Today’s guests are emergency room physician Dr. Tony Owen, board member of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and registered Maine guide and certified wilderness first responder, Thomas Belluscio.
Love Maine Radio #319: Tony Owens, MD, and Thomas Belluscio
Guests
Thomas Belluscio, registered Maine guide
Tom is a registered Maine guide and certified wilderness first responder with a lifelong love for learning and the outdoors. Born in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, he eventually found his way north and has made a home in New England. Tom leads guided camping and fishing trips and works with Global Awareness Local Action—a local non-profit—and New Hampshire Mushroom Company, where he further developed the skills to forage for wild food. Tom’s passion inspired him to found Northeast Wilderness Company, an outdoors company that offers workshops, studies, and guided trips, so that he could help people share in the experience. He looks forward to the adventures to come.
Tony Owens, MD, Natural Resources Council of Maine
Tony Owens, MD, is a doctor in the Emergency Department at Maine Medical Center, as well as an advocate for the environment. In front of a United States Senate committee in Washington, D.C., he testified in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, arguing that carbon dioxide emissions from Midwestern power plants contribute to Maine’s high rates of pediatric asthma. Speaking out about climate change, he has suggested that higher temperatures have expanded the range of tick-borne diseases and caused higher incidences of Lyme disease. In 2007, Owens joined the board of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) after his fourth child graduated from college. He was instrumental in the development of NRCM Rising, a subgroup of NRCM that seeks to expand advocacy among people under 40. As a practicing emergency physician for nearly 40 years and an associate professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, he also teaches residents and medical students in the Emergency Department at Maine Medical Center.