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 writing them down in a small notebook I carry. Here’s what I wrote.

The Pine Tree Amendment will:

  • Result in a whirlwind of litigation
  • Be a backdoor to hurting fisheries
  • Add costs and delays to highway projects
  • Prohibit wood burning stoves
  • Give activists supreme power
  • Cost towns money

None of these fears would come true in Maine. Nor have they come true in Montana and Pennsylvania, where environmental rights have been on the books for over 50 years. There is a clear and documented answer to every fear on the list.

In reflecting on my balcony experience, I realized that all politics boil down to fear. The right are afraid that the left will take away their freedom. The left is afraid the right will dismantle our democratic institutions. The wealthy fear losing their wealth, the middle and poorer classes fear they won’t have enough. Corporations fear reduced profits from cleaning up their waste or paying a livable wage will result in shareholder lawsuits. Politicians are afraid of losing power. Even thoughtful politicians are afraid to vote their conscience, if it means a reprimand or losing support for another issue they care about. Many fear that climate change will make the earth uninhabitable.

Television, radio and social media thrive on fear. Just listen to the background music on the TV news shows and you’ll see what I mean. Talk shows and blogs based on fear and hate have made millions for their owners. Fear in our culture just keeps ratcheting up.

Our culture of fear calls for faith. In Jeremiah there is a prophecy which says: “I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a person teach his neighbors or his brothers and sisters, saying Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

I believe this. I believe that everyone knows deep down that we are spiritual, loving beings. We know that every person and every living thing has value, and deserves to be treated with love and respect. But unfortunately, our fears keep many of us from consciously recognizing and acting on this knowing.

The times we live in calls for radical and pro-active faith. I teach advocacy skills to high school and college students. In the classroom, I find I myself teaching compassion. To be effective, advocates have to be compassionate listeners. They have to identify and come to understand the fears of supporters, opponents and decision makers. Once they know what the fears are, they need to address them. This takes patience, clarity, self-awareness and honesty.

In order to be strong and effective people, we must admit and address our internal fears, too. Recently, I recognized my fear of the extreme right. They seem to want to tear down democratic institutions—our courts, laws, and government agencies—in order to “save democracy”. They are voting and acting in great numbers, based on anger and hate. This scares me!

How do we get beyond this polarization? By speaking about issues and human experiences, and avoiding ideologies. This takes patience. Our coalition explained many times why the Pine Tree Amendment would not lead to a “whirlwind of litigation”. We patiently explained how and why just a handful of cases come up each year in states with environmental rights. But clearly, our work isn’t done. We need to reach out to those who are most afraid of our proposal, and ask them what they need to lay their fears to rest.

We live in a time where humanity is struggling to find a better path. Our current way of living, with fear ruling so many of our actions, is destroying the earth. But we can change this. What it will take is moving through fears—both our own and those of others. It will take speaking and acting with honesty, love and respect for each other and the earth. If we do this collectively, in both our daily and public lives, we can create a healthy future.