PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 29, 2021
We are finally able to look back on a year unlike any other. There are plenty of lessons. “We’re luckier than we knew that Maine has so many places to be outside together” is a personal favorite. Climate change offers another. In Maine, during just the past two years, we’ve experienced the driest summer, the hottest June and the highest daily average ocean surface temperatures in recorded history. These changes threaten our way of life. Here are a few of the climate-focused initiatives I’ve been inspired by this year. Mount Desert Island High School unveiled Maine’s first electric school bus. The Houlton Band of Maliseets’ vision for recovering miles of stream habitat is leading to the restoration of a road-stream crossing over Moose Brook. In Millinocket, the town library and private donors created the Katahdin Gear Library, which makes outdoor equipment available to anyone with a library card. Maine’s conservation community is doing its part, too. One of the efforts I am most inspired by is the work of Just ME for Just US, which is developing a statewide, youth-led civic engagement and climate justice network. We have a lot to be excited about in 2022. ~ Kate Dempsey, The Nature Conservancy in Maine