Lincolnville’s sixth grade science students braved the cold one recent day to conduct an investigation of high tides at the Beach. Through "Weather Blur," a program from the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the class spent the fall developing the research question, "How high is the high tide at Lincolnville Beach over the course of a lunar cycle, and how does this compare to 20 years ago?” Then they had to figure out how to answer this question, what data they would need and how/where they could find it.  

At the Beach that cold day, students measured the distance from the high tide line to the retaining wall at the beginning of the parking lot to see how close the water gets at a high tide during a full moon. In the coming days, the class will use data from NOAA's Tides and Currents site to analyze trends from 20 years ago and from this current lunar cycle.

This investigation has led to some interesting discussions about storm surge during historical storms and future sea level rise predictions. If you have any information about previous storm surge or flooding events at Lincolnville Beach, either anecdotal or photos, to share with them let the school know. The students are also interested to hear if there is any local planning for sea level rise in the coming years.

This certainly isn’t the science I was taught in sixth grade, studying the effects of a world-wide situation on our very own shore.

A week ago we seemed to be heading into one of those open winters, when a six-inch snowfall gets the weather people all excited, warning us to take precautions, to stock up, to bring in our dogs, to bundle up. Then the six inches turns out to be three and a half, the snow turns to rain, and by morning there’s just a mess. That’s not the way winter used to be, but then I guess that’s the story of the day.

In true Maine fashion where the weather changes by the hour, today we’re snowed in, frozen solid, truly in winter’s grip. Furnaces run around the clock, heat pumps do their best to keep ahead of the cold, and I throw another log on the fire. And then another.

But even though winter can still clamp down, even though Maine is still the kind of place that snowbirds flee in flocks, winter has changed. I’ve spent 50 consecutive winters here and can offer first hand knowledge: Winter has changed. By late November/early December we’d be snow-covered, and except for the predictable January thaw – a handful of days when the temperature would rise into the 40s, and we all ran around in shirtsleeves – there was no relief from below freezing temperatures. Every year we endured at least one stretch of below 0 days, -10 all the way to -25.

The snow piled up and up, until my mailbox disappeared from view, snow halfway up my front sunroom windows, hip-deep on the flat, over our heads where we threw it up by the shovelfuls along the driveway.

Our middle son treasures a story of being abandoned by his brothers in a snow cave they built. When it collapsed around him, they went inside to get warm and didn’t mention their brother was buried in it.

The cross country skiing at Tanglewood was reliable; a couple of good snowfalls would cover the roots and rocks of the trails, and for weeks I’d start every day with a ski around my favorite loop, up to the water tower and back out to the gate on the road that was never plowed.

Snow days were only called when it was truly horrible – you know, blowing snow, howling wind, lousy visibility. There were just four or five days built into the calendar, and no superintendent wanted to go over. Those were the days when class was held on Saturday mornings to make up the lost time or added in June.

But a snow day was a big deal in a household with three little boys AND a teacher. It’s hard to say who was the most excited at the phone ringing at 5 a.m. I had to stay inside to hear the phone while he, the teacher, went down into the barn to milk the cow. When it came, I’d run right down with the news. But if it hadn’t, it would be a pretty grumpy husband carrying in the pail of warm milk.

If it had, he’d be right upstairs, dancing around, singing his “Snow Day” song, while the boys were glued to the TV news, watching the school closings for Union 69. That’s us. And when it finally came through, we’d all celebrate with a big breakfast of bacon and eggs. The boys couldn’t wait to get outside with their sleds. Snow forts, snowball fights, snow caves. They’d stay out until their mittens were sodden, cheeks bright red, snowsuits soaked.

The first sight of bare ground, sometime in March, was a cause to party. People celebrated in all kinds of ways: one group of friends put on an annual play at the Grange, billed as a Cabin Fever Reliever. At our house I probably made an extra batch of home brew to get us through.

All these years later (my grandchildren are the ages their fathers were when the snow piled up) we’re learning to live with what we call our new normal. Not only are the Arctic and Antarctica ice sheets melting, the permafrost thawing, and the seas rising, but our own ecosystem is changing.

The ground barely freezes anymore. The snow is fleeting, turning to rain or sleety snow before morning, those brilliant days of sunshine and sparkly snow, a rarity. Australia and California have their horrific bush fires; we have ticks wintering over, ice storms and warming ocean waters.

We can’t invent our way out of it, this climate change which science has been telling us for decades is man-made. There is no easy fix, not even a complicated technological tour de force that will prove we humans are still in charge. No, this time we have to learn to work with the natural forces – not by extracting oil, gas, and coal from the ground or even wood from the forests to heat our houses, to drive our cars or power our electricity – but by harnessing the renewables – the sun, the wind the tides.­­

With our world facing unprecedented warming and the consequences – wild fires, flooding, crazy storms – it seems to come down to the tiniest of efforts. The kids wonder what local planning is in place. The one place we do have power, we 2,164 citizens of this municipality on the coast of Maine, is right here. The power to plan, to budget, to make decisions that will tally up on the good side of this climate debacle we’ve allowed.

