Artwork by Ed Nolde, Artist & Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
December 2025
In this issue:
Big Wins on Election Day!
Sierra Club Maine’s Year-End Appeal
Maine Energy Webinar December 16th
Tell Truck Manufacturers to Keep Their Promise to Build Clean Trucks!
Become A Volunteer Energy Coach
Make Polluters Pay Day of Action January 29th
Revival of the Sierra Student Coalition
A Letter for Jane Goodall
Green Tip of the Month
The Month Ahead
Photo Credit: Save Maine Absentee Voting
Big Wins on Election Day!
Sierra Club Maine endorsed No on Question 1, which had an overwhelming majority of Mainers support. "Opponents of Question 1 called the defeat a victory for voting rights and for Maine voters.” Read more here.
Also, our Political Committee endorsed one mayoral candidate, who also won: Liam LaFountain! Sierra Club Maine (in coordination with Biddeford–Saco Climate Action Team) endorsed Liam LaFountain for Mayor of Biddeford! On City Council, he has been a steady advocate for climate-smart planning, conservation, and equitable growth, and we look forward to working with him in his new role! Loren McCready, Biddeford resident, shares that the mayoral election, "marked an important shift for a community seeking stronger environmental leadership. Sierra Club Maine endorsed Liam LaFountain because he brings a thoughtful, community-centered approach to land-use planning and climate resilience, along with a genuine willingness to engage with local advocates, conservation partners, and residents. His election reflects a growing public understanding that climate resilience, rapid development, and housing affordability are closely linked, and that Biddeford’s future depends on planning decisions that address these challenges through sustainable, long-term strategies." Continue reading here.
Sierra Club Maine’s Year-End Appeal
Be on the lookout for our last appeal letter of the year! We know year-end asks can be overwhelming, and all the mail really starts to pile up. The special thing about our appeal is that EVERY dollar you donate, as a response to our letter, STAYS IN MAINE. We get SO excited every time we see a donation come through. Your donations are immediately put to work. Year-end donations, especially, are important because they help ensure a solid foundation for the coming year—and in 2026 we are going to need that foundation to be stronger than ever! Thank you, in advance, for helping us reach our year-end goals!
Webinar 12/16:
Maine Energy–Past, Present, and Future
Join us December 16th, 12-1:30pm for a webinar covering Maine's energy history, current energy status, and future energy projections. Time will be made available for questions and advocacy suggestions.
Register
The Past: Maine started with a heavy dependence on wood for thermal and industrial energy but soon developed hydropower to run mills for wood product, textiles, food processing, and industrial products. In the 1900s Maine turned primarily to coal and oil. The state depended entirely on imports for the fossil fuel sector of its economy while domestic wood and water still served part of the energy market.
The Present: Maine is aggressively turning to renewable energy sources. By state statute, we consider biomass and small hydropower to be part of that “renewable” domain of energy, but both of these sources are coming under increased scrutiny. Maine’s transportation sector is almost wholly fed by fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel) while space heating is predominantly done with oil and propane. While our electrical supply is increasingly fed by renewable sources, it is still maintained with ample fossil fuel input.
The Future: The Maine 132nd legislature has prescribed the future for electrical energy production in Maine: 100% “clean” sources (90% of which are to be renewable) by the year 2040. Accompanying that is a statute to drive our net greenhouse gas emissions to zero (carbon neutrality) by the year 2045. Solar and wind facilities will be our primary energy generators with large battery systems smoothing the supply curve. Distributed energy resources will become commonplace. Join us to see what the implementation may look like.
Cars and trucks travel down a packed freeway Photo by iStock.com/plherrera
Tell Truck Manufacturers:
Keep Your Promise to Build Clean Trucks
The largest truck companies in the U.S. made a promise to reduce emissions, and our communities are counting on them to keep it. The Clean Truck Partnership was supposed to help transition to electric trucks and protect our health. But now Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, International Motors, and PACCAR are trying to back out with a lawsuit that would undo their commitment.
We deserve clean air and a livable planet, not corporate backtracking.
Tell them to drop the lawsuit and honor their commitment to clean trucks and clean air!
Take Action
Become A Volunteer Energy Coach
Are you interested in learning more about clean energy options for homes? Do you want to help neighbors save on heating and cooling costs, improve their indoor air quality and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels?
Join a team of volunteers who will help guide local residents through the process of improving their home’s efficiency. As an energy coach, you’ll be trained by experts in building science, rebates, and incentives that help reduce costs. No previous technical skills or expertise needed! By committing a few hours per week, you can help homeowners learn how to obtain energy audits and review their options for weatherization and insulation, heat pumps, heat pump hot-water heaters, solar panels and battery back-up.
Getting support from a pair of unbiased volunteer coaches can help neighbors start achieving their home-energy goals . Several Maine communities have already demonstrated the success of this approach. Learn alongside like-minded community members who share an interest in energy efficiency and in helping their neighbors. Learn more here.
Graphic by Survival Media Agency
Make Polluters Pay
Day of Action January 29th
January is the start of the 2026 legislative session, and we’re continuing to strongly advocate for polluter accountability, ensuring the largest oil and gas companies pay their fair share of climate devastation. The ‘Make Polluters Pay’ bill is an Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC) priority bill this session, with broad support, and we need your help to pass it. While the fossil fuel industry continues to rake in massive profits, American families and our local and state governments are paying the ever-increasing costs of climate damages. It’s time to make polluters pay their fair share!
