Only One More Community Conversation Left this Year!
Join us for our last Community Conversation of 2021!
On December 7th at noon we will host a conversation on the dangerous downsides of large-scale polymetallic sulfide mining. Acid mining is a serious threat to water quality in an area that not only provides clean water to Cobscook Bay but is also a potential source of water to Sipayik, Passamaquoddy Reservation located in what is known now as Pleasant Point. The current water source is badly polluted. Acid mining is likely to destroy another source for the Passamaquoddy and other communities living in the same aquifer. Hear about this from those who have studied it and live there. Register here to attend.
Protect Voting Rights and Eliminate the Filibuster
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) was designed to defend against intentional efforts to block access to the ballot and protect the right to vote for all Americans -- regardless of their race, zip code, or income. This bill will restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by expanding and broadening Section 2 which has been significantly weakened by the Supreme Court. The VRAA complements the Freedom to Vote Act which includes comprehensive, common sense democracy reforms including automatic voter registration, restoring voting rights for 3.9 million formerly incarcerated people, banning partisan gerrymandering, making voter intimidation a felony, and more.
We need to pass both bills to protect our democracy, but the filibuster is stopping progress. Right now, Senate Republicans (including Senator Collins) are using it to stop debate on these critical bills. That’s right, these bills are not even being debated because of the filibuster. Enough is enough! Take action by signing here and by calling our Maine senators to support the Freedom To Vote Act and the John Lewis Voter Protection Act. When you do, please thank Senator King for his support and work on filibuster reform, and urge Senator Collins to support the bill and be the bipartisan senator she campaigned to be.
Senator Angus King: (202) 224-5344
Senator Susan Collins: (202) 224-2523
COP 26 Reflections By Ania Wright, Climate Action Organizer, Sierra Club Maine
This November, world leaders, scientists, and people from around the world gathered in Glasgow, Scotland for the UN Climate Conference, COP 26. I was also privileged to attend and share the perspective of frontline communities, activists, and environmental organizations from around the world, that the conference was a failure. Despite the availability of real solutions to the climate crisis, corporations and governments like the United States continued to push for dangerous distractions and avoided responsibility. The conference was a staunch reminder that we must continue to ramp up ambition in Maine as governments and corporations block action at the international level.
Little progress was made in Glasgow on issues that will have grave impacts on people’s lives and our future. Finance conversations fell short—namely, on providing finance to developing countries for adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage. Current pledges for emissions reductions (also known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs), put the planet on track for 2.4 degrees of warming by 2100, well above the 1.5 degree limit needed to keep us from catastrophic climate change. Dangerous distractions such as far off net zero schemes got lots of attention and will continue to stall action until it’s too late. To read more about what is required to solve the climate crisis effectively, read this statement put out by the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice in response to the failures at COP 26.
Annual Celebration Recap By Sarah Osorio, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
Sierra Club Maine held its annual celebration on November 5th. Kelsey Halliday Johnson, Sierra Club Maine volunteer leader and executive committee member, facilitated the virtual event, which featured five panelists and three local films focused on the Gulf of Maine. The event kicked off with a look back at the many impressive Sierra Club Maine accomplishments in 2021, including:
Stopping the Midcoast fracked gas line
Passing 52 ambitious environmental bills in Augusta
Passing legislation to start a green bank
Filing a lawsuit to stop the CMP corridor
Educating over 1,000 Mainers on various environmental and social justice topics
Creating an Equity, Inclusion, and Justice team and a plan to better support Black, Indigenous, and the broader spectrum of people of color
Empowering over 100 volunteers through advocacy training
Jonathan Fulford presented the volunteer awards beginning with the Volunteer of the Year, which was awarded to Patricia Rubert-Nason for her extraordinary testimony in quality and quantity. The Outstanding Volunteer award was given to David Gibson for his work on the employee divestment in the State of Maine and the Green Bank. Two Public Service for the Environment Awards were presented to Representative Maggie O’Neil for her work on divestment of PERS, and Representative Stanley Zeigler for his work with the Green Bank. Click here to read more about the event and watch the recording.
Help Gather Signatures for a Consumer Owned Utility!
On Election Day the Consumer Owned Utility Campaign, Our Power, gathered thousands of signatures, but we still need thousands more to get on next year’s ballot. Please see Our Power’s website to learn how you can sign up to collect signatures - and don’t forget to also tell your friends! We have less than two months to gather signatures, and we need all hands on deck!
Green Tip of the Month
Winter is here! You don’t need to sacrifice your warmth in order to help the environment. Try these easy tips!
Cook: Thinking of dinner? Consider cooking something at home. Not only will you have yummy food to enjoy, but it will also warm up your house. When you’re done, turn off your oven and leave the oven door cracked to add even more heat to the space.
Ceiling Fans: Run your ceiling fans in a clockwise direction, which will pull the warm, heated air from the ceiling and recirculate it throughout your home.
Water Heater: Most factory water heaters are set to heat water to 140 degrees, hotter than most people use. Instead, set your water heater to 120 degrees to reduce the energy used for heating water.
Acid mining is a serious threat to water quality in an area that not only provides clean water to Cobscook Bay but is also a potential source of water to Sipayik, Passamaquoddy Reservation located in what is known now as Pleasant Point. The current water source is badly polluted. Acid mining is likely to destroy another source for the Passamaquoddy and other communities living in the same aquifer. Hear about this from those who have studied it and live there.
Look East from Seapoint, preserved by Kittery Land Trust, and welcome the sun as it rises at 7:11am on the shortest day of the year! We will walk 0.75 miles along the beach at low tide as the nearly full moon illuminates our path. Bring a thermos of hot tea or cocoa to toast the first light! After a brief celebration we will return to the parking area for a total distance of 1.5 miles.
Help us champion pro-environment laws and policies.
Donate Stock for the Environment
Did you know you can donate stock to support Maine’s environment? Donating stock shares is a win-win-win situation because your gift is tax deductible and you avoid paying capital gains while helping us to continue our mission to explore, enjoy, and protect the environment.
Want to support our legislative work? You may also make a non-tax deductible donation of stock to support us in championing pro-environment laws and policies in Augusta.
For more information on making either tax or non-tax deductible donations of stock please contact Sarah at sarah.leighton@sierraclub.org or 207-761-5616.
