Local Innovators
Local Heroes
Local Hero: Rick Karney
Rick Karney, ‘The Spawnmeister,' and the MV Shellfish Group have championed Island aquaculture for nearly 50 years.
Right at Home
Local Eating is Good Eating
It was the summer of 1996, my first on Martha’s Vineyard as a year-rounder, and I was standing on the worn pine steps outside the kitchen door of a house in the woods of West Tisbury. I breathed in, and, all of a sudden, I was thrown back to 1970, the summer after my parents’ divorce. I was overwhelmed...
Climate Conversation with Bill McKibben
Climate luminary Bill McKibben hardly needs an introduction, but his new project does. Now 62 years old, having participated in numerous pivotal environmental campaigns...
Have You Seen the Little Piggies Eating All the Scraps?
Come most spring summer days, Jo Douglas will drive her black Toyota Tundra around Martha’s Vineyard, and stop at more than thirty restaurants to...
Sharing the Catch of the Day
At the top of the list of all the attractions that draw visitors to the Vineyard from around the world — up there with...
Building a More Responsible Island with South Mountain Company
The company’s philanthropic initiatives, commitment to the environment, equitable internal governance, and transparency have enabled them to be certified as a B Corp.
Local Stories
Field Note: Learn about Vineyard Biodiversity
To: Bluedot LivingFrom: The MV Atlas of Life (MVAL)Subject: Learn about Vineyard Biodiversity (or Help Study It!)
The Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life (MVAL) project...
Field Note: Felix Neck’s Favorite Trails on Martha’s Vineyard
To: Bluedot Living
From: The Staff at Mass Audubon/Felix Neck
Subject: Here are a few of our favorite trails
The Marsh Trail
Jessa Elsasser, Felix Neck Property ManagerMy...
If You Build (a Hibernacula), They Will Come
To: Bluedot Living
From: BiodiversityWorks
Subject: If You Build It, They Will Come
In 2023, we successfully collaborated with The Trustees to build two snake hibernacula and...
Recent Stories
Climate Change by The Numbers
Celebrating Earth Day
“But on April 22, 1970, after years of mounting concern and hard work, the first-ever Earth Day took place,...
Local Heroes
Local Hero: Jennifer Randolph
Meet the executive director of Kinship Heals, where protecting women and children is part of protecting Mother Earth.
More Local Stories
What’s So Bad About … Corn?
For a few sweet weeks each summer, corn on the cob from your local farmstand is the perfect treat — just check out the crowds around the bins at Morning Glory Farm. But corn is also grown to feed our cars and our cattle, and make the corn syrup that sneaks into so many of our processed foods. Meaning … corn is good, corn is not-so good, corn is complicated.
Features
Clearing Vineyard Coasts: Time for Beach Cleanups
What’s the first thing a person from the Vineyard might highlight when talking to someone who’s never experienced the place? You’d be hard-pressed to find a more quintessential feature than the Island’s pristine beaches. Because beaches are such a central element...
Features
Secrets of the Salt Marshes
Salt marshes don’t always inspire affection, but when they do, it can be intense. In 1902, the Massachusetts naturalist Dallas Lore Sharp dedicated an essay to salt marshes in The Atlantic, calling them “one of the most satisfying drinks of color...
Features
Repair and Reuse: The Case for Fix It Clinics
In this era of convenience and instant gratification, it seems too easy to justify throwing something away. Maybe there’s an old sweatshirt with a tear in the sleeve, or a coffee maker that’s on the fritz. You attempt to dampen your...
Weather Report: Why Do the Seas Rise?
A certain amount of sea level rise is locked in. So what are we going to do about it?
The phrases “climate change” and “sea level rise” nearly go hand in hand, particularly when discussed in coastal communities like Martha’s Vineyard. Many of the cliché images of global warming often...
Room for Change
Room for Change: The Workout
A few years ago, my daughter won the Falmouth Academy Science Fair for a project that measured the microplastics that athletic leggings leach after...
Cruising with Currier
Anna Edey and her Nissan Leaf
Vineyard resident and noted solar designer, Anna Edey, picked me up at my house in Oak Bluffs in her 10-year-old Nissan Leaf. We drove...
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