Making a choice in Belfast
Nordic Aqua Farm update: The lawsuit against the Belfast City Council will be heard this summer. NAF has had to revise its proposed pipe route. The Sierra Club Maine Executive Committee voted unanimously to oppose the NAF project.
More people seem to be asking: are 100 or fewer jobs worth a serious environmental risk; one which might negatively impact other fisheries and aquaculture businesses? Is it not foolhardy to cut through woodland on the 40-acre property when there is increasing pressure to save forested land due to accelerating climate change?
We must make a choice. We can either take our stewardship of the environment seriously, or not. Prioritizing small, diversified aquaculture and forests over food agribusiness requires a change in perspective and a reorientation of our daily lives.
We need to examine our consciences and be honest about our motives. Only in this way will we be able to make a wise plan which supports what most matters to us as human beings, and which avoids unintended negative consequences.
Deborah Capwell
Belfast
‘From away’ label no help to Maine
Regarding the letter to the editor on April 8 wherein a writer berates people from away for having the temerity to open a business in Brooklin: You want to know what is condescending? Being stigmatized for being “from away.” Who cares where anyone is from? What difference does it make? The fact that they are here means they are now from Maine. If I stopped to offer you roadside assistance, would you care where I’m from? Would you say no if you saw an out-of-state licence plate? We’re all the same regardless of origin.
People from away who live here pay taxes, hold community positions, attend services, contribute to the local and state economies and are assets to be sought out and encouraged to stay here. Just because you were born here doesn’t make you any better than anyone else.
We’re all Americans. Derogatory labels are of no help to anyone in our state.
Brian Steinwand
St. Albans
Join the fight against tobacco use
Maine has made tremendous strides in reducing tobacco use and smoking rates have slowed in recent years, but the use of other tobacco products, like e-cigarettes, has increased.
The Surgeon General has declared e-cigarette use an epidemic among our youth and has encouraged parents, teachers and lawmakers to take action. This next generation is becoming addicted to nicotine for life, and they are seeing the health effects.
This is one of the reasons why, two years ago I joined cancer survivors and advocates from across the state to urge our legislators to make the fight against cancer a top priority, starting with measures that will help tackle tobacco product use in the state. In fact, the use of tobacco products remains the largest preventable cause of disease and death in the United States.
LD 1028 would increase funding for tobacco cessation and prevention programs, and increase the cigarette taxes. An increase in Maine’s cigarette excise tax will reduce youth smoking and discourage non-smokers from using tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. An increase will also motivate adult smokers to quit and save millions in long-term health costs related to declines in youth and adult smoking.
Smoking kills 2,400 Maine adults each year, but we can bring down this number if we stick with the tobacco prevention strategies that are proven to work. I urge anyone who cares about fighting cancer in Maine to join me in asking your lawmaker to join the fight against big tobacco, starting by supporting LD1028.
Mary Lou Warn
Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Winslow