Portland's dog owners seem to be doing a better job these days of scooping up their pets' poops.

But the city's Public Works Department is not exactly jumping for joy.

That's because, while it's much easier to navigate the city's sidewalks, there is still a whole lot of doggy doo ending up in the city's storm drains and waterways, all wrapped up nicely in plastic bags.

"They go all through the trouble of picking it up," said John Emerson, the department's wastewater coordinator. "Then, rather taking it home with them, they'll flip it into the storm drain."

Those left to clean the resulting mess say dog walkers probably figure the bags of poop will go directly from the storm drains to the city's sewage treatment plant. But about half of the city's storm drains lead instead to places like Capisic Brook, the Presumpcot River, the Fore River and Casco Bay, they said.

"Dog bags have been a particular problem as of late," Emerson said.

But this pet peeve also represents a much bigger problem facing the city and Maine's other urban centers.

Maine's island communities face some big challenges these days.

And one of the biggest is the cost of energy, which can be two to five times higher on some islands than on the mainland.

But islanders are resourceful if nothing else, and they're sensing a huge opportunity in the breeze that sweeps over them virtually every day.

''Islands are small pieces of land surrounded by lots of water, and they're also small pieces of land surrounded by lots of wind,'' said Philip Conkling, president of the Island Institute in Rockland.

Maine's 15 islands with year-round residents are, in many ways, the most likely places to lead the transition away from dirty, expensive fossil fuels. Vinalhaven and North Haven are well on their way, with plans to convert to wind energy starting next summer. Others plan to follow.

Islanders now hope to sustain their communities using the same winds that fueled their settlement in the age of sail.

''It's taking really a historically valuable resource that hasn't been used for roughly 100 years and putting it back to work,'' Conkling said.

We Mainers are proud, and protective, of our coastline and forests, our clear waters and crisp air. They're a big part of what separates us from the other guys.

But we don't often think of our night sky that way. And we probably should.

Most Mainers can look up on a clear night and see a dark sky full of stars, including the band of stars and light at the edge of our own galaxy. Most other Americans can't see the Milky Way from where they live. Some can see only a few bright stars.

"It distinguishes us from more polluted areas. Just like cleaner waters, darker skies are an attribute," said Robert Burgess, a bank executive from Brunswick by day and amateur stargazer by night.

Light pollution # artificial light that is reflected or shined upward # creates a glow over cities and washes out the night sky in most of the U.S. and other developed countries. It's drawing increasing attention worldwide as a problem, and not just for astronomers.

The absence of darkness and stars can interfere with the behavior of all kinds of animals, from birds to sea turtles. And recent research has linked nighttime brightness to higher rates of breast cancer in women, suggesting that humans need darkness, too.

Maine is relatively unpolluted, light-wise. In nighttime satellite images, the Down East coast and North Woods stand out as the largest, darkest spots in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

This week, the state unveiled some new technology that could help keep it that way.