It Was the Hottest Year on Record
But what if it turns out to be the coldest year for the rest of our lives?
Musing on the Hottest Year
The news is in: last year was the hottest year for the last century and a half—and quite possibly in the last 100,000 years. The chart below shows just how wildly anomalous last year was, leapfrogging away from the norm in the summer and fall.
But what if it is not an anomaly? What if—as many scientists suspect—there is an acceleration in the heating of the planet? The accumulation of carbon from burning fossil fuels might be taking its toll in a big way. What if we look back at the summer of 2023 as the coolest summer we and our children and grandchildren are likely to experience going forward?
At the same time that we are experiencing these hotter temps and weird weather events, we are also seeing oil and gas corporations redoubling their efforts to extract fossil fuels quickly. It is as though the corporations want to move quickly to get their dollars out of the ground before we finally turn the tap off these harmful energy sources and rely on renewable energy instead.
We in Third Act Maine are making a difference—individually, collectively, and in solidarity with other concerned entities in MCAN (Maine Climate Action Now) and EPC (Environmental Priorities Coalition). If you’re worried, know that you’re not alone. Join us where it makes sense for you. Action is the path to hope.
Standouts Continue
Third Act Mainers in the Greater Portland Hub braved the cold on January 6 and kicked off the new year, standing out in protests at Chase Bank in Yarmouth and L.L. Bean in Freeport. The problem is that Chase Bank and L.L. Bean’s chosen bank, Citi, both invest billions of dollars in new fossil fuel projects, imperiling the planet.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
The weather might make you want to hibernate until the spring thaw, but even in the deep of winter, there are opportunities to make our voices heard.
L.L.Bean Climate Action - Meet fellow Third Act Mainers for a standout at L.L. Bean in Freeport on Tuesday, January 16, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm as we keep the pressure on this beloved Maine institution to live up to its commitment to the outdoors. For more information, contact Bill Rixon.
FFNPT legislation and press conference, January 18 at the Capitol in Augusta. The vote in the Maine House of Representatives on the FFNPT (Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty) will be held in the morning. We are invited to the press conference at noon. Email us at Third Act Maine if you’d like to attend Note: A vote in the Senate will likely happen later in January. If this resolution passes, Maine will be just the second state in the country (after California) to call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
A letter-writing gathering will be held at Nancy Artz’s house in Cumberland on January 22 at 1:00 pm. Postcards, stamps, addresses, and suggested language will be provided. If there is a snow event in Cumberland, this will be canceled (because there is no road parking if plows are on the road). Be cautious and stay home if you’re under the weather. Bring snacks if you’d like. RSVP to Nancy Artz. We will be sending postcards to:
Thank legislators for passing FFNPT legislation on Jan. 18
Encourage Stephen Smith, CEO of L.L. Bean, to pressure Citi to stop funding fossil fuels–or to change the credit card used at L.L. Bean
Ask Jennifer Granholm NOT to license LNG expansion projects
Saving Us Book Group
In case you missed it last fall, Third Act Mainer Marcia Taylor is back with her online group to read and discuss Katherine Hayhoe’s book, Saving Us, which is a climate scientist’s case for hope and healing in a divided world. Dr. Hayhoe’s approach is essential for effective communication in our highly polarized world. Learn more here. Dates and times will be selected by the book group members. Contact Marcia at ThirdActMaine to learn more.
Three-day LNG expansion protest in Washington, D.C., February 6-8, organized by Third Act (national). We must protest the licensure of additional LNG terminals in the Gulf! Climate activists from Third Act Maine are traveling to join activists from across the country in three days of peaceful protest and nonviolent civil disobedience at the Department of Energy. We will demand that Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, stop licensing any additional Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, including the CP2 project in Southwest Louisiana.
Bill McKibben, founder of Third Act, says, “If they are built, the emissions associated with them will be as large as all the emissions from every home, factory, and car in the EU. The emissions associated with them will wipe out every bit of progress the U.S. has made on reducing carbon and methane since 2005. These plants are carbon and methane bombs. In the hottest year of human history. it’s obscene to be putting up more of them,”
Several people from Third Act Maine will be going. If you are interested in going, please reach out to Chuck Spanger.
Online: Third Act Nonviolence and Civil Disobedience Series
In anticipation of the LNG expansion protest in February, Third Act is offering a series of online virtual trainings in nonviolence and civil disobedience. Bill McKibben urges anyone planning on going to Washington, DC for #StopLNG Sit-in at Department of Energy in Washington, DC to attend these trainings. This is an ongoing series, but the sessions are being recorded so you can watch sessions at your convenience. To learn more about LNG and the CP2 project’s impact on the environment, read this article.
