It’s easy to feel small and inadequate in today’s world. There are immense, global challenges, from a chosen oil war to glaciers that are calving, while winter sea ice in the Arctic ties a record low. Of course, there is much about these wider, global issues that is beyond our control.
Yet we have ways to respond right here in midcoast Maine that matter. Hugely.
As March turns to April, and our planet tilts toward our fabulous sun, this newsletter promotes and celebrates several insights and happenings that we hope will plant seeds of agency and resilience in your being.
We’re convinced that one of the ways we move out of our current series of systemic crises (global warming, biodiversity loss, resource overshoot, ocean acidification, civic disengagement) is to reframe the meaning and mattering of our lives, from our roles as consumers—holding up an unrealistic GDP growth—to citizens, caring about one another, our community, our systems of governance, our planetary home, and our futures.
What’s AI Got to Do With It?
The local non-profit Points North hosted a free screening of “The AI Doc” last Thursday night at the Strand in Rockland. The event was packed, and followed by a facilitated conversation about the movie and, more importantly, about how each one of us can respond to this enormously complex, emerging societal challenge. We loved hearing that a group called (m)otherboard is hoping to facilitate more local conversations to jumpstart citizen action and engagement.
“The future is not inevitable. Let’s imagine it together.” —from a (m)otherboard postcard
If you haven’t had a chance to watch the documentary, we’d recommend it. You can listen here and here to get more information about its creators and its framing.
Unregulated AI, like unregulated greenhouse gas emissions, is a recipe for deepening global crises. We can do better because we know better. Visit here if you’d like to join a local book discussion of Empire of AI by Karen Hao. If you’d like to get the (m)otherboard discussion guide, see here. We citizens matter in this debate.
Other News/Opportunities In Our Backyards
March 2026 hosted a quarterly meeting of the Maine Climate Council. Listen here to hear how the changing climate and energy systems are affecting Mainers. Among the insights: there’s continued loss of trust in information as well as public institutions; Maine climate researchers are collaborating with the lobster industry; and Keith Carson’s (ex meterologist), of Maine Conservation Voters has wisdom to share about climate communication.
Maine’s State Energy Plan is about to get updated. Visit here to learn how you can get involved—they are looking for public input. You can read the current plan here, and sign up to get on the distribution for the Maine DOE’s monthly newsletter. It’s eye opening, and reports on current energy/electricity prices in Maine, so you know just how bad things are getting.
It’s almost the end of the heating season…and yet, with warming summers in Maine, we may also soon be talking about our cooling seasons. The Camden/Rockport Energy Coaching Program is getting underway—our first coaches are trained and signups for free energy insights are beginning. Email energyprogram@rockportmaine.gov if you have questions or would like help with both your heating and cooling possibilities (heat pumps work great for both). General information about the program can be found here.
If you’d like to learn more about low-cost window inserts to save heating expenses, or to learn how you can volunteer at the next Camden/Rockland build, WindowDressers is hosting online information sessions, April 14 at 6:30 pm and May 14 11:00—visit here for the links.
The driving season should be reconsidered for those with internal combustion engines. Can you reduce your trips, drive slower (55 mpg saves gas), or replace your car with an EV or Ebike? Gas engines are the largest source of global warming—this recent UN report’s key findings attest to how utterly out of balance we’re making the planet:
- WMO State of Climate report (World Meteorological Organization) confirms 2015-2025 hottest 11 years on record;
- Earth’s energy imbalance is highest in sixty five-year record;
- The ocean has been absorbing about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades;
- Extreme weather impacts millions and costs billions.
The Midcoast is rich with opportunities for growers—veteran and newbies. For those who don’t know, our Cooperative Extension Service hosts an annual online plant sale that’s not to be missed. Visit here. (Ordering deadline is April 17.) Neighbor Joan Herzog is also holding a series of permaculture/growing/planting classes—see page 24 here. Also, this newsletter boasts of the power of no-till methods and the boost it can give your gardening, or even jumpstart a brand new small bed with ease—just some cardboard, water, and organic matter!
News From Afar, Yet Relevant Here
Yale Climate News had a great article about ski areas’ response to climate change (“The ski industry is oddly quiet on climate change—The problem is a major threat to the U.S. snowsports industry. But their actions fall short…”) Many readers of this newsletter are Camden citizens, who jointly own a ski area. Once you’ve watched this video, or read the article—which includes steps for action—perhaps you can draft some questions for our ski area/Select Board concerning its response to climate change?
