A climate change solution
I’m not a scientist. I do have children and grandchildren. Maybe you do, too. I have read a lot about climate change. I believe what 97 percent of climate scientists say — that it is real and it is human caused. I do my part by driving an affordable, fuel-efficient car; growing vegetables; leaving the trees on my property standing; and recycling.
I’m nearly 70. My birthday is in October. When I was a child, the first frost came around Labor Day in Washington County. It snowed at least once before my birthday. In 2015, I harvested a tomato from my garden on my birthday.
What I am doing about climate change just doesn’t seem enough. Frankly, when I think of the future world of my children and grandchildren, I can get downright depressed. It all seems too big of a problem. I want it to just go away. To not be true.
Recently, however, I have found a group that gives me hope. The Citizens Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan group working to educate the public and our local and national leaders, of all political persuasions, about the realities of climate change and about one action, carbon fee and dividend, that can make a true difference in the outcome.
CCL meets monthly in Bangor and other locations in Maine and around the country. If you are feeling as frustrated and powerless as I have felt, I urge you to attend a meeting or check out citizensclimatelobby.org.
Mary Poulin
Hampden
Donating school supplies
Reading Jan Cohen’s Sept. 11 OpEd brought back memories of all the years I taught and all the money I spent on classroom supplies and equipment in an effort to make sure my students had what they needed. I understood what she was writing about.
I was always appreciative of families who, being in a position to do so, contributed extra supplies to help stock the cubbies, desks, work spaces and bookshelves of my classroom. I was also well aware that many families were not in a position to do so. It reminds me of what, I believe, is referred to as “the common good.”
Each year, just before school starts, the children of the Boothbay Harbor area descend upon the YMCA for an event celebrating the beginning of a new school year. In the Y, there are piles of school supplies divided by class gathered from the lists compiled by the teachers. Every child in the surrounding area has access to these as well as clothing, eye and dental screening, haircuts and much more. There are music and games and refreshments.
This program, Set for Success, is a community effort that brings together many individuals, businesses, churches and more. I would suggest, if you are interested in gathering information and are considering something like this event that helps our children and our schools, that you contact people in the Boothbay region to learn more about this successful and fun event.
My thanks to all you teachers out there. We appreciate and need you.
Ellen Sinclair
Belfast
Anti-Trump signs blight nature’s peace
For the thinking person, few public sanctuaries from the contentious political discourse of the day remain. Rolland F. Perry City Forest in Bangor was such a place — an opportunity to walk among the trees and birdsong and wave at fellow recreation seekers free from the ideological pandemonium loosed upon us in most of our other social or informational encounters.
But, alas, even the City Forest has fallen prey to serving as a forum for political discontent, its trail maps vandalized with markers and signs planted labeling Donald Trump supporters as “ emotionally unstable, angry people.”
Please, hold signs, wear T-shirts, be informed, have a dialogue, but do not visit the irrational and misplaced fruits of your angst upon nature’s peace. Perhaps this vandal would have been wise to bring a mirror to look at himself or herself, not a pen.
Loran Dosen
Veazie