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Artwork by Ed Nolde, Artist & Sierra Club Maine Volunteer March 2025
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With introductory guest speaker Shenna BellowsFriday, March 21st through Sunday, March 23rd at the Ferry Beach Retreat & Conference Center in Saco |
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Join Sierra Club Maine members, volunteers, and staff for a weekend of meaningful discussion, food and music at our annual Chapter Retreat. This year, the theme of the retreat is "meeting the moment" and we’ll be strategizing on how best to respond to our government’s extreme rightward shift and the dismantling of our democracy. While the threats to our environment and our climate have never been greater, we know that sharing in a community with like-minded people is the first and best place to start making a difference.
We’re also excited to announce that Maine’s Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, will be joining to offer opening remarks on Saturday morning. Known for her commitment to expanding voter access and strengthening democracy, as Secretary of State she has worked tirelessly to ensure continued transparency, integrity, and fairness in Maine's elections.
We’ll spend the rest of the weekend strategizing for the year ahead and making plans to take action. Our hope is that all attendees leave with an action plan, no matter how big or how small. We each have unique strengths we can leverage to meet the moment and be on the right side of history.
What to expect:
- Friday (3/21): we'll kickstart the weekend with a 6pm dinner followed by live music from our very talented Sierra Club musicians and a sing-a-long.
- Saturday (3/22): we begin at 10am sharp! Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available.
- Sunday (3/23): breakfast begins at 7:30am, followed by a short session. The retreat will end with an 11:30am brunch.
The event is open to Sierra Club members, volunteers, or folks interested in learning more! You are welcome to come just for the Saturday session, all weekend, or to take advantage of the lodging opportunities at Ferry Beach. Don't forget to register here. We hope to see you there!
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Photo by Megan Steele Photography Save the Date: Earth Day Clean Up April 26!
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Sierra Club Maine is celebrating Earth Day by getting outside and giving back! Join us Saturday, April 26th* from 10am to 12pm as we clean up Portland's Back Cove. We hope you'll join us! Keep an eye out on our website and social media ( Facebook, Instagram) for more information and registration details. *Raindate Sunday, April 27th
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Groups File First Environmental Lawsuit
Vs. New Trump Administration,
Challenging Illegal Order to Undo Ocean Protections from Offshore Drilling
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On February 19, 2025, Sierra Club and coalition partners concerned about the threats from offshore drilling filed the first environmental lawsuit against this Trump administration for attempting an illegal move to dismantle offshore drilling protections.The press release reads, " One group is challenging an illegal order by President Trump to revoke former President Biden’s withdrawal of vulnerable areas of the ocean from future oil-and-gas leasing. Another set of groups is taking a related action asking a court to reinstate a federal court ruling that invalidated an attempt by the first Trump administration to undo Obama-era offshore protections. President Trump has attempted to open nearly the entire Arctic Ocean to drilling by reviving his first-term order. President Biden protected areas off the Eastern Gulf, Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaska coasts by invoking his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The law authorizes the president to withdraw offshore areas from oil and gas leasing, as eight administrations, including the first Trump administration, have routinely done. However, the law does not authorize the president to revoke the withdrawals of prior presidents, which a federal court confirmed when Trump attempted to undo Obama-era protections for the Arctic Ocean and portions of the Atlantic oceans during his first term. In the new case, Earthjustice is representing Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity, the Surfrider Foundation, Greenpeace, Healthy Gulf, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, and Turtle Island Restoration Network. Plaintiffs Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council are each representing themselves." Continue reading here.
