KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 24, 2022
It is easy to convince oneself that climate change is somebody else’s problem. Too bad for Europe, we say, with their record-breaking heat waves, but climate change is affecting Mainers in ways that without speedy intervention make other problems worse. Winters are shorter, snowpack reduced, and seasonal dates have changed. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the Earth’s oceans. These factors are quickly changing our ecosystem — the ecosystem that includes fishing and agriculture, both essential to Maine’s economy — too quickly for us to respond. We need to advocate for clean energy, and to elect politicians who will support legislation to increase clean energy sources. We need to support programs like the carbon fee and dividend program. We need to switch our own households to clean energy where it is available. And as we need to do it now. ~ Elizabeth Koopman, Hallowell