With age comes nostalgia, and at sixty-seven, I find I am succumbing more and more to a longing for the good old days of Maine summers, when the weather was seldom hot and humid, when smoke from forest fires in Canada did not spread their haze over our state, and finally, when beachgoers could swim in the ocean without worrying about an encounter with a Great White shark

Time was when we swam at the ocean, all we had to worry about was the cold water. And cold it was. My family developed a technique of going in gradually, until the cold stopped stinging our legs, which in turn became, well, yes, numb. Then we could play in the waves until our teeth started chattering, and we had to take a break. After all, we are Mainers. We eat ice cream in the winter, don’t turn on the heat until October when the temps dip below 30°, and don’t let a little thing like bracing water stop us from swimming in the ocean.

But Great Whites are another matter. Previously, they came only as far north as Massachusetts, on the warm side of Cape Cod. Far, far away from us. Or so we thought. In the halcyon days of the 1990s, we swam without concern about large ocean predators.

But in the past five or so years, the Great Whites have moved north. So far, only one Maine woman has been killed swimming, and that was in 2020. Still, the Great Whites are out there, and the sightings have been increasingly common, especially this year, when shark flags have been flying at popular beaches to warn swimmers of potential danger.

And why are the Great Whites coming as far north as Maine? According to Maine Coast Islands, there are two prime reasons: One, due to preservation efforts, seals have made a comeback along the Maine coast, and Great Whites like to eat seals. Two, our waters are warming, thus drawing the Great Whites northward.

Here is a video of an encounter with sharks that a lobsterman recently had:

For the record, I do not think predators are evil. I know that they have to make their living, which involves eating other creatures. When either coyotes or fishers got two of our cats, I didn’t take it personally. Still, I mourned the loss of those cats, Finnegan and Margot.

Likewise, I don’t want to become a meal for a Great White. Ditto for family and friends or anyone else for that matter. Because of arthritis, my swimming days in the Maine ocean were pretty much over. The Great Whites have sealed the deal as the saying goes.

Still, my love of the ocean remains strong, and it is a great pleasure to be on the shore, looking out at the vast sea. The salt air, the call of gulls, the lapping of waves will never lose their appeal.

When I do go, as I scan the water, I will be keeping an eye out for a fin cutting the water. As much as Great Whites give me the shivers, it would be a thrill to see one.

As long as nobody is in the water.

To complete my nostalgic yearnings, I’ll end with an oldie but goodie from Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Longtime readers will know that Dee, Clif, and I take climate change very seriously. While we know that a system-wide change is absolutely essential, we believe that individuals have a responsibility, too.  As such, we are doing what we can—actually, what we can afford—to stop burning fossil fuels for energy. In short, we are going electric. This is the first time in human history that folks have this option, and kudos to all the engineers and designers who have made this possible.

To date: We have one electric car and a charger, which is right in our yard. The car’s range is over 200 miles, even in the winter, and the car has worked beautifully. (We have had it about a year now.) In our electric car, we have driven to southern Maine, a round trip of about 170 miles, without a single hitch. Our second car is a traditional gasoline engine car, and we hope to get another electric one when it’s time to trade it in. (As our gasoline car is 15 years old, that time will soon be coming.)

For heat, as is typical of many Mainers, we have a variety of systems. We have electric baseboard heat, which works well but is expensive. This came with the house. We have a wood furnace in the basement, which puts out the coziest heat ever, but hauling wood is a lot of work, and Clif is no longer a spring chicken. Then, about twenty-five years ago, we had propane heaters installed. They work well, but they still use fossil fuel and recently, they have become expensive to run.

A few weeks ago, we had the propane heaters removed, and in their place, two heat pumps were installed. Here is the one that will heat (and cool!) our kitchen, dining room, and living room.

This morning was a cool June morning, not unusual for Maine. Inside, the temp was about 64°F. We turned on the heat pump, and it didn’t take long for the dining room, kitchen, and living room to reach a comfortable 70°. At which point, the heater shut off.

Best of all, the heat pumps will cool the air and remove the excess humidity. For the past few years in Maine, July has been a horrible hot month, with effective temperatures in the 100s. I can only imagine what my parents and grandparents would think of these temperatures. Back in the 70s, when it reached 85°, we thought the heat was unbearable. But it only reached 85° a few days at the end of July, and hardly anyone in our town had an air conditioner.

That has all changed, and we are ready with our heat pumps. Good friends have heat pumps, and they love them. Best of all, the heat pumps are much cheaper to run than electric baseboard or propane or oil.

A post about our electric journey would not be complete without mentioning a blogging friend, Tom from Tootlepedal’s Blog. He and his wife, Alison, have gone the extra mile with their electric journey. Not only do they have an electric car but they also have installed solar panels in what they call their garden. (Here, we call it a yard.)  Bravo, Tom and Alison! You two are an inspiration to me.

Finally, I do want to add that going solar and electric can be expensive, and I totally understand why it is out of the reach of some people. With our combined incomes, Dee, Clif, and I have more leeway than many folks do.  But what’s important is to make what effort you can.

In the end, small things add up.

And here’s a song by MJ Lenderman reminding us that we all got work to do.

When you are someone who cares about the environment the way I do—Clif and I refer to ourselves as green beans—it is easy to get discouraged. A focus on climate change, resource depletion, and overpopulation can lead to gloomy thoughts. And let’s face it—most of the news we read about the environment is not good, thus adding to the gloom.

Then in The Guardian comes Robin McKie’s piece: How Orkney Leads the Way for Sustainable Energy. (Thanks to Susanne’s Mom’s Blog for featuring this piece as well as providing the link to it.) According to Mckie, Orkney Islands—an archipelago to the northeast of Scotland—produces so much sustainable energy that they can’t use it all.

Holy cats!That news is enough to make this green bean snap with joy.

So how did Orkney Islands do it? First, because they are islands, all of their power came from the mainland, and their energy costs were expensive. Mckie writes, “Orkney was once utterly dependent on power that was produced by burning coal and gas on the Scottish mainland and then transmitted through an undersea cable.”

Second, Orkney Islands have wind and lots of it. “Low-lying and exposed to both the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, Orkney is battered by winds and gales throughout the year.”

Rather than gripe about how wind turbines spoil their view, the way we do here in Maine, the Orcadians decided to embrace the wind and use it to produce energy. How much energy? “Orkney…generates, on average over the year, electricity that fulfils 120% of its own needs.”

That’s right. Orkney Islands now have surplus energy that is clean and affordable. They are actually thinking of exporting that energy back to the mainland.

Anyway, McKie’s piece is well worth reading. On this sunny day where the snow from the last storm still hasn’t melted, Orkney’s  success with wind power gave me a much-needed lift.

Correction: I originally wrote that Orkney was between England and France. A couple of my blogging friends corrected that error, letting me know Orkney Islands were to the northeast of Scotland. Many thanks for letting me know.