Maine Leads the Way
Curious About Climate Actions This Summer?
Maine has several firsts in the climate crisis. We border the Gulf of Maine—the fastest warming body of water on the planet. This is a distinction we’re not exactly proud of, but is it our reality. Maine is also the first state to greet the sun—every day. It’s kind of neat to imagine greeting this powerful provider of electricity and wishing it well, sending our golden rays all the way west to California and Hawaii where it still has the power to fuel cars, houses, boats, schools—literally everything.
In this month’s Third Act Maine newsletter we’re sharing a lot more than usual about what’s happening in Maine. While our core mission at Third Act Maine is to follow the money—pushing divestment from fossil fuels—in this newsletter we broaden the topics as part of our ancillary mission to educate (and encourage) each and every Mainer about local climate action.
“No one will cure climate change—everyone will.”
—Jonathan Safan Foer, We Are the Weather
Maine Won’t Wait
Did you know Maine has a Climate Action Plan? It’s called Maine Won’t Wait, and you can read about it here. Why does it matter to you? Because each and every Maine town has access to vast monetary resources to study, invest, communicate, and solve local climate issues.
Does your town or city have a climate plan? Do some digging to find out (read about the Community Resilience Program or ask your town manager)—this one action opens many possible avenues for your local climate work. (So far 140 communities are participating—make it 141, add your town! FYI there are 483 municipalities in Maine.)
Smoke and Sea Water
Maine literally breathed easy a few weeks ago when much of the East Coast was under air-quality alerts. (Maine was spared due to a jet-stream track that pushed the smoke south around the stalled weather system affecting us.)
Yet one day we will wake up to wildfire smoke. Like the rising seawater temperature off our coasts, these events will only increase until we ALL take collective action. Soon. Small steps link to bigger steps. So for today, take a deep breath of Maine fresh air and recommit to talking about climate change—it’s an important, ongoing action.
Montana and Maine—Climate Youth Take the Stand
In 2017 to 2019 a group of Maine climate activists, lawyers, and emerging youth leaders challenged Maine courts and the Maine DEP to provide protection for Maine youth’s rights to a healthy environment and climate system. They did not prevail, but those young activists later took up the campaign for the Pine Tree Amendment—a push for constitutional environmental rights in Maine that is ongoing. Read about it here.
These actions were precursors to the current trial in Montana, where 16 young plaintiffs represented by Our Children’s Trust are suing their state for not protecting them from the consequences of the massive, ongoing fossil-fuel projects. The trial is winding up this week and has the potential to change all our lives for the better. Just getting to trial after 11 years of government roadblocks is a huge victory. Read more about it in the Times or Grist. Our recommended action here is to support the youth around you in their climate journeys. (And perhaps check out Maine Youth Action.)
Looking Forward—Maine Climate Change Legislation
Policy change is a vital part of climate action. Here’s a quick rundown of legislative/policy changes we at Third Act Maine are watching. We encourage you to get familiar with these issues.
Maine PERS. This is a push to enforce the legislation Maine passed to divest the ME state employee’s retirement fund from fossil fuels. Read about it in our last newsletter, here.
Pine Tree Power on November ballot. We solve climate change by electrifying everything. Maine’s largest electric company—based in Spain—is spending millions of dollars to maintain its status as our electric provider. Mainers need to get control of our electrical grid and take it out of the hands of foreign investors. Read more this ballot vote here.
Sustainable Offshore Wind. Read up and act on the work here. Another Third Act Maine pioneer, Tom Mikulka, recently wrote an opinion piece about this issue in the Bangor Daily News "Offshore Wind Can Benefit Our Pocketbook."
Third Act Maine and L.L.Bean
L.L.Bean is a well-loved family owned Maine company, but its use of Citi Bank to manage its credit card (with Citi being one of the dirtiest banks in the world) is at odds with the company’s espoused values: “The more time you spend outside together, the better.”
It is incongruous that L.L.Bean is promoting healthy outdoor living while Citi invests in new fossil fuel projects—using L.L.Bean customers’ dollars. We have sent a letter to Stephen Smith, L.L.Bean’s President and CEO, outlining our concerns and asking for a meeting. We encourage you to also email Stephen Smith (ssmith@llbean.com).
You could also cut up your L.L.Bean credit card. Send us a photo of that if you do —we’d love to share it!
Midcoast Third Act Maine Action Updates
Belfast and surrounding towns have been busy, as reported by organizer Ridgely Fuller:
Continued collecting of signatures to petition the Belfast Council to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (learn about it here.)
Election Day Tabling: MidcoastTAM gathered 60+ signatures of Camden residents interested in Third Act Maine.
Friday, June 16, Belfast held its second Bank of America protest. Our first goal is to remind BOA that we abhor its investments in new fossil fuel projects--which tripled in 2023. Our second goal is to inform tourists of BOA’s dirty work. The many horn toots of passersby convinced us of our message’s popularity. (And it made the front page of The Free Press! Brava!)
Upcoming actions: Friday July 21 and August 25 we’ll protest again at Belfast’s BOA. Email Ridgely for more information.
Greater Portland Third Act Maine Action Updates
Join these events to meet greater Portland Third Act Mainers (FMI email thirdactmaine@gmail.com).
First Friday Art Walk: July 7. We’ll be at Congress Square Park (across from the Portland Art Museum) from 5-6:30 pm tabling with banners.
July 11, 18, 25: Our Tuesday actions will be at Franklin St., Portland, near the Whole Foods entrance to I-295. We’ll be there at afternoon rush hour 5-6 pm.
Third Act Maine Membership Update
We appreciate those who responded to our membership survey—and are grateful to the good folks who are helping with legislative action, organizing local protests, communications, and more. If you haven’t yet indicated your willingness to help, it’s not too late! Email us at ThirdActMaine@gmail.com and someone will get back to you to explore how you might get more involved. We could use your help!
When your children and grandchildren ask you
what you did to address climate change, what will you answer?
Last Thoughts
We have everything we need to solve climate change: the knowledge, the technologies. All that is lacking is the will. With your help and action we can change that. Happy solstice. (And one final action for you: share this newsletter to just one person. ;-) )
