Amidst Snow & ICE
Let's Remember Our Neighbors... and the Power of the Sun
New England Is Warming Faster than Most Places on Earth
We just experienced some bitter cold, but don’t let that fool you. “Along with the Arctic and parts of Europe and China, the northeast US is one of the fastest-warming regions in the world. New England is now heading towards being like the south-eastern US,” says scientist Stephen Young in an article in The Guardian. His research was published in the journal Climate here.
What are the implications of this? One finding is that “snow cover is decreasing throughout New England, and rapidly in southern New England which has lost over 30–40% of snow cover days between 2000 and 2025.” Celebrate snow like never before. It is becoming a rare and precious thing.
Students Lead an ICE Protest–and a Call to Action for Us
Hundreds of high school students marched through the snowy Portland streets on December 3 chanting, “No Fear. No Hate. No ICE in our state!” The students were marching in solidarity with two classmates who were detained by ICE in November and are now in a detention facility in Texas. Community members joined in, including Third Act Mainers Kathy Mikulka, Rick Peterson, Jamien Jacobs and Nancy Anderson. (See the Portland Press Herald’s coverage of the protest.)
Third Act Maine believes that, in keeping with Third Act’s mission to protect democracy, we should support the strictest adherence to due process of law, which ICE has time and again violated. We can take inspiration from these young people and add our voices to their protest. Since March 2025, at least 50 Maine residents and workers have been handed over to Border Patrol and ICE by local and state law enforcement. These handovers occurred during minor traffic stops and were based on nothing more than suspicion of immigration status.
In response, the Maine state legislature passed LD 1971 last spring, a bill to ensure that local and state law enforcement resources not be used to enforce the federal government’s mass deportation agenda. Governor Mills has not signed this bill nor has she vetoed it. When the next legislative session begins on January 7, she has three days to sign or veto the law or to let it pass without her signature.
Call to Action
Here’s where we can help. The Immigrant Legal Assistance Project (ILAP) has issued a call to action here to encourage Governor Janet Mills to allow LD 1971 to become law. No need to stand outside in winter weather. Just get in touch with Governor Mills through the link, phone, email, or postcard. Tell her why you do not want Maine’s public safety resources being used to assist ICE.
ILAP link
Mail: Governor Janet Mills, 2 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333
Phone: (207)-287-3531
Email: https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/contact/share-your-opinion
Bringing Solar Power to School Rooftops
Taking advantage of cost savings–and helping the environment at the same time –many schools in Maine are investing in solar power. Solar panels bedeck many schools already, including Mt. Ararat in Topsham, MDI High School, South Portland Middle School and two schools in Brunswick. Westbrook is planning to install solar on four school rooftops, install heat pumps, and take other energy conservation measures with a projected energy savings of more than $10M over the next 20 years.
And now Portland schools are exploring rooftop solar for many of its schools, with assistance from the Portland Climate Action Team, Siemens, and Revision Energy.
The benefits of installing rooftop solar with experienced firms using performance contracts are multiple. There is no money up front. The schools receive renovations and upgrades they need. The new heat pumps and heat pump water heaters will cost less to run and maintain than existing oil and gas furnaces. In addition to heating, heat pumps will also provide cooling which is increasingly necessary. The teaching environment will be more conducive to learning with consistently warm classrooms in the winter and appropriately cooler classrooms in the spring and fall. And our students will have the opportunity to learn and understand and appreciate the benefits of electrification and solar power. There will be constant system monitoring displayed on monitors in the school for students and teachers and parents to follow and learn from. All this while saving money and cleaning our air. It’s a win-win-win–for taxpayers, for students and staff, and for the environment!
Going Solar in Maine
As Bill McKibben’s latest book, Here Comes the Sun, beautifully illustrates, energy from the sun is poised to end our dependence on fossil fuels and limit our climate crisis. Since it makes sound economic sense, many Maine homeowners have invested in putting solar panels on their rooftops or in their yard.
The homeowner’s solar array sends the solar-made electricity onto the local grid where it helps power other nearby homes. The homeowner receives a credit that is applied each month to their electric bill. A properly sized array can reduce the cost for electricity to zero with only the fixed cost or demand charge remaining. The only way to eliminate that relatively small charge is to go completely off of the grid.
