(Adapted from my book Advocating for the Environment)

What events have touched your heart? A brilliant sunset over the ocean? The birth of an animal or child? Is there a place in nature where you go to connect with your soul? Have you felt the loss of a favorite place? Or the loss of something you loved to do like walking in a special place that is no longer there? Your personal story about connecting with the earth—whether about love or loss–is the starting place for advocacy.

You may think stories are too touchy feely, or not as important as facts, or [… continue reading]

I was sitting in the balcony of the statehouse a couple of weeks ago, listening to floor speeches on the Pine Tree Amendment (PTA). This legislation would add the right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment to our state constitution. It would protect Maine’s tourism, hospitality, skiing, snowmobiling, fishing, hunting, farming and forest industries—the very basis of our state economy. It would preserve our beautiful outdoors, and protect present and future generations from environmental harm. Everyone should support this!

But as I sat listening to the floor speeches, what I heard was a list of fears. I started [… continue reading]

The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) released it’s most recent report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, on February 28^th. But it  received little attention, drowned out by news of the war in Ukraine.

Wanting to know more, I skimmed the 36 page “Summary for Policymakers”. In it are dire observations and predictions. Over three billion people (or about half the earth’s population) are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change: drought, floods, food scarcity, wildfires, storms, extreme heat, ecosystem collapse, human and species migration, and sea level rise. If drastic action is not taken now, the 2040s [… continue reading]

(This post appeared in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Sentinel Feb. 2, 2022. The Maine legislature will vote on the Pine Tree Amendment in early March.)

When I ask Mainers if they should have the right to clean water, clean air and a healthy environment, almost everyone says “yes of course”. But some look at me quizzically. “Aren’t these basic human rights? And don’t we already have them?”, they ask.

The answer is yes and no. Clean air, clean water and a healthy environment are basic to sustaining life. But these environmental rights are not codified anywhere in Maine law.

And that’s the [… continue reading]

(This post is adapted from my book: Advocating for the Environment, How to Gather Your Power and Take Action.)

Although some people are natural optimists, many of us need to practice optimism in order to make it a habit. This is especially important to do now, during the dark days of winter, and during a time when both social and traditional media seem firmly intent on presenting as much fear and negative news as they possibly can.

The key is to remember that optimism is a choice. You can choose to focus on the future you want. Optimists don’t diminish the magnitude [… continue reading]

In a precedent setting case this year, a Dutch court found Shell Oil liable for contributing to climate change and undermining basic human rights. The court ordered the company to slash its carbon emissions by 45% in nine years.

Until now, cases against carbon emitters have been thrown out, or decided based only on procedural issues. The Shell case was decided not on procedure but on its merits, meaning it was decided based on damage to the air, climate and human health caused by corporate operations. This was a first.

The Shell case went even further, finding Shell responsible for three sources [… continue reading]

If you talk to political leaders the answer is yes, if you talk to scientists, no. And both would be right.

Glasgow reminds me of a time when I was asked to chair the Governor’s Council on Solid Waste. Forty people from the trash hauling, landfill, and incinerator industry showed up for the meetings. Each was there to defend their interests, not to create new policy. Similarly, the largest delegation in Glasgow was comprised of oil and gas people—over 500 of them. With such a strong oil and gas presence, the fact that any progress was made is a miracle.

And there [… continue reading]

In a pivotal meeting, heads of state and ministers from 197 countries will meet in Glasgow the first two weeks in November to begin implementing the Paris Climate Agreement. The goal of the meeting is to secure commitments from each country on how they will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less. This will be the 26^th meeting of the Council of Parties, or COP26.

Little progress has been made at the past 25 global climate summits. Parties haven’t been able to come to agreement on major issues like establishing a carbon [… continue reading]

There’s nothing straightforward about Maine’s Question 1, which challenges the electric utility corridor being built in western Maine. For starters, a yes vote means you don’t support the corridor and a no vote means you do.

Then there’s the odd combination of supporters on each side. On the yes (shut down the corridor) side is the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) and NextEra, the world’s largest utility company. NextEra doesn’t want hydro to compete with nuclear and oil fired energy plants they own in the region. Environmental groups are concerned about the impact of a clear-cut through the [… continue reading]