Denial, Grief, and Moving Forward in 2024
Jan 02, 2024
Images from Christmas week in Camden, 2023.
We’ve made it over from 2023, embarking on a 2024 we can only guess at. For many, the “unseasonably” warm days around the Christmas holiday were disconcerting, and down-right depressing. If you’ve lived here for decades, as many of us have, you’ve noticed a consistent upward trend of the late December temperatures. This is not the first holiday week in which we’ve wished for snow and freezing temperatures. And been declined.
And, ironically, what we have just experienced might even stand as colder than all those winters in our future.
Earth has just experienced the warmest year on record. Why should Camden be spared that?
And of course “why us?” is the wrong question. Why not Camden?
Why not, indeed.
Camden’s reality is the reality of a warming planet. No one, no place on Earth is spared the impacts of our warming atmosphere.
Once we accept that reality, our duty of care changes. Once we know there’s something amiss with the global circulatory weather systems our role as residents of Camden, Knox County, Maine, USA, the planet, is to take action.
One important action is talking about the climate crisis:
- Talk about the warm weather as part of a change, not just a fluke;
- Talk about the bubbling sewer system with a 5-inch rainfall and question Camden’s preparedness for the 10-inch rainfall;
- Talk about the greenhouse gas emissions from making snow and 110-foot power-yachts and the role those emissions play in our continued warming;
- Talk about the year we finally agree the Snow Bowl can no longer function as ski area;
- Talk about the implications of sea level rise on both the public landing and the property that the town leases to the yacht club. When is it time to retreat?
- Talk about the pressures on our housing stock as more people choose Camden as a climate refuge;
- Talk about the impact of a 4-day energy outage on folks with no generators, who have to toss hundreds of dollars of food.
- Talk about the impacts of a warming planet with our children.
Why not Camden?
We do our future selves—our future Camden—no favors by avoiding these conversations. (Jump to Concluding Thoughts for more on these conversations.)
Camden Talks Climate
We are fortunate to live in a time when knowledge, resources, and energy for climate action abound. In the coming months and weeks CamdenCAN will be hosting panels and encouraging conversations designed to kickstart climate action in town.
The first 2024 Camden Talks Climate panel is January 11 at 630 pm at the CPL. It features fellow Camden resident Parker Gassett: “Achieving Climate Resilience in Coastal Communities.” More in the listing below.
For many of us, a chance to talk about the “too-warm” days, the loss of the way things used to be, provides important validation of being off-kilter, out of sorts. Paradoxically this mutual recognition breeds hope, and spurs the imagination, for other possible futures. Join us at a Climate Conversation Circle either 1/4 or 1/18, at 1 pm, at the CPL. Details below.
Upcoming CamdenCAN Events
1/4/24, 1-230 pm, Picker Room, CPL. Camden Conversation Circle. Join others concerned about our climate future in small facilitated conversation circles. There’ll be resources for guided discussion (podcasts, articles, and books). The goal is to help one another explore living in this remarkable period. Making connections about climate is a powerful way to build resilience. Free and open to all!
1/11/24, 630 -730 pm, Camden Public Library, “Achieving Climate Resilience in Coastal Communities.” The third event in the Camden Talks Climate series cosponsored by the town of Camden and CamdenCAN (Climate Action Now) in the Picker Room and on Zoom. Parker Gassett, a Camden resident and representative of UMaine, will provide an overview of available resources to enhance Camden’s understanding of and preparedness for climate change.
Gassett will also introduce the Community Resilience Workbook, which documents initiatives in Maine and provides tools and resources to help facilitate community climate action. He’ll also provide information on the newly established Maine Climate Science Information Exchange office.
This is a hybrid event in the Picker Room at the Camden Public Library. To find the Zoom registration link, visit the “What’s Happening” adult events calendar at librarycamden.org.
1/18/24, 1-230 pm, CPL. Camden Climate Conversation Circle. Read 1/4/24 description above.