For those without the finances or the correct orientation to the sun, there is another option known as Community Solar. Electricity produced by community solar farms is sent to the grid. A subscriber to a community solar project receives credits for a share of that electricity on their bill. The Maine Office of Public Advocate offers a clearly written explanation of the advantages of Community Solar.
There are a number of Community Solar companies to choose from. Some are for-profit corporations like Revision Energy. There are also non-profit organizations, such as The Center for Ecology Based Economy (C.E.B.E) in Norway, Maine, and Maine Community Power. For readers whose faith calls them to protecting the planet there is Solar Faithful, an organization founded in Michigan in 2023 that is expanding to other states. While Solar Faithful’s projects are open to congregations and congregants of all faiths, they prioritize serving traditionally underserved populations, making clean solar energy available to those who might otherwise be priced out of the market. Here in Maine, Solar Faithful is building The Maine Congregant Solar Project in Fairfield. To learn more about this project, contact Rev. Richard Killmer. Read his article in the West End News here.
A Call for Your Photos!
The Environmental Protection Coalition (EPC) is making plans for Make Polluters Pay week of action, including a call for your photos that show climate impacts. Selected photos will be shown in a pop-up art gallery at the Maine State House during the “Make Polluters Pay Week of Action” from January 26-30. It will serve to remind Maine legislators of the impacts the climate crisis is having on our state as they go into the 2026 legislative session and vote on the Climate Superfund Act. This week of action is happening nationwide.
Western Mountains Hub News
The Western Mountains Hub continues partnering with the weekly peace vigil in Farmington. The vigil expanded this year in response to the US administration’s anti- democratic policies, and recently several counter demonstrators have appeared who play loud music and wave pro-Trump signs while standing in the street in front of the vigil regulars.
Hub members and vigil organizers have deliberated how to move forward. “We are trying to be creative and respectful of people who come with different opinions,” Eileen Kreutz said. “Those of us who have been standing for peace for nearly 24 years are going to focus on that, and stand quietly along the back of the sidewalk, in back of the counter-protestors.” She recommends fellow Third Actors and pro-democracy activists with bold anti-Trump signs, environment signs, due process signs, etc., stand across Main Street from the vigil or further down Main Street to the south or at the major intersection near Walgreens where TA members are starting to stand.
The Hub is considering other initiatives, including ones involving collective non-compliance, increasing partnership with students, economic boycotts, and support for our local Somali communities which are now threatened by ICE in spite of a high percentage of US citizenship.
Gretchen Legler spoke at November’s meeting on how to receive training and to engage in a local initiative that supports immigrants when ICE is in the area.
Western Mountain Hub’s weekly vigil with Veterans for Peace is Fridays at noon in front of the Post Office on Main Street in Farmington. Monthly meetings are held at 1 p.m. on the second Friday of each month at Old South Church, Farmington. Enter by the rear door from the small parking lot on the north side of the building.
Central Hub News
The Central Hub based in Waterville is delighted to unveil a new series of signs about fossil fuels and climate impacts which we will display in well-trafficked areas in the coming weeks. Please email Maine@ThirdAct.org if you would like to join us or if your Third Act group would like to borrow these signs for an action in your town.
We’d also like to provide an update on the longstanding protest against Maine PERS’ continued investment in fossil fuels: Divest Maine is engaging state workers and Maine PERS’ own beneficiaries to lobby them. As a result, we are discontinuing our own monthly standout at the Maine PERS office in Augusta for the time being.
Third Act Maine Is Prepared for 2026
As we hunker down around the winter solstice, know that we are also looking ahead to the new year. The national organization of Third Act has laid out its 2026 priorities here—many of which we in Third Act Maine predicted a few months back. How heartening!
Democracy: Let’s keep standing tall for democracy, telling our stories and gaining courage from others’ courageous acts. And get good people elected in the 2026 midterms.
Solar, solar: Let’s do everything we can to bring more solar power online.
Dirigo Maine: Let’s keep organizing for key legislative wins.
In addition to these goals, Third Act is bolstering its “basebuilding” and “powerbuilding” tools and training so we keep growing our numbers and our skills—and our impact.