Whoa. That's...wow. So when you say "how do I deal with winter " you don't mean "how can I have fun during winter". I don't think I can help you with stuff like "I didn't know my hair could freeze" because I just don't think about things like that anymore.

If you didn't take any winter items with you, you must get some. There are several discussions in this forum on what you need as far as clothing and general winter stuff like shovels, spikes, salt, etc.

Your username does not apply anymore because you're going to have new experiences every day. Treat every day like that and start thinking about things with weather in mind.

Wow! What a great pic!

Your temp is so warm. Bears'll be coming out soon.

It is but that's not what we're talking about here. That's a completely different discussion.

No answer to why you're advocating for the mining industry? Then shut the fuck up. You have no idea what it can do to the environment and economy of an area. Sit this one out.

How are you going to benefit from mining these minerals? Fess up. Full disclosure.

That is funny! Did someone think they were swimming under ice? Could you direct me to the post? I need another laugh.

What the fuck are you talking about? You want to turn this into a racist discussion? Go away.

I didn't call it "e-waste". You did. I said figure out how to recycle it. Nothing about disposing of it, which already is a problem.

Maine isn't the only place that uses phones and microchips. This is a global problem. Why do you think Maine is a good place to aggravate the problem by allowing rich fucks to get richer by destroying our natural resources and then leave us with the clean up?

Did you not read the rest of the post? Give it a go.

When it comes to mining, NIMBYism is the best option. These minerals are obviously available elsewhere because we're using them in said phones and other devices. So recycle them to make more. Or figure out different materials for the same purpose. There is no reason to fuck up Maine on multiple levels with mining.

All mining in the US operates under the Mining Act of 1872. Despite several efforts to update it, it stands. If you want to live in a state that operates under those conditions, move out west. There are a lot of opportunities for you.

The only reason to mine here is because some assholes from away want to make shitloads of money then declare bankruptcy and leave us with a bazillion dollar clean up. It's part of the business plan. If you don't believe me, look at every spent and then abandoned mine out west. The cost is not worth it using any calculator.

> It's fine as long as it's someone else's backyard, eh?

Yes. Where mining is concerned, yes. Maine's great outdoors is its best moneymaking asset. Yeah, tourists suck but poison water sucks more.

Dude. No. Is this a cry for help? There must be some kind of therapist that can help you with this.

I used to work environmental at a large mine out west and then for a global mining company. We don't want this here.

They may be worth "billions" but not to you or anyone working at them. When it comes to clean up, though, we'll be paying for it to the tune of millions, if not billions, by the time the corporate overlords have abandoned them. EDIT: That is part of the business plan.

The damage won't just be visual. Poison water and dead wildlife come with the devastation.

There is a "core group of people" now. Actually, it's more than "core" and it's been around since at least the 70s. Now it's a majority. But that's not enough. Governments, big oil, the rich fuckers making money off both, everyone knew about climate change in the 60s and look where we are now.

We need to get rid of the money power politics faction but keep/expand freedom at the same time. This is the secret and nobody has found the key. Yet. I'm old enough to probably be dead by the time it happens. If it happens. But keep at it.

That's so optimistic of you. I hope you're right but cynical me is alternately cringing and laughing hysterically. It's not about "energy resources and development". It's about money, politics, and power.

It's not about clear cutting. It's about the 5 year plan which is bullshit in a state with so many trees, and a variable amount in each area. We're all being managed under the same restrictive tenet. It needs to not only be more frequent in the troublesome areas but it can't be as rigid as it is. I've sent pictures of huge trees teetering over lines, basically my next power outage when the wind blows over 5mph, and they won't come out and manage it. They're like "5 year plan. we don't do maintenance outside of that." Then the wind blows, the tree takes out the lines and 1000 people are out of power for hours.

My point is there are better ways to do this other than what they're doing.

Go for it. Nobody's stopping you.

Do you realize what that will do to the already obscene power bills? Holy shit. Everyone might as well disconnect from the grid and run off generators full time if that's the plan. It would be cheaper financially.

edit "do to the"

That is not enough. Obviously.

True story. Talk to Janet Mills about this. Especially make noise about the recent extended outages because, make no mistake, we're paying for that in a the form of a rate hike. Make the state pay for it. Yeah yeah, our taxes but at least it won't make our power bills go up.

They can. They won't.

One could argue they don't give a shit about the main roads either but I totally hear you.

I live on a state route and get outages multiple times a week. Winter is usually my best time for continuous power. One week last spring/summer my power went out 6 times in one week. Twice in one day. Clear blue sky, no wind.

And they wonder why everyone hates them.

I'm so sorry. Are you in western Maine? I was watching oxford county outages after the last storm. It took so long, too long, to get power back on. There has to be a better way.