Publishing Party for The Earth Wants You by Reverend Billy Talen
When: Wednesday, May 18, 7:00pm
Where: Gulf of Maine Books, 134 Maine Street, Brunswick, ME
Reverend Billy comes to us from New York City, and from recently touring with the choir from the Church of Stop Shopping as opening act for Neil Young’s “Monsanto Years Tour’.
The Earth Wants You is “a motivational handbook, meant to inspire its readers to challenge the consumerism, racism and militarism that are killing our planet.” and a “call to arms for a wild, creative, Earth-led cultural revolution.” Reverend Billy has taken this gospel to mountaintop removal sites, Monsanto offices, Zucotti Park, Burning Man, Ferguson Missouri, Black Friday in New York City, and Grand Central Station. (Reverend Billy himself has been arrested more than 70 times in the service of the Earth)
The musician Laurie Anderson says of the Reverend’s new book “You must check out the newest from my favorite transcendent and down to Earth preacher.”
Activist Mike Roselle says “The Church of Stop Shopping is in the vanguard of a new movement that challenges this consumer society that is killing our planet.”
Clayton Thomas-Muller, of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, says of the Reverend ” Reverend Talen is a warrior whose aim it is to wake the sleeping to the realities of climate change. He is guided by a higher power and fueled by love.”

A trailer for the book can be seen here
Here’s Billy preaching Monsanto is the Devil: here
and here is Billy asking What would Jesus Buy, from a documentary about Billy, with that title here

Please join us for an Earth-rousing evening with Reverend Billy
open to the public, a free event
for more information please call Gulf of Maine Books at 729-5083

Help the Maine Maritime Museum Celebrate the Unique Ecosystem Known as the Merrymeeting Bay
When: Sunday, May 22, 11:00am – 3:00pm
Where: The Maine Maritime Museummerrymeetingimg_0001

Join the Maine Maritime Museum as they kick off the summer season and re-christen the museum’s new cruise boat Merrymeeting in honor of this ecological gem. The day will be filled with opportunities to discover all that Merrymeeting Bay has to offer. As part of the celebration, the museum will host Merrymeeting Bay related organizations that will share and demonstrate makes the bay so distinctive.

Activities will include the Wyoming ceremonial flag raising, a live birds of prey show with the York Center for Wildlife, Frogtown Mountain Puppet Show, boat cruises, kids crafts, and more.

Thanks to the generous sponsors of the event, admission will be free (no RSVP required!). 30-minute cruises will also run throughout the day for $6 a person.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED FOR THE 2016 NEQUASSET ALEWIFE COUNT

Contact:
Ruth Indrick
207/442-8400
[email protected]

The alewives are back, making their annual spring trek from the Gulf of Maine to Maine’s streams lakes. The return of the alewives means the start of the fish count at Nequasset Lake. From now through early June, volunteers are needed every day to count the fish that successfully make it into Nequasset Lake to spawn. Counting is a fun activity for both children and adults. Sign up to count and learn how at http://kennebecestuary.org/2016-nequasset-fish-count.

Alewife counting is exciting! Volunteers stand at the top of Nequasset dam and watch the fish power themselves over the last weir of the fish ladder into the lake, counting each fish is it goes past. Counting is broken into 2 hour blocks between 6am and 8pm. Each fish counter signs up for a 2 hour block and counts fish for two 10 minute periods in that block.

Eagles, herons, ospreys, mink, and loons have all been sighted by previous fish counters at Nequasset Dam. Volunteers may also get to see an active alewife harvest. Nequasset Lake has been the site of a sustainable alewife harvest in Woolwich, Maine for hundreds of years. Lobstermen still come to the site to buy bait, and smoked alewives are sold for 75 cents apiece. Volunteers who count fish help contribute to the sustainability of the harvest and the Nequasset alewife population.

The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust has coordinated the alewife count at Nequasset Lake since 2012. In fall of 2014, a new ladder was built to replace a crumbling fish ladder from the 1950s. This year’s count will also help assess the function of the new ladder.

Alewives are important for lake health and Gulf of Maine fisheries. They form the base of an extensive food chain. They are food for fish like striped bass, tuna, cod, haddock, halibut, smallmouth bass, pickerel, and yellow perch. They are also food for birds and mammals, like bald eagles, ospreys, great blue herons, cormorants, seals, whales, mink, raccoons, and fishers. As a result of the mild winter, alewives have arrived back at Maine’s streams earlier than the last few years.

If you have any questions about the Nequasset alewife count, contact Ruth Indrick at the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust at [email protected] or 207-442-8400.

The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust is a membership supported organization dedicated to protecting the land, water and wildlife of the Kennebec Estuary. It maintains nine preserves for public enjoyment and has protected 2,668 acres of land since founding in 1989. FMI visit www.kennebecestuary.org or call (207) 442-8400.

If you would like more information, please contact Ruth Indrick at 442-8400 or email [email protected].

Photo Credit: Ruth Indrick

Caption: Join in the fun and volunteer to count fish at the Nequasset fish ladder in 2016! Sign up at: http://kennebecestuary.org/2016-nequasset-fish-count

Photo Credit: Ruth Indrick

Caption: Fish count volunteers have seen ospreys, eagles, loons and more at the Nequasset fish ladder.