Things won’t happen without local pressure. And while creating a four-season plan is a start, it does little to face the future reality of a brief 30- or 45-day ski season—or no ski season at all. We’ve got lots to talk about—especially economic guardrails—regarding future priorities.
Upcoming Earth- and Community-Friendly Events
March 31, Tuesday, 12-1 pm, Merryspring Nature Center, Camden, “Tuesday Talk–It’s All Food–Rethinking Wasted Food in Maine with Susanne Lee,” online. The link to their online talks can be found on their website homepage or you may request the link by emailing info@merryspring.org. If you prefer to watch the broadcast live on the big screen in the conference room at Merryspring Nature Center, plan to arrive before 12:00 to avoid noise interference during recording.
April 9, Thursday, 6:30 pm-7:45 pm, Camden Public Library. CamdenCAN and CPL present another Camden Talks Climate evening, “Compost & Community, Garden Support from Other Growers, Compost, and Critters.” Joelle Albury from Erikson Fields/Aldemere Farm will talk about the ways you can get your hands dirty with community gardening, including fun benefits like regular potlucks, community work days, and just the joy of getting to know new friends at a new growing place. Joelle will be joined by ScrapDogs’ Tessa Rosenberry, who will help us understand the many ways that composting your food and garden scraps can improve your life and help the planet!. See more here, where you can register for attending online, if you’d like.
April 9, Thursday, 6:00 pm, First Congregational Church, 55 Elm Street, Camden. Discussion of Luke Kemp’s book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse, facilitated by David Wood. (Discounted copies of the book available for sale, too.) See April 14 event below—Luke Kemp will be in town.
April 11, Saturday, 9:30 am-12:00 pm, with keynote speaker Petra Page-Mann at 12:30 pm, Rockport Public Library. Second Annual Seed Fest. Free seeds, seedlings, and information. See more here. Petra Page-Mann of Fruition Seeds is a strong advocate of “gift culture,” which involves giving away seeds to promote food cultivation and community building. This ethos aligns perfectly with the theme of SEED FEST.
April 14 and 28, Tuesday, 4:00-5:00 pm, Resilient Reading Group, CPL. Come join others in casual conversation about the multiple polycrises of the moment. This month’s topics include alternative governing structures—including citizen’s assemblies—to help us move toward a more functioning democracy, where deliberative, collaborative institutions can thrive.
April 14, Tuesday, 7:00 pm, First Congregational Church, 55 Elm Street, Camden. Public lecture by Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse: “Are We On the Road to Collapse?”
April 22, Wednesday, Earth Day. It’s not too early to start thinking about how you’d like to honor our planet.
Save the Dates: Thursday, June 11, 6pm, First Congregational Church, Camden, book discussion on Bill McKibben’s Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization. Thursday, June 18 at 7 pm, Bill McKibben public lecture in Camden.
Concluding Thoughts
Recently your editor had the extraordinary opportunity to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Doing so reminded us of this observation from Newfoundland biologist Holly Hogan in her terrific book Message in a Bottle:
The open ocean has a rhythm and a tempo, and your body becomes drawn in. It can lift you and then drop you like a stone. It can be energizing, it can be exhausting, or it can be completely serene. Thoughts turn to logic and pragmatism in a punchy sea, the short, stacatto waves like a march.
The swell from a slow-rolling sea can lift deeply buried emotions to the surface, exposing them, unbidden, to the light. Flat, calm seas are an empty canvas, drawing on whatever emotions need to be expressed. Gratitude. Hope. Sadness. Reflection.
But these are our emotions. The ocean doesn’t feel. It doesn’t experience emotions or make judgments—it responds, impassively, to what comes its way. It simply follows the rules of nature—a change in temperature that will alter currents, increase storms, cause droughts. It will move nutrients, plankton, and microplastics equally; it will accept the plastic barrage until there is no more room. It will spray plastic in a fine mist, back to the coast. It will swallow a whale whole, or a ship. It will provide nourishment or habitat or it will poison food chains with toxins. The ocean will support life, but it doesn’t insist on it. The ocean doesn’t make choices. We do.