What you can do:
Sierra Club Maine is joining forces with fellow EPC members to rally in support of the ‘Make Polluters Pay’ bill on January 29th, from 9am-11am at the State House in Augusta–we hope to see you there! More information to come in the January Enews.
Tell your legislators to support LD 1870. See fact sheet here.
You can also pass a municipal resolution to support these efforts. Reach out to maine.chapter@sierraclub.org for details.
Photo by Kaitlin Toto Photography
Revival of the Sierra Student Coalition
Letter to the Editor by Liam Morris, Muskan Walia, Peri Hines, Berit Robnett,
Avroh Shah, Autumn Featherstone, Dillan Saltsman, and Harmony Trude
When 37 youth from seven individual Sierra Club chapters came together at the Clair Tappaan lodge in the Lake Tahoe region for the 2025 Summer Program (SPROG), it was not with the intention to revitalize the recently dissolved Sierra Student Coalition (SSC); and yet, the week ended with our unanimous vote to reestablish the SSC. Over the next few months, we communicated with many Sierra Club chapter directors and prepared their proposal for a meeting with the Sierra Club National Board of Directors, which took place on September 13th.
At this meeting, we shared our vision for a revived Sierra Student Coalition and asked for formal affirmation of our chapter status. Students and alumni dating back to 1991 filled the Zoom with virtual backgrounds of the SSC logo, with even the Board president changing his in solidarity. The energy was high, with finance leaders urging us to “dream bigger” and board members surprised that the SSC had not already been restored. This moment made clear what we already knew: in this current political moment, it is imperative to create strong youth activist spaces in the environmental movement. This is the aim of the SSC; we invite the Sierra Club to move with us.
Get involved with the Sierra Student Coalition
Photo by Jane Goodall Institute
A Letter for Jane Goodall
By Susan Bernat, Conservation Team Volunteer
Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
A message here to reach out to others who, like me, may, with a heavy heart, be mourning the passing of Dame Jane Goodall.
What an extraordinary person she was—a trailblazing primatologist; an apostle for the conservation and caretaking of wildlife; an unrelenting voice for the natural world and the environment at large; an incredible role model for women; and a stalwart humanitarian who strove to give voice to those who could not speak for themselves.
Dr. Goodall was at once confident, determined, and a driving spirit; yet she was also modest, soft-spoken, pragmatic, and willing to open her heart to any individual, in an effort to touch another person’s heart. She saw no daylight between Homo sapiens and all other forms of life, because she simply viewed us all as part of the tapestry of life.
And Dr. Goodall was wise in her belief that we can more readily influence people, and change minds, through storytelling, than through reasoning. She did not bow to any man, but neither did she begrudge males. Rather, she believed—as she had been told by an indigenous tribal member—that men and women must live equally, in balance within a community. And she steadfastly believed, indeed preached, that each and every person can make a difference in this world. She created “Roots and Shoots”, an organization for youth worldwide; and by all accounts, she gave special audience to every child that she met, understanding that each one represented the future of our world. Continue reading here.
Sashiko work & photo by Marena Bach
Green Tip of the Month: Repair Something!
By Mike Trombley, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer
Most of us have known about the three Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle – since we can remember. But there’s another R, repair, that’s just as important. This month, avoid buying something new by fixing and restoring an item you already have. You don’t need to be an expert, and just about anyone can find something to repair. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Find a shirt or pair of pants that you can stitch or patch. Use simple iron-on patches or check out the art of visible mending.
- Replace the battery in a phone or laptop. The folks at iFixit.com have hundreds of simple guides and replacement parts for sale.
- Try sanding and oiling a wood cutting board to keep it clean and long-lasting.
- Use a cover or tasteful draped blankets to get another year or two out of an old couch or chair.
Do you have a green tip that you would like to have included in a future newsletter? Please share it with us here!
Image by hthorg from Pixabay
The Month Ahead
Here are some of the meetings and events we have coming up. We hope to see you soon!
Events Team Meetings: Help us organize events to educate and engage Mainers across the state.
12/4 at 12pm
12/18 at 12pm
December 9 at 3pm: Advancement Team Meeting
Help us raise the crucial funds necessary for us to do our work.
December 10 at 12pm: Volunteer Orientation
Learn how you can help protect Maine's environment.
December 12 at 10am: Political Team Meeting
Join us for the political work of endorsing candidates and other local actions.
December 16 at 12pm: Webinar: Maine Energy: Past, Present, and Future
Who doesn’t know Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol”? In it three different ghosts relate the nature of Scrooge’s Christmas holidays past, present, and future. We have adapted this familiar storyline to Maine’s energy and invite you to share it with us in our one-hour webinar. Join us to learn how Maine’s energy future has evolved from past to present and how we wish it to evolve from present to future. Scrooge will see a reliable, economical, clean, renewable energy future.
January 29, 9-11am: Make Polluters Pay Day of Action
Sierra Club Maine is joining forces with fellow EPC members to rally at the State House in Augusta in support of the ‘Make Polluters Pay’ bill. While the fossil fuel industry continues to rake in massive profits, American families and our local and state governments are paying the ever-increasing costs of climate damages. It’s time to make polluters pay their fair share! More info to come in our January newsletter.