August 2025

In this issue:

• The Value of Local Outings Leaders
• Join Coal Free Portland to Protect Our Health
• Legislative Re-cap
• Community Conversations Web Series
• Tell the Truth A
• bout Climate
• Maine Power Co-Op
• SUN Day of Action: The Future of Clean Energy in Maine
• Celebrate the Maine Chapter's Legacy
• Calling All Volunteers!
• Let's Make Environmentalism Easy
• The Month Ahead
• Volunteer With Sierra Club Maine

Photo by  Veronica Melkonian, The Luupe

The Value of Local Outings Leaders

One might say that outings are part of the DNA of the Sierra Club. While our excellent and substantial work on environmental and conservation issues gets much media attention, little about our outings seems to be known outside the Sierra Club membership. Sierra Club chapters together conduct thousands of local outings every year. In addition, the national office schedules hundreds of national and international outings and service trips every year to amazing destinations.

A chapter with an outings program is rounding out the mission of the Sierra Club. That mission is, in brief, “to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the Earth.” Often, this can start near your home with local outings. “Explore” can be as simple as viewing what is out there, perhaps seeing something for the first time, and taking moments to learn about your immediate environment. “Enjoy” means to find solace and rejuvenation by connecting to nature and joining with others to do so. “Protect” will come to those who explore and enjoy the special outdoor places available to them.

I have been a Sierra Club local outings leader for three decades in Nevada and now here in Maine. I am an ardent advocate for knowing one’s place; and the Sierra Club mission, for me, could simply be modified to “Explore, enjoy, and protect one’s place”. It is easier to coax people into immediate surroundings than to some distant place, and a local outings leader is one who can introduce others to their local environment.

Rewards work both ways too — I value my time of organizing and conducting outings over these three decades. There is no monetary remuneration in being a local outings leader, but the payback in many other ways is immeasurable. Local outings need local outings leaders, and we in the Maine Chapter leadership are seeking to increase our roster of leaders who can then get more members and supporters outdoors. Qualifications for outings leaders are not rigorous: those of ordinary physical makeup and talents are suitable. More important is an attitude that favors being outdoors, that seeks to understand one’s place in the natural world, that desires to share his/her interests in outdoors with others, and that wants to convey the importance of protecting our natural world.

What exactly do outings leaders do? Across the Sierra Club, they plan and conduct a wide variety of outings such as hiking, cycling, water navigation, journaling, and photography excursions. Many leaders focus on conservation issues, bringing people into contact with some local or regional issue for which advocacy or action is needed. Others simply make the effort to have others enjoy some time in the outdoors, get some healthy exercise, and meet some new people. Your leadership style is what you make it, within the bounds of the Sierra Club mission.

The Maine Chapter now has a nascent outings program and would welcome your participation in order to expand the program statewide. An upcoming training event September 26-28 is scheduled, where you can qualify to become a leader over a single weekend. If you are interested in becoming an outing leader or contributing to the outings program, please email us at maine.chapter@sierraclub.org.

Protect Our Health With Coal Free Portland

Coal Free Portland, a local grassroots effort in Portland is working to rid the state of its remaining coal pile. Local residents have organized over the past few years to stop toxic, dirty coal from polluting the city and surrounding areas. Fugitive coal dust consistently covers boats, homes, and local businesses with each new shipment of coal. The coal is then transported by train to its only known destination, at a paper mill in Rumford. It’s the only paper mill we are aware of that still burns coal.

This group of local citizens, alongside organizational partners like Sierra Club Maine, have gathered enough signatures to put a question on the November ballot: to require the covering of the coal pile to stop pollution and to phase out the coal pile, mandating it to be gone in 2030.

At the August 11th City Council meeting, Portland councilors will debate the ballot question. We are asking all folks who live in Portland or who are directly impacted by the coal pile (e.g. business nearby) to contact City Council and show support for a Coal Free Portland (council@portlandmaine.gov). Please tell your friends and neighbors, and also write letters to the editor. Take action today to end the use of coal in Maine!

Legislative Re-Cap

This was a very busy legislative session. Of the thousands of bills, we were actively tracking over 130, and delivered 39 pieces of testimony. Everyone on our Legislative Team contributed to drafting testimony and tracking bills. 