Lincolnville has a self-appointed energy team, not a town committee, not even an ad hoc one, but rather, an informal group of people who are committed to figuring out our tiny piece. Who are they? Cindy and Jim Dunham, Richard Glock, Greta and Gary Gulezian, Bob Olson, Janet Redfield, Cathy and John Williams.

They are largely the ones who are responsible for the solar panels atop the Library roof, powering virtually all that building’s electrical needs, including heat, as well as providing credits that pay the LIA building’s electric bill.

Once that project was completed, they looked at the municipal bill. They worked with the Fire Department and the town to use the large field adjacent to the Fire Department for a solar array big enough to cover the Town Office electric bill, including the Beach street lights. With that up and running, they researched more efficient street lights, ones that wouldn’t light up the night sky, but would focus on the sidewalks. They lobbied for those new lights, and they were recently installed.

Their latest goal is the biggest one of all: Lincolnville Central School’s electricity, the largest user in town. An extensive town-wide search for a piece of open land, big enough and with three-phase power already present, was unsuccessful. Then along came a project that seemed tailor-made for our needs. An investor-owned solar project in Livermore Falls that was marketing their energy credits to schools, on the theory that schools are a stable entity for a long-term contract.

John Williams, the spreadsheet guy on the team who researches and analyzes all the data, says the town will see between $150,000 and $200,000 in savings on the school’s electric bill over the 20 years of the contract. The way it works is this: the investors sell their solar-generated power to CMP for 9 1/2 cents per kilowatt, and each kilowatt is worth 13 cents for us when we go to pay our bill to CMP. That 3 1/2 cents is our savings. With the current yearly electric bill at $39,000, taxpayers will save $9,000 this year alone.

Lawyers for the schools have looked at the contract, and all agree it is a solid agreement with the proper default provisions.

By the way, if you want to contact the energy team, make a comment, ask a question you can reach them here.

Since CHRHS, the Fivetown CSD we belong to, already has solar roof panels and the wind tower, they signed up to fulfill all the rest of their electricity needs with the Livermore project. So did SAD 28, Camden Rockport middle and elementary schools. Hope voted for their school to go solar as well.

So far our LCS School Committee has refused to consider the project, citing the need to hear from townspeople before signing a 20-year contract. The Livermore investors expect to have all their capacity spoken for by the end of February, so if we want to see our school go solar we need to act soon. Our children know how important this is for the future of the planet. They’re learning this in school, they hear about it on social media, they know who Greta Thunberg is.

Here’s a chance for us to weigh in. Let our School Committee members know how you feel about the school going solar:

Jared Harbaugh

Briar Lyons

Mike Johnson

Matthew Powers

Becky Stephens

Town

David Kinney sent out this post on the Bulletin Board last week:

“The Board of Selectmen has created a committee to explore the opportunities available to the Town regarding high speed Internet service (broadband).  The Town now needs people willing to serve on the committee.  If individuals don’t step forward to help the effort is likely to wither and fail.  And if the effort fails the only option that residents have will be whatever the marketplace wishes to offer.  It is up to you!  Be part of the solution. Don’t rely on others to do it for you.  If you want to be part of the solution stop by or contact the Town Office. Committee work is not difficult and no special knowledge is required.  Applicants simply need an interest, want to make their community better and be willing to put in some time and effort.”

That says it all!

School

 If you have a child who will be five years old on or before Oct. 15, 2020 it’s time to pre-register him/her for kindergarten! Call the office, 763-3366 and let them know.

HAL (Hope-Appleton-Lincolnville) students are invited to join the CRMS (Camden Rockport Middle School) wrestling team. The first practice is Tuesday, Jan. 21, 4-5:30 p.m. at the CRMS cafeteria. Contact Aaron Henderson, call 522-5252 or email  him.

Library

Elizabeth Eudy reports: “Our Book Discussion is Tuesday the 21st at 6 p.m., and we will  be talking about Samantha Power’s memoir “The Education of an Idealist”. We’d love for you to join us. We’ll be reading "The Giver of Stars" by JoJo Moyes for February and “The Orchard” by Adele Crockett Robertson for our March meeting. Start reading!”

Condolences

Bob Porter, who lived at the Stevens Corner end of Youngtown Road passed away a couple of days ago. Bob retired many years ago to a house right next to the one he grew up in, along with his five siblings. The family moved there from Camden during the Depression. I didn’t know him very well, but we always had pleasant conversations; he was 90 years old.

Doll Fest

The First Annual Doll Fest, that is, will be held Saturday, March 14 at the Community Building. A group of knitters who meet weekly at one another’s houses realized a few months ago that most of them were making dolls – knitted, sewn, clay, papier mache, all sorts of dolls. “Let’s have a doll show,” we decided. Yes, I’m one of them. Our Doll Fest will feature handmade dolls of all kinds, doll-making workshops, collections of dolls, and a tea party. If you collect dolls or if your child has dolls we invite you to show them. If you make dolls and would like to show others your techniques let us know. Either way, contact me, Diane or Julie Turkevich or Cyrene Slegona. And mark your calendars!