Artwork by Ed Nolde, Artist & Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
December 2024
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Sierra Club Members:
VOTE for Open Executive Committee Positions
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Sierra Club Maine’s Executive Committee, composed of up to 11 volunteers, sets the long-term goals and strategies for the Chapter’s critical climate justice work here in Maine. There are currently six open positions for two-year terms starting in 2025. Voting for Executive Committee positions is open until December 12th and can be done at myaccount.sierraclub.org. You must be a Sierra Club member in order to vote. |
Prefer to receive a paper ballot, or have questions about online voting? Please contact Sierra Club Maine at 207-761-5616, or maine.chapter@sierraclub.org.
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Nearly All Sierra Club Maine
Endorsed Candidates Elected!
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The election is over, and Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States. But in the face of the darkness and fear his presidency brings, the Maine Chapter is turning to our state-level election results for hope in challenging times.
In Augusta, there are major opportunities to continue building a better and brighter future for Maine. The hard work of our Political Team in tandem with strong political programs from many of our partners have helped us to hold onto Democratic control of both the State House and Senate. This election season, our Political Team endorsed 57 candidates for State House and State Senate. Of those 57 candidates, 53 won their campaigns!
And of those 53 legislators, five are new to Augusta, bringing with them fresh perspectives and ideas on how to protect Maine’s environment and combat climate change.
At a time of national uncertainty, we’re excited to continue to organize in Augusta to protect our environment and fight climate change. With one of our most successful endorsement cycles behind us, now we turn to the legislative session to support those newly elected officials in passing legislation that protects nature and safeguards our environment for generations to come.
And we hope you can join us! Reach out to maine.chapter@sierraclub.org to get involved in our legislative work.
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Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Lease Sale
Results in Two Winning Bids
on Four Lease Areas
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The Department of Interior (DOI) recently announced the results of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s first-ever Gulf of Maine wind energy auction for eight lease areas off the shore of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
In total, two bids on four of the lease areas were accepted adding up to $21.9 million. With the potential to power 2.3 million homes, the winning bids further bolster New England’s efforts to develop clean, renewable offshore wind.
Invenergy NE Offshore Wind won leases on two of the available lease areas. The first, a $4,892,700 lease, consists of 97,854 acres off the coast of Maine. The second is a $5,889,000 lease for 117,780 acres off the coast of Massachusetts. Avangrid Renewables won the other two leases, a $4,928,250 and $6,244,850 lease, both off the coast of Massachusetts.
The sale marks significant progress toward developing responsible, equitable offshore wind along the Atlantic coast. DOI proposed the first-ever Gulf of Maine lease sale in April and set the auction date in September. Sales for all eight Gulf of Maine areas ran simultaneously and included lease stipulations on engagement with local communities, tribes, and industries. Continue reading here.
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Photo by Sarah Leighton
Sierra Club Maine’s Year-End Appeal
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Be on the lookout for our last appeal letter of the year! We know year-end asks can be overwhelming, and all the mail really starts to pile up. The special thing about our appeal is that EVERY dollar you donate, as a response to our letter, STAYS IN MAINE. We get SO excited every time we see a donation come through. Your donations are immediately put to work. Year-end donations, especially, are important because they help ensure a solid foundation for the coming year—and in 2025 we are going to need that foundation to be stronger than ever! Thank you, in advance, for helping us reach our year-end goals!
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Photo by Michael Roberts
Chapter Benefits From
Toad&Co’s Warehouse Sale
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What do the Sierra Club Maine Chapter and Toad&Co have in common? A deep commitment to sustainability and the environment!
Sierra Club Maine was thrilled to table at Toad&Co’s semi-annual warehouse sale last month.
Giuliana Orsky, Senior Retail Manager at Toad&Co shared, “Since we got our start in the 90s, we've been big on enjoying the simple things in life, embracing the unexpected, and letting go every once in a while. It keeps our spirits high and gives us the energy to focus on the things that matter... like working to make the outdoors more accessible to everyone, sourcing the most sustainable materials, partnering with the cleanest factories, and looking for new ways to do more with less. From day one, our compass has pointed toward supporting communities, taking care of the planet, and empowering people to live their fullest lives. We are big on giving back through donations and getting our hands (and boots) dirty.”
It was a natural fit for our organizations to partner. Toad&Co’s commitment to sustainability is admirable—they guarantee that 100% of their clothing is made with a minimum of 80% sustainable fibers or fabrics that have met earth-friendly standards, have swapped all plastic bags for FSC certified recyclable paper packaging, feature a ToadAgain resale program that keeps clothing from ending up in landfills, and more. They are also a 1% for the Planet business, a global network of thousands of businesses and environmental organizations working together to support people and the planet.
