This time of year our minds and hearts reverberate with the lines of Robert Frost’s “Reluctance,” finding ourselves not-so-gracefully yielding and bowing to the change of the seasons.
Boats are making their transitions ashore; apple trees have lost their fruit; storm windows are (hopefully) up; and we’re wondering how climate change will impact our next few months.
We’ve had a warmer and dryer fall than “average,” although we’ve all come to recognize that averages no longer do much but confirm we are no longer living in an “average” world. The chart below, from our friends at UMaine, tells the tale.
So what’s to be done? Cutting emissions that warm our planet is our biggest chance to thwart even more intense climate change. In Maine the top areas for this are in our buildings and through our transportation choices. You can read more about these needs in the latest Guide to Maine’s Climate Action Plan (see page 19 for Buildings). The executive summary of the latest Scientific Assessment of Climate Change in Maine is also a terrific resource.
In addition to helping folks be more comfortable in their homes and reduce energy bills, CamdenCAN’s focus on home energy and energy literacy during the upcoming months is one way we’re helping midcoast residents make adjustments, and take action, in our climate-changed world.
We’ve rounded up some current ways you can make an impact in the newsletter that follows. All our actions make a difference. As Dr. Jane Goodall reminded us in her last words:
I want you to understand that we are part of the natural world. And even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing. And if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world—f you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren—then think about the actions you take each day. — Dr. Jane Goodall
Actions to Take for Our Climate-Changed World
- Learn about/support local Green Burial efforts at this week’s Camden Select Board Meeting (Tuesday 10/21, meeting starts 6:30 pm, French conference room, or via zoom, see town packet link here). Midcoast Maine Green Burial (MMGB) has been invited to make a brief presentation to the Camden Select Board encouraging them to consider the creation of a green burial grove on undeveloped town property in Oak Hill North cemetery on Hosmer Pond Rd. See more at their website here.
- Volunteer with CamdenCAN for tabling at 11/4/25, Election Day, Camden. We need folks to help with our signup for energy coaching and this newsletter. One- or two-hour slots are available—it’s a great way to see/meet your neighbors. Email us at camdencan2025@gmail.com.
- Exchange your leaves or leave your leaves. If you have leaves you want removed, or would like leaves, email us at camdencan2025@gmail.com. If you want to learn more about ways to use your leaves for the health of your property, read “Fall Gold Turn Your Leaf Pile Into Next Year’s Garden Treasure” here, and “Why Leaving the Leaves Is Better for Your Yard.”
- Learn building science, meet other great folks, help your Camden and Rockport neighbors by becoming an energy coach. See more in the 10/27/25 listing below.
- Read “To keep skiing the East through droughts and warming winters, we may have to ‘rethink’ ski season”—as the years go by, warmer and warmer, we’ve got a lot to consider and talk about as stewards of the Camden Snow Bowl. We’ll keep this conversation going as the months and years go on.
- Listen to this interview with Kate Marvel author of Human Nature, “The Only Good Planet,” on the podcast A Matter of Degrees (and come join us 10/28 for discussion).
- Forward or share this newsletter with someone you love or someone you think will get inspired.
Upcoming Events for Our Climate-Changed World
October 28, Tuesday, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, Camden Public Library, CamdenCAN’s Resilient Reading Group. Facilitated conversation circle exploring current climate science and all its implications. Come meet others wanting to improve their climate literacy and explore ways to think about living in a climate-changed world. First book is Kate Marvel’s Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. Second book is Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart/Brian D. McLaren. See more about it here. You don’t need to attend all gatherings—drop-ins are welcome. Future dates will be 11/11, 11/25, 12/9, 12/23, 1/13/26, 1/27/26.
October 28, Tuesday, 12 noon – 2:00 pm, Nativity Lutheran Church, 179 Old County Road, in Rockport. “Restaurants and Food Vendors Work Sustainably,” featuring Chef/owner Melody Wolfertz of In Good Company restaurant, Rockland Hannaford manager Kristin White, and Membership and Outreach Coordinator Elissa Bower of the Good Tern Co-op and Hole in the Wall Bagels. Take your questions and experience to the discussion of how food vendors can make a difference in addressing the challenge of wasted food in a state that has significant levels of food insecurity among its people. For more see here.
October 30, Thursday, 6:30-7:45 pm, Camden Public Library. “Your Home as an Energy System, and Ways to Improve It,” a Camden Talks Climate evening with Brian Robinson, a local Building Performance Institute Building Analyst with decades of energy improvement experience. Robinson will encourage you to think about your home as an energy system, helping you find new ways to save money, increase comfort, and reduce greenhouse gas pollution. He’ll discuss air, moisture, and thermal barriers in your home, and how weatherizing, insulating, and air sealing can improve comfort and yield significant savings while preparing your home for next steps. In addition, Connie Evans from the nonprofit WindowDressers will explain how inexpensive window inserts can help homes feel more comfortable and reduce energy bills. Flyers about the many state incentives for home energy upgrades will be available. This session will be recorded and available on the library website. (Presented as part of the State’s Community Resilience Partnership two-year Community Action Grant awarded to the Towns of Camden and Rockport.)
November 4, Tuesday. Vote—democracy is a vital part of the path to climate resilience.
November 6-7. Thursday and Friday, King Tides. Head down to Camden or Rockport harbor to witness the king tides. Thursday’s high tide is 12.5 feet at 10:42; Friday’s is 12.6 feet at 11:32.
November 6, Thursday, 5:30-8:30 pm. Nature-based shoreline solutions workshop with experts from Maine DEP, Maine Coastal Program, and Midcoast Council of Governments (MCOG). For practitioners, local officials, and community members; bring pictures of areas-of-concern to discuss with an expert. Free—register through MCOG.
November 7, Friday, 3-6:30 pm, GoLogic Shop in Belfast, ScaleUp, Carbon Down: from Vision to Action. Hands-on tour, lightning talks, and community discussion. Not to miss! At GO Logic panelization shop in Belfast. Free. Please register through EventBrite!
November 8, Saturday, 10:00-12 noon, Nativity Lutheran Church, 179 Old County Road, in Rockport. “Reducing Food Waste at Home.” Retired SNAP Nutrition Educator/former owner of Amalfi restaurant, Nancy Wood, and Cindy Wright of the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, will speak about ways to prepare and store food and tips for composting food scraps year round in your in-town or rural home or apartment. For more see here.
November 13, Thursday, 6:30-7:45 pm, Camden Public Library and CamdenCAN’s Camden Talks Climate series, with Maine Community Power, Understanding Your Utility Bill. More information to follow.
Concluding Thoughts
While we love those transitions, we don’t love the prospect of continued warming for Camden and Rockport. We like snow in the winter, and coolish summers. This trend to warming, while well on course to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius—we are now at 1.4 degrees—is not a foregone conclusion.
We humans have the agency to limit the amount of warming faced by the Midcoast and the planet. As Kate Marvel (Human Nature) writes, “No one is coming to save us. We have to create the world in which we want to live. Science sets the limits, we write the story. It can be a hopeful one.” (pg. 206)
We hope you’ll join us in our work, by signing up to be an energy coach, attending one of our events, or forwarding this newsletter.
Above all, I want you to think about the fact that we are part—when we’re on Planet Earth—we are part of Mother Nature. We depend on Mother Nature for clean air, for water, for food, for clothing, for everything. And as we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow.
You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up. There is a future for you.
Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth
that I look down upon from where I am now.
— Dr. Jane Goodall