Upcoming Trainings from Third Act (National)
Putting Nonviolence into Action Today January 11, 2024 | 7:00–9:00 pm The Attitude of Nonviolent Action, Embodying our Values January 18, 2024 | 6:00–8:30 pm Building Your Skills for Taking Action: LNG Nonviolent Action in D.C. January 25, 2024 | 6:00–8:00 pm Practical Preparation for D.C. Action February 1, 2024 | 6:00–8:00 pm
I Used to Trust the New York Times
Remember that old game show, “Who Do You Trust?” Turns out it’s pretty hard to know who to trust these days when it comes to getting your climate news. A recent report in The Intercept describes how major trusted news sources including Reuters, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post are “doing the fossil fuel industry’s greenwashing” by producing content called advertorials, material sponsored by fossil fuel companies but resembling reliable editorial work, thus “lending a veneer of journalistic credibility to the fossil fuel industry’s key climate talking points.”
In their defense, the news outlets point out that the departments creating this content are separate from their news and editorial departments, but most readers mistake the advertorials for legitimate reporting. Short disclaimers are easy to miss, particularly in content that is viewed or heard rather than read. The talking heads paid to parrot the fossil fuel industry’s misinformation appear to be impartial experts to all but the most perceptive readers or viewers. A 2018 study done at Boston University found that only one in ten people could identify advertorials as advertising.
How should we respond? Do we call out The New York Times and Washington Post for their complicity? Do we implore them to live up to their reputations as trusted news sources, or is our limited time and outrage better spent on more imminent threats such as the Biden administration’s support of LNG expansion? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
—Patti O’Neil, member of the newsletter team, Third Act Maine
Member Profile: Chuck Spanger
Chuck Spanger started Third Act Maine in 2022 with a few other folks and has co-led the organization for the past 18 months, only recently turning over the reins (gladly) to Cletis Boyer and Marcia Taylor. Chuck sat down recently for an interview and shared these remarks.
“I’ve been an activist since the Vietnam War. I did some community organizing in 1969 and 1970 in the Saul Alinsky model. I was active in lots of movements: the farmworkers’ union movement, rent control, Nicaragua, nuclear energy.”
Reading Bill McKibben’s book, The End of Nature in 1989 sparked Chuck’s interest in climate change. His daughter, Erika, read the book at the same time and has pursued climate science ever since. She works with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Chuck moved to Maine that same year, drawn to the back-to-the-land movement and organic farming.
In 2014, Chuck joined 350 Maine, started by Bill McKibben, and went to Albany to protest the ‘bomb trains.’ He stayed active with 350.org until, in his words, “it fizzled…around the same time that Third Act was founded.” Along with Tom and Kathy Mikulka, he volunteered to organize Third Act Maine. “Funny thing,” Chuck said, “is even though I didn’t know him at the time, it turns out that Tom Mikulka was at that Albany protest, too. We are kindred spirits, Tom and Kathy and I, because we like taking action on issues.”
One such action Chuck reflected on was the protest event at Bank of America in Portland on March 21, 2023. “Ours was one of so many protests all around the country on that day. The skit, the music, the speakers–it was all great.”
Chuck shared that he has “mixed feelings” about the new language adopted by COP 28, committing nations to transition away from fossil fuels, but he sees it as a “small victory” and hopes it will be significant going forward.
A lifelong activist, Chuck plans to stay vitally active in Maine and beyond. He says, “Mark your calendars: February 6-8 is going to be a concerted action at the Department of Energy in DC against new LNG terminals being proposed in Texas and Louisiana. I’m going to be there! I’m taking the refresher courses in civil disobedience offered by Third Act. I hope I’ll have lots of company from Third Act Mainers.”
The Earthlings
The Earthlings arrived unannounced, entered without knocking, removed their shoes and began clipping their toenails. They let the clippings fall wherever. They sighed loudly as if inconvenienced. We were patient. We knew our guests were in an unfamiliar environment; they needed time to adjust. For dinner, we prepared turkey meatloaf with a side of cauliflower. This is too dry, they said. This is not like what our mothers made. We wanted to offer a tour of our world, demonstrate how we freed ourselves from the prisons of linear time. But the Earthlings were already spelunking our closets, prying tools from their containers and holding them to the light. What’s this? they demanded. What’s this? What’s this? And what’s this? That’s a Quantum Annihilator; put that down. That’s a Particle Grinder; please put that down. We could show you how to heal the sick, we said. We could help you feed every nation, commune with the all-seeing sentient energy that palpitates through all known forms of matter. Nah! they said. Teach us to vaporize a mountain! Teach us to turn the moon into revenue! Then the Earthlings left a faucet running and flooded our basement.
Copyright © 2023 by Matthew Olzmann. Reprinted with permission.
I say BOTH. The crisis is so great we need to fight on all fronts.