Toad&Co is supporting Sierra Club Maine with a donation from the proceeds of the warehouse sale. We are proud to partner with Toad&Co and thank them for their work and for supporting our Chapter.
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Beware Those Bearing Hydrogen
By David von Seggern, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
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Hydrogen as a fuel is being mentioned more often in the media these days, including as a visionary hydrogen “ Earthshot” by the US Department of Energy. Several decades ago, we started to hear of hydrogen as a fuel for motor vehicles using fuel cells. Emitting only water vapor at the point of use, hydrogen-powered vehicles were touted by several car companies, non-profit organizations, and the US government. Today, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have lost the race for pollution-free transportation to battery-powered EVs, with only Toyota having any significant sales of fuel-cell vehicles, and then only in California.
The reasons are many, but the cost of fuel is probably the most compelling in the buyer market.
Hydrogen is not a primary energy source. Though it is the most abundant element in the universe, it is not readily available by itself because it easily and quickly forms molecules with many other elements. It is an energy carrier, much like a battery. It takes a significant amount of existing energy to create hydrogen in sufficient quantities to power anything. Remember this when evaluating hydrogen as an alternative fuel: How did it get made? And at what cost? Continue reading here.
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The Greenwashing of Hydropower
By Halsey W. Snow, Ph.D., Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
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In our clean energy transition it's become easy to think of the main culprit as our voracious appetite for fossil-fuel energy, and the resulting CO2 “greenhouse gas” (GHG) emissions which are – without a doubt – one of the biggest factors creating climate change. But there are other GHG emissions which contribute to climate change, such as methane – the primary source being natural gas and the myriad leaks in all the systems of storage and delivery, not to mention it's widespread use for home heating, cooking, etc. And then there's water vapor.
WHAT? Water vapor? Yes, the very stuff of clouds and humidity. Identified by NASA as a significant contributor to climate change, water vapor in our atmosphere has been increasing, especially in the arctic. Why this is a problem has to do with its source and its effects. The effects are – as with CO2 – warming of the Earth and the oceans, and the resulting melting of the icecaps. Increased water vapor creates increased cloud cover, trapping heat and adding to the existing pool of residual heat.
It's the SOURCE we need to be more concerned about. The source of much of this additional water vapor in the atmosphere is none other than that allegedly “clean, green” hydropower dams. All the many mega-dams (defined as a dam more than 400 feet tall) on almost all of the rivers in the sub-arctic of Canada and Siberia. Continue reading here.
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Image by Nathan Lemon
Green Tip of the Month
By Michael Trombley, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
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A few years back, at the start of the holiday season, my wife and I realized we’d accumulated quite a stack of brown paper bags from our local grocery pickup service. Usually, we’d buy wrapping paper from the dollar store, but knew that this has serious issues for the environment.
We decided to try giving the brown paper bags a second life before tossing them in the recycling. We still added some festive decorations—some red and white string here, maybe a few pine needles or a hemlock cone there—and in the end, it looked better. More homemade, more cohesive, and just as memorable. This year, consider trying something similar. Start collecting paper bags, newspapers, or any sturdy paper you would be recycling later anyway. Of course, the greenest option is not to wrap at all, but this isn’t always practical, especially with kids. As an alternative, you can also wrap in fabric, reusable shopping bags, or anything that conceals the gift for just a few moments.
Do you have a green tip that you would like to have included in a future newsletter? Please share it with us here!
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Here are some of the meetings and events we have coming up. We hope to see you soon!
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December 12 at 12pm: Events Team Meeting
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Help us organize events to educate and engage Mainers across the state.
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December 17 at 12pm: Clean Energy Team Meeting
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Join our team and ensure a clean and just energy future for Maine, specifically focused on renewable energy development!
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December 30 at 4pm: Volunteer Support Team Meeting
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Help recruit and orient new volunteers and ensure overall volunteer satisfaction.
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Volunteer With Sierra Club Maine
Interested in helping to protect Maine’s environment? We invite you to join us at our next volunteer orientation— view our events calendar here! No matter your background, we have a role for you—no experience necessary.
We are always looks for photos from across the state to feature in our marketing materials. Professionals and amateurs alike are encouraged to submit images of Maine landscapes, nature, and wildlife. Please submit your photo here.
Questions? Email us at maine.chapter@sierraclub.org.
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