Record number of disasters show climate crisis urgency in storm-weary Maine

MAINE MONITOR • January 20, 2024

In the past year and month, record-breaking weather extremes in line with the expected impacts of a warming world have brought disruption, destruction and even death to all corners of Maine. It feels like something has shifted — more than ever, Maine people have been forced to confront the consequences of climate change not as a future hypothetical, but as a present reality. “It’s overwhelming,” said Hannah Pingree, the co-chair of the Maine Climate Council, in an interview with The Maine Monitor. “The last month has made us all feel like, ‘Oh, wow, these climate impacts are really here. I didn’t think these things would happen so soon.’”