A few successes:

• LD 1700, passed into law, requiring direct investment in renewable energy generation through Efficiency Maine’s ‘Green Bank’, the program that we led advocacy for several years ago! Our staff were involved in drafting that bill, and we are excited to see the state move forward with innovative solutions to rapidly deploying more renewables.
• We worked alongside our labor and other environmental allies to pass LD 1619, which moves the state forward in piloting thermal energy network projects, which may be a critical decarbonization technology, using the existing gas workforce.
• A few Environmental Priorities Coalition bills passed, including protecting our Extended Producer Responsibility Law and moving us closer to 100% clean energy by 2040.

More:

• LD 1138, which would have helped address Maine’s largest greenhouse gas emissions source, transportation, did not pass. However, we built stronger allies in this space, and there is more momentum for creating healthier communities and increasing accessibility for all in Maine. We look forward to actually funding public/active transportation in Maine, and we are much closer from these efforts.
• LD 1868 updates Maine’s 2019 goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2050 to 90% by 2040 (+10% from other technologies, including hydropower, nuclear, biomethane, and hydrogen in thermal plants). You can read about this legislation in more detail here.
  • Environmental advocates and organizations largely celebrated this legislation, but we also warned about loosening clean energy definitions to meet climate goals more quickly. We commented that Maine’s energy portfolio should always “exclude certain types of energy, specifically nuclear, large hydro-electric facilities, or any fossil fuel derived energy source.” We expect this law to accelerate solar and other technologies that we support, and we will work to ensure that they are rapidly deployed, while advocating against harmful projects.

Bills carried over to next year. We need your help to pass!!

LD 1870: Make polluters pay for their emissions

LD 395: Recognize Tribal sovereignty

LD 1949: Energy Fairness

LD 222: Prevent Toxic Spills (PFAS)

LD 646: Address Stormwater Pollution

Fund Land for Maine’s Future 

There will be more ‘emergency’ bills introduced next year in the shorter legislative session, so stay tuned! Our power depends on our members being engaged in the legislative process. If you want to get more involved/learn more, email, maine.chapter@sierraclub.org

Community Conversations

Please join us for our kick off monthly Community Conversation on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM with Kelly Corbin, of Living Landscapes Maine, for a conversation about making our yards more sustainable for the planet and for us! We'll talk about how native plants support birds and insects as they enter the colder months and why it's important to leave the leaves and stems in your garden to help these creatures thrive. Please contact Suzanne Zeliff at suzanne.zeliff@gmail.com with any questions.  Please use this link to learn more about Kelly’s work in Maine. We’ll be holding these Community Conversations on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM through May 2026.

Sierra Club National's Climate Truth-Tellers

Do you enjoy social media?  Do you want to help combat misinformation online?  Please consider joining the Climate Truth Tellers team!  By writing comments and sharing personal stories on high priority posts, each of us can help shape public discourse and promote the truth.

What to expect
Each week, we will be asking you to comment, share, or otherwise engage with one to three social media posts. We'll also share learning opportunities for you to build your communications, storytelling, and social media skills.

Why this work is so important
We're asking you to comment and engage on social media posts to drown out misinformation across platforms. Because social media algorithms often value controversial content, dangerous dis and misinformation can thrive, while valuable content can get lost in the noise. The more likes and comments a post gets, the more likely it will be shown to a wider audience. By engaging with strong, educational content you ensure more people will see it.

Research shows that someone needs to see information three times before they remember it. By making sure the facts about our democracy, climate, lands, and environment are shared far and wide, people will be less likely to believe the lies.

Ready to get started?

1. Watch National’s training workshop recording here! In this video, you can learn more about our goals for this team, how social media algorithms work, how to make the most impact, and more.
2. No time to watch the full recording? Check out the Welcome Guide for more information and resources.  You can sign up here, too!
3. Make sure you're in our WhatsApp group (instructions for joining can be found in the Welcome Guide). If you don't feel comfortable using WhatsApp, that's okay too! You'll still get the assignment emails and will be able to fully participate in the group.
4. Need help? Contact us by emailing truth.tellers@sierraclub.org

Thanks again for joining this team. Your voice matters!

Maine Power Co-Op

Maine Community Power Cooperative is a consumer-owned cooperative that develops, owns, and operates small-scale community solar projects on behalf of their members. The member-owned cooperative lowers energy expenses and improves resiliency for community members through solar power, energy storage, efficiency, and education. Membership is open to any residential or small business customer of Central Maine Power, with priority for low- to moderate-income households, renters, and those who cannot otherwise install their own solar systems. 