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Get Involved:
Waldo County Climate Action Coalition
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Networking is empowering! Sierra Club Maine is one of over 18 membership organizations in the Waldo County Climate Action Coalition. These organizations have a lengthy track record of accomplishments and some exciting ongoing projects. Expanding community composting and working to ban plastics—these are two current efforts, and the group is planning a whole host of activities and programs for Earth Month (April) in Belfast. For more information, visit waldoclimateaction.org or contact Bev Roxby at beverlyteach@gmail.com. |
Photo by Ashley Nye Common Sense Conversation:
Putting Planet Over PoliticsBy Ashley Nye, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
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Sierra Club Maine welcomes Ashley Nye, a new volunteer with an interesting perspective to share:
"...the stakes have been raised when it comes to passing critical climate policy. It was 1856 when Eunice Foote published the first research on the effect of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere, and it has taken until 2024 for policy to even begin to catch up to that discovery. Sustainability is a marathon battle, but it is gaining momentum. Despite the mountains of research that has been conducted in the subsequent centuries, there are still some who refuse to accept the metaphorical meteor hurtling towards modern society. There are many strains of climate rhetoric in the media today- Some doomsday proclamations, some hopeful grassroots organizers, authorities who claim this has all happened before and there is nothing to worry about, and those who outright deny the science. Even for those who believe that our planet is warming and changing, many are passive, believing the effects will never touch their own lives. On the contrary, we all face food and water shortages, drought, and extreme weather in the coming decades. As an environmental advocate, it is utterly draining to look around and see how many people don’t understand the weight of our position. It’s exhausting having to explain to our peers time and again how the changes we face will affect them. Especially now, it seems our advocacy has fallen on deaf ears, our words dissipating into an apathetic void. We ask again, how can we possibly get through to people who are determined to play teams? How can we teach those who are unable (or unwilling) to untangle truth from propaganda? Not only do these factions disagree with the facts, they are unwilling to engage in conversation, and any attempt ends in hurling insults in the fashion of shit flinging apes. Continue reading here.
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Damming Rivers, Melting Sea Ice
& Warming Oceans
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Join Cliff Krolick, Back Country Excursions of Maine, NECAPA, and the Sierra Club for a special webinar on March 12th at 4pm: Damming Rivers, Melting Sea Ice & Warming Oceans: The Arctic and Subarctic Regions. What's happened to our rivers, a critical circulation system for Earth, climate and life as we have known it on planet Earth? The impoundment (permanent damming) of Earths' major river systems has severely reduced historically available nutrient flows for all marine and human food-webs, and has weakened the planet's thermohaline (the ocean's circulation system driven by the combined effects of temperature and salinity, e.g. AMOC) currents which play a crucial role in regulating our climate. This is forcing additional, significant heat pollution into the atmosphere, contributing to climate warming. Please join us for our next webinar on April 23: Hans Neu: The Disowned Prophet of "Mega-Dams = Eco-Disaster" a Mega-Dam Climate and Marine Ecosystem Trainwreck.
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Matt Cannon, Sierra Club Maine's State Conservation & Energy Director, testifying Volunteer Team of the Month: Legislative Team
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Maine’s 132nd Legislative Session is in full swing! And the Maine Chapter’s Legislative Team is hard at work ensuring that our legislators are busy protecting Maine’s environment and working to stem the impacts of climate change.So far in 2025, our volunteer team has submitted ten pieces of testimony and the session is only getting started. We’re working on bills related to endangered species protection, coastal wetlands, and clean energy, and there’s many more to come. No matter what you’re interested in, there’s a place for you to get involved. Join our Legislative Team to learn more about the legislative process, lobby your local elected officials, and make a difference in Augusta. Reach out to maine.chapter@sierraclub.org today to learn more.
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Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images Green Tip of the MonthBy Jessian Choy via Sierra Magazine
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…Styrofoam is the brand name of a certain plastic foam. This ubiquitous packing material is used for everything from shipping goods to holding coffee to insulating the siding on houses. It’s all known scientifically as expanded polystyrene (EPS) and is one of the most harmful forms of single-use plastic. Like most plastics, EPS contains many chemical additives. It can have flame-retardant chemicals that may leach into food, drinks, or the environment… According to the Ocean Conservancy’s “What the Foam!?” report, EPS can’t be recycled (turned back into EPS). “Even on the rare occasion when EPS foam is actually ‘recycled,’ it’s 'downcycled,’ or made into lower-value items,” Erica Cirino, communications manager at Plastic Pollution Coalition, told me. For example, it can be downcycled mechanically into things like building insulation. But toxic flame-retardant chemicals are added to it because like all plastics, EPS is highly flammable. Before you give EPS to a “recycler,” ask what they’ll do with it. The majority of EPS “recyclers” create more pollution because they chemically “recycle” (also known as advanced or molecular recycling) or incinerate EPS, according to the report. Chemical “recycling” doesn’t reuse plastic. And incinerating plastics emits polluting greenhouse gases and chemicals. Donate EPS coolers and padding to be reused. Reusing something is greener than downcycling it. Ask your local Facebook Buy Nothing group if anyone will reuse your EPS. Some shipping stores like UPS will reuse almost any shipping padding. Continue reading here.
