PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 8, 2021
Here’s another way of looking at the bill to restoring Maine’s old state flag: Images and symbols can be meaning makers. Maine’s obviously changing climate ties directly to how industrial societies have come to view humans as of central importance, detached from the natural world. Our current state flag reflects this view. Fortunately, Maine’s Climate Council and the Portland-South Portland joint climate action plan, One Climate Future, propose concrete steps we can take to restore some balance between people and the rest of the planet. If we were to see the old state flag, with its elegant star and tree images, everywhere daily, this could powerfully remind us of our interdependence with nature. ~ Elizabeth Parsons, Portland