Late January: CamdenCAN Climate potluck, open to all. Details to follow.
2/1/24 CPL, 630 -730 pm. Camden Talks Climate Panel.
Links to Past Camden Climate Panels, Further Information
If you’ve missed our past work on these topics, here are some links (click on the underline):
- Camden Talks Climate Panel, 12/6/23 at CPL: “Where Does Camden Stand On Climate Action?” [it takes a few minutes to get to the video, be patient!}
- Camden Talks Climate Panel, 11/16/23 at Camden Town Offices: “What Are Camden’s Neighbors Doing on Climate Action?”
- Camden Herald article, “Camden’s Climate Action—Fits and Starts, and Now Momentum?”
- PenBay Pilot article, “Camden Climate Action: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” December 2023
- “Camden, the Climate Crisis, and You,” CPL, September 2023.
- Maine Climate Council December 2023 meeting, update on Maine Won’t Wait, our state climate action plan, listen here. Maine Climate Council, past meetings, check here. Maine Climate Council, upcoming meetings, check here.
Other Upcoming Nearby Climate Actions and Opportunities
1/8/24, 1030-1230, CPL, Camden Conference, “From Maine to India: Protecting Source Water Systems with Water Funds.” Check it out here.
1/10/24, Online and In-person, Patten Free Library, Bath, Maine. “Bath Climate Conversations: How to Retrofit Your House to Become Carbon Neutral.” REGISTER
1/11/24, Climate Ambassadors Training, created by A Climate to Thrive in Mt. Desert. Online. Learn more.
1/17/24, 6-730 pm, Symmetree, Camden, “All We Can Save,” Women’s Circle Book Discussion. Ten weeks. Register here.
1/28/24, 3-430 pm, online, from the Wild Seed Project. “Not Just the Honeybee: Native Plants & Native Pollinators in Your Garden.”
Ongoing. Warmer winters allow forest pests to proliferate. You can “Help Maine Biologists Track Forest Pests into the New Year and Beyond.” Read here.
Concluding Thoughts: Denial, Grief, and Moving Forward in 2024
Denial
While a majority of the country understands that the planet is warming, there is a new kind of denial we’ve noticed. It’s that sense that what we’re experiencing isn’t something we can do anything about.
We no longer deny our house is burning, but now we ignore the heat we feel from the next room—we’re sitting on the couch as the fire moves along in the far wing.
Maybe it’s time to take action while some part of our house is still standing.
Grief
Accepting the reality that winter temperatures have risen, are rising, is difficult. The loss of the Snow Bowl—when we decide it’s no longer economically viable—will hit hard. The conversations leading up to that decision will be hard. And yet, we will still have a Ragged Mountain Recreation area. We can host fourth-grade “learn-to-snowshoe” sessions or “spot winter creatures” hikes. If we get creative we can make the transition in a way that minimizes economic losses and generates widespread enthusiasm.
We can get creative, imaginative, and work toward a resilient, amazing future in ALL aspects of Camden.
Yet we won’t get there until we go through the grieving process for what we’ve lost. That grief is worth time and attention. Acknowledging our loss is multifaceted, and isn’t necessarily somber. Good grief—thorough, honest, and timely—moves us forward with hope and resiliency. (Check out more on the good grief approach here. And dive into the importance of grief rituals here.)
Moving Forward
Camden is changing. We, its residents, know that. We’re not alone—the insects, seagulls, beavers, squirrels, oaks, and all matter of life here sense it, too. Yet we are the species that holds the levers to mitigate global warming.
Let’s make 2024 Camden’s year to embrace the reality of the climate crisis and do what we can to mitigate and adapt. Let’s do it as a way to celebrate, support, and protect what we love about living here.
Together we can make a difference on the outcome for all—human and non-human—who make Camden home.
PS. There are more than 300 of you reading this. We hope, if you find this insightful, you’ll forward it to a friend. We need all of us in this work.