Love Mother Earth--and Fight for Her

Earth Day Activities for Third Act Mainers

My feelings about our planet have changed. When I was younger, somewhere around the time of the first Earth Day, my love for the planet was young and untested. I certainly enjoyed Mother Earth—I grew up hiking in the nation’s national parks, and fell in love with Maine at a tide pool in Acadia. In hindsight, I think I took so much for granted, relying on the Earth’s resilience.

That feeling has changed. As I watch business as usual—ongoing exploration for fossil fuels; the continued production, transportation, shelving and purchasing of consumer products; all of us living as if tomorrow will be just like today—I realize I am no longer just a bystander, a distant fan of our Earth. I am an integral part of a system that is edging closer and closer to the brink. I am ravaged by this knowledge. I don’t have all the climate change answers, but I am starting to fight for this planet the way I’d fight for my own life, or the life of a loved one.

I am not alone. I know that you, fellow Third Act Mainer, and thousands of others are finding ways to grapple with the climate crisis and work toward climate change solutions. That’s hopeful.

As we fight for our planet we can also celebrate. This Saturday is Earth Day, and we’ve put together a bunch information about ways you can celebrate and continue our work. Thank you—we can’t do this alone. We’d love to hear how things are going in your relationship to climate change in Maine. Send your message to thirdactmaine@gmail.com. —Molly Mulhern, Third Act Mainer

Warm-Up Events—Before Saturday

Tonight, April 19, 6 pm. The Maine Audubon Society at Gilsland Farm is hosting a webinar, “Bringing Nature Home.” They will show us how to invite nature into our backyards. To register, use the following link: https://maineaudubon.org/news/events/bringing-nature-home-best-practices-webinar/ 

Friday, April 21, 11 am. George Lakey—activist, will be featured on Maine Calling with Jennifer Rooks on Maine Public. Streaming thereafter on mainepublic.org.

Saturday, April 22. Earth Day 2023

Portland 

2 pm Earth Day Strike in Monument Square. ThirdActMaine has been asked to assist at the Youth Climate Action March. Third Act Mainers will be standing at street corners to direct the marchers. This is a great opportunity to support youth! If you’d like to help, arrive at Monument Square at 1:15 pm for assignments and look for someone with a Third Act hat. FMI: Kathy, kmikulka@gmail.

Belfast 

10 to noon. Used bike and gear sale—and children’s events. Third Act Maine/Belfast is partnering with CGBikes for this sale. Location: between CGBikes and Traci’s Diner, Main Street, Belfast. Third Act will make it a family event by having activities for the children, including face painting, seed planting, and coloring climate-centered posters.

It is also a kick-off for Third Act Maine/Belfast’s campaign to petition the City of Belfast to sign on to the International Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Listen to a great description of the treaty here. The three elements of the treaty are:  1) non-proliferation: ending the expansion of coal, gas, and oil production; 2) a fair phase-out; 3) a just transition. Browse the fossil fuel treaty site to learn everything you need to know both about the treaty and how to make it happen. We’ll sign the online petition as individuals and help gather local signatures to present to the Belfast City Council later this year.

Noon Rally: Third Act Maine/Belfast will walk 2 blocks to Post Office Square for a 30-minute joy-filled public rally for our planet Earth. Bring signs, musical and noise instruments and yourselves, families and friends! There may be a friendly get-to-know-each-other lunch afterward.

Waterville

2 pm at UU Church on Silver Street. Info on heat pumps and energy savings. We’re joining with Citizen’s Climate Lobby folks to spread the word. Please join us!  FMI: Iver, iverlofving@beeline-online.net

Augusta/Waterville/Gardiner

9 am - noontime. Earth Day Dance Along the Kennebec River, Moving From Augusta to Hallowell to Gardiner. The free, intergenerational dance performance of “Marigolds Downriver” by the Spiral Dance Collective involves three sections, each performed at a different location along the Kennebec River Rail Trail. “Marigolds Downriver” explores how one action impacts another, how what happens upriver has an effect downriver, how each individual action creates a ripple effect of impact in community. [9 am pre-performance Community Dance Workshop at Augusta’s Waterfront Park; 10 am “Marigolds Downriver” begins; 11 am continues at Granite City Park in Hallowell; 12 am final performance at Gardiner’s Waterfront Park (www.gardinermainstreet.org)]

Thursday, April 27

10 am - 1 pm at the State House in Augusta. We’re supporting the younger activists in Maine Youth for Climate Justice (MYCJ) on their Youth Day of Action on April 27. Join us, MYCJ, and other allies at the State House when we will ask Henry Beck, the Maine State Treasurer, to cast Maine’s proxy votes for specific climate actions at annual corporate shareholder meetings this spring.

Wednesday, May 3

12:00 - 1:30 pm. Virtual learning opportunity. “How 2023 Shareholder Action Can Advance Corporate Accountability.” A conversation with shareholder advocates, environmental justice leaders, and Union for Concerned Scientists analysts about corporate accountability. The webinar will focus on JPMorgan Chase but is relevant to all of the biggest banks that continue to fund new fossil fuel projects. Register here.

Actions to Inspire and Keep Us Going

If you are a person with religious beliefs, reading Third Act’s Faith newsletter—read here—will inspire you and encourage you in your climate work.

How do you sustain your hope and courage in this work? Talking about climate change is THE best way to encourage change. Listen to Kathrine Hayhoe’s “The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Fight Climate Change: Talk About It” for inspiration. And reading this article from the NYTimes will help keep you upbeat. We’ll leave with Mary Pipher’s words from that article:

Action can come from love or anger. Older women know that leading with love is the most effective approach. The same nature that leads us to rock the babies and volunteer for Meals on Wheels leads us to care for the earth. We are empathic in the broadest sense. We care for all who suffer, whether that is a child, an aquifer, a polar bear or a forest.

We are joyful but serious, and by our 60s, we have accumulated decades of life skills.

We are informed about climate change.

Saving Mother Earth and savoring her bounties are not polarities but deeply related. It is our joy and wonder that gives us the strength to do the hard work.

Our planet’s environmental crisis calls for us to transform our fundamental relationships between self and others. As we work on keeping the earth viable, we learn that there is no us and no them. We are interconnected in every possible way.

—“Grandmothers of the World, Unite,” Mary Pipher, NYTimes, April 16, 2023