Interested in lowering your energy costs by 10-20% while joining a cooperative of Mainers fighting for an accessible clean energy future? Become a member here, learn more, or share this information with friends, family, and community members.

Want to spread the word about a co-operative clean energy program to help your community access energy independence and electricity bill savings? Partner with Maine Community Power Cooperative as an individual or part of your community group. We need volunteers to distribute flyers to community boards, table at local farmers markets and food pantries, or host a community info session. Reach out to Emily at emilyrochford@mainecommunitypower.com to find out how you can help us help our communities!

SUN Day of Action: The Future of Clean Energy in Maine 

We are excited to share that Sierra Club is a partner for National Sun Day 2025, a bold, creative day of action happening this year that invites people everywhere to imagine a better world — and then start building it.

National Sun Day is a decentralized, artful, and movement-driven project with the goal of encouraging millions to participate in climate, justice, and community actions across the country on one shared day. You can learn more and explore how to get involved at the official website: https://www.sunday.earth.

Sierra Club Maine will be joining Third Act, MCAN, ACTT and others to host a SUN Day event on Sunday, Sept 21st in Lincoln Park in Portland! It will be a festive day full of art, music, maybe food and excitement for renewable energy. 

Does your organization have any capacity and interest to join in the planning? Would you like to join the next meeting to hear what is being planned? Reach out to Ashley at ashley.nye@sierraclubmaine.org

Celebrate the Maine Chapter's Legacy

The Annual Celebration day (10/4) will commence with registration and networking at 11:30 am, followed by lunch and our main event. We will be offering an outdoor hike and lots of activities during the celebration.

The theme this year is honoring our legacy and how those who have come before us helped to build the strong foundation upon which we stand today.

We are especially delighted to announce Karin Tilburg will be our keynote speaker. Karin is the President and CEO of the Forest Society of Maine and author of the new book, Loving the North Woods: 25 Years of Historic Conservation in Maine.  

Register for this event HERE

Calling All Volunteers!

Please consider volunteering at Sierra Club Maine’s table in the Environmental Concerns Tent at the 2025 Common Ground Country Fair!  We’ll be there from 9:00 am Friday, September 19th through Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 5:00 pm in Unity, ME.

If you've never helped at the fair before, it's a wonderful experience!  As a volunteer, you may choose to receive a free entry ticket (a $20 value) good for the entire day for working a 2 or 3-hour shift.  If you've never attended the fair, here's the link to the Common Ground Country Fair info.  There's great food and music, animal exhibitions, an organic farmer's market, sustainable living vendors from across the state, and so much more!

Please use this link to sign up for your shift(s).

For those of you who enjoy camping and are traveling a distance, there is free camping at the fair with showers/restrooms.  There will be more information coming your way closer to the event if you sign up.

Thanks so much for your help with this wonderful opportunity to connect with the public in a meaningful way at an event that is one of the highlights of living in Maine.  Please contact Corrine Adamowicz at corrine.kucirkaadamowicz@sierraclub.org with any questions.

Let's Make Environmentalism Easy

When you dedicate most of your day-to-day life in the minutia of science, policy, and activism, its easy to lose sight of the lives you’re trying to touch. What is environmentalism, really? What is ocean acidification? What does climate change mean at it’s simplest, but also at whatever level it affects our lives? Vocabulary, intellectual elitism, virtue signaling, and purity filtering are all unnecessary gatekeepers that discourage new advocates for our planet. In a fight for our lives, we need all hands on deck and actually, it is our job to educate and communicate with our fellow humans who earnestly want to be involved.

It doesn’t take massive sacrifice to become a steward. You don’t have to swear off meat, or sweat for hours moving boulders from trails, or take an extended leave of absence to live in an off-grid cabin without potable water, terrorized daily by mosquitoes the size of small birds (I actually never hated nature more than when I tried that one.) Mostly, all environmentalism takes is desire, backed up by mindful choices where it really counts. Intentionally choosing how you vote, where you spend your money, and how you interact with people are far more impactful ways to live sustainably than any temporary performance..... Continue Reading Here

....Your reality is not immovable, no matter how heavy it may feel. The push for healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and protected wild places is not a battle to be won, but an ethic of living which has persisted through the darkest of times and continues unperturbed. You don’t have to be outdoorsy, or an animal lover, or a scientist to declare yourself an environmentalist. You also don’t have to dedicate your life or vast resources to participate in a meaningful way. Come to the table with care, and you will find your place among those who believe that the world is bigger than us, and more beautiful by discovery.