Working at the Natural Resources Council of Maine has many perks. Advocating for Maine’s environment, working alongside passionate and compassionate people, participating in a needed clean energy transition, and, on occasion, plunging into the frigid Atlantic to ring in the New Year and raise money for our important work. NRCM is preparing for it’s 15th Read More
NRCM Polar Bear Dip & Dash
Since 2009, the Natural Resources Council of Maine has hosted a polar bear dip on New Year's Eve day. It began by gathering on East End Beach in Portland and plunging into the icy, cold Atlantic Ocean to raise funds and awareness of NRCM's work to curb climate-changing pollution and support a clean energy future for Maine.
Since then, we added a 5K "warm up" run in 2011 in advance of the dip. From 2020-2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we switched to an all-virtual format...and still met our fundraising goals! In 2022, we once again gathered, this time at a new location at Southern Maine Community College's South Portland campus on December 31st for an in-person event. We also continue to offer a virtual option.
NRCM Dip & Dash Turns into Mountain Biking Adventure
There are so many great reasons to participate in the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s annual Polar Bear Dip and Dash: All of the money raised supports NRCM’s work on clean and renewable energy and reducing climate change pollution. Physical activity is good for your health. So, a nice brisk 5K around Back Cove in Read More
The Year My Terror Went Viral: My 2015 NRCM Polar Bear Plunge
I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as an adventurous person. I refused to join my husband in going to see the new, terrifying (it seems to me!) Stephen King movie, “It.” Don’t look for me at those spooky houses during Halloween. And yet… I have plunged into the frigid ocean at Portland’s East End Beach not Read More
What Does It Take to be a Diehard Polar Plunger? Some Brave Mainers Tell All
By Abigail Curtis, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News story BELFAST, Maine — Every New Year’s Day, Mike Goulart of Belfast digs out his water shoes, dons a silly costume and heads to the boat launch, where he strives to be the first person to get into the frigid ocean during the city’s annual polar dip. Read More
Holiday Guide: Green Tips, Great Gifts that Support NRCM
Here come the holidays, and all I want for Christmas is…less waste and more sustainability. OK, that’s not all I want, but it’s definitely part of my holiday planning. You can probably easily imagine that the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is the most wasteful, but did you know Americans produce a million Read More
Polar Bear Dip & Dash: It’s Just “Mind Over Matter”
My breath rose in clouds in front of my face as I rubbed my double-mittened hands together and looked up at the enormous digital clock above the city buildings: 10:45am. Fifteen minutes until the race start. Then…the time display was replaced by the temperature: 5 degrees. It was December 31st in 2013, and I sat in the Read More
A Different View of the Dip & Dash
I have been one of the people who has attended each of NRCM’s seven polar plunges on East End Beach in Portland. I was there when about a dozen people raced into the icy cold Atlantic to kick off NRCM’s 50th anniversary year in 2009, and I was there for this past event when more Read More
Crossing the Piscataqua
I’d love to believe that many years from now, my grandchildren will be able to catch brook trout in the same lovely little Maine pools where my father taught me to fish. Those native fish reply so reliably to our visits each spring that it has taken me a long time to realize that I shouldn’t Read More
“Taking the Plunge” Before I “Take the Plunge”
I am getting married. I have mentioned this in past blog posts, but we are now less than six months away from the big event, and I think the stress of wedding planning has finally gotten to me. Each year I swear it will be the last time I plunge into the icy Atlantic Ocean Read More