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Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi Estate Planning: Where to Start?
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If you’ve been thinking about creating an estate plan, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Luckily, there are a few easy steps you can take to begin the process.
The first step is information collection. This is a job you can tackle bit by bit, and it will make creating your plan a much smoother process. Gather information and compile it in one central location. Some key items to start with: - Names, addresses, and birthdates for yourself and family members
- An inventory of major items you own such as homes, vehicles, and valuables
- Details about bank accounts and assets, including retirement accounts
Next, do some reflection. Below are some questions to get you started and guide your thinking. You may wish to talk these over with family and friends, in addition to an estate attorney. - Are there loved ones you wish to support through your estate? If this includes younger family members, are they old enough to manage a large sum of money?
- Are there special valuable or sentimental items you want to plan for?
- Are there organizations or causes you wish to support with a legacy gift?
- Who do you want to carry out these wishes?
This information will be a great help when you’re ready to sit down and document your estate plan through a will, trust, or other vehicle your attorney recommends. Visit myplan.sierraclub.org for more free planning resources, available to our members and supporters. If you would like to learn more about including a gift in your estate plan to sustain the work of the Maine Chapter long into the future, please reach out to julia.curtis@gmail.com.
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Here are some of the meetings and events we have coming up. We hope to see you soon! - March 3, 10am-12:30pm: Volunteer Opportunity!
- Join us for an hour (or two!) preparing our March Appeal mailing by hand addressing envelopes, stuffing letters and applying postage and return labels. This is a fun time to socialize and do the important work of raising funds for our Chapter! Lunch provided from 12:30-1:30pm. Please register here.
- March 3, 7pm: Environmental Impact of Fish Farming
- Sierra Club Massachusett's Plant-based Planet Team hosts Spencer Roberts, a marine ecologist, investigative journalist, and PhD student who will discuss the environmental effects of fish farming. Fish farming has been sold as the solution to wild fish depletion and a sustainable way to feed the world, but it actually uses wild fish as feed for farmed fish. This new ecological analysis of feed manufacturing for farmed fish gives a more accurate picture of the true environmental toll, challenging claims of its sustainability and role in providing food security.
- March 4, 11, 20 at 12pm: MCAN Presents Energy Democracy!
- A three-part series decoding energy regulators, net energy billing misinformation, and strategies for utility accountability. Climate advocates often know how to reach their legislators and how bills pass. But there is more to learn to influence regulators and utilities. Join us as we explore how the Public Utilities Commission works and how the Office of the Public Advocate represents us; what is the truth around Net Energy Billing and how can we bring justice and accountability to our Utilities. Register here.
- 3/4: The regulatory framework: PUC + OPA overview
- 3/11: Net energy billing: separating fact from fiction
- 3/20: Utility justice and accountability
- Events Team Meetings: Help us organize events to educate and engage Mainers across the state.
- March 7 at 10am: Political Team Meeting
- Join us for the political work of endorsing candidates and other local actions.
- March 18 at 12pm: Clean Energy Team Meeting
- Join our team and ensure a clean and just energy future for Maine, specifically focused on renewable energy development!
- March 21-23: Meet the Moment: Sierra Club Maine 2025 Chapter Retreat
- Join Sierra Club Maine members, volunteers, and staff for a weekend of meaningful discussion, food and music, and a review of how we are working to save the environment in the face of our most significant challenges in history. We know that sharing in a community with like-minded people is the first and best place to start making a difference.
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Volunteer With Sierra Club MaineInterested 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 looking 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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