Launching a Sustainability Accelerator
As the Maine Climate Council concluded work on its climate action plan last November, one legislator issued what Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cape Elizabeth) recalled as a “plaintive plea: ‘We have to figure out how...
Category: Climate Change/Energy
Don’t Bet Your Boiler on Natural Gas
Amid a torrent of public comments at a recent Rockland City Council meeting to discuss a proposed Midcoast natural gas pipeline, a teenager’s honest expression of bewilderment stood out: “I am surprised by this...
Maine Needs Major Utility Reform
Central Maine Power’s most recent debacle, attempting to charge solar developers millions more for grid interconnections despite signed contracts, was shocking but not surprising from a utility that has sought for decades to undermine...
‘Time for Boldness:’ Acting on climate at every governmental level
It was a strange scene to encounter on a January night, sitting in my car among more than 100 other parked vehicles, all populated but dark, at a drive-in town meeting. Townspeople had gathered,...
“All We Can Save” Anthology
I can’t recall reading a book I so wanted to recommend to others as the new climate anthology, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and...
Much to Gain — or Lose
The Maine Climate Council’s 15-month process preparing Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-year Plan for Climate Action was a refreshing affirmation of constructive, nonpartisan policymaking. Roughly 230 working group volunteers and many more citizens weighed...
More Consensus than Controversy
In her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett sidestepped questions about climate change, saying it was a “very contentious matter of public debate.” As a matter of...
Driving Seemed Inescapable until It Wasn’t
Ask experts about cutting vehicular emissions — the largest source of Maine’s greenhouse gas pollution — and you’re apt to hear how complex the task is. Finding ways to equitably transition from gas-powered to...
