Portland. George J. Kern was born in 1923 and led a rather interesting life. He was the grandson […]

As the holiday season wraps up – no pun intended – knowing what to do with the abundance of waste you accrued over the course of the season is important. Wish-cycling, or tossing something in your recycling bin with a bit too much optimism, is extremely detrimental to the recycling process. Throwing away your holiday […]

Here at the South Portland Sustainability Office, we spend our days planning and managing programs that advance us toward our climate-action goals, such as reducing city-wide greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and transitioning municipal operations to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2040. In the midst of all of this exciting progress, it […]