PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 25, 2023
When I first began leading workshops on climate change in 2007, I usually got two responses: horror and guilt, or sadness and despair. As an educator, I knew those emotions were anger-provoking and paralyzing, so I had to change my approach. I began to use the words of Bill McKibben when he asked us to strive for belonging instead of belongings. This invitational approach seems to be working, as it calls for the possible and not the perfect. We can live our conservation values, not because we feel guilty or despairing, but because we want to. There we find energy and companionship and a life well led. ~ John Deming, Bowdoinham