Parsing Out What We Love About Our Town as the Climate Changes
Jun 04, 2024
Can you recall what drew you here, either as a visitor, or as one born here who’s chosen, over and over again, to stay?
Was it the sight of Battie and Megunticook dropping down into a small, well-protected harbor with towering windjammer masts? Was it sitting on the dock of a friend’s camp marveling at how soft the water and the air felt? Perhaps it was a stroll around Harbor Park and a meander into a unique, underground library. Or maybe it was the vibe you got from at a local breakfast restaurant where the blueberry muffins were as sweet as the waitstaff.
If you’re reading this, we suspect that you care greatly about Camden’s future. And that future is uncertain. Our waterfront will change. Our winters are changing, our summers, too. Paradoxically, we fear both too much change, and not enough change in response.
We have lots to tackle. In the next six months we’ll be grappling with harbor resilience planning and future planning for our watersheds. Expenses are also rising, as are complicated issues of infrastructure, governance, and citizen involvement.
Do you fear your neighbor won’t agree with how you think things should change? Are you digging in on your position, insisting on your particular solution?
Perhaps we’re using the wrong approach. Perhaps instead of declaring our differences, we need to ask the fundamental question: Why Camden? How’d you get here, and what keeps you here?
Checking in—investing time to care about one another before we seek solutions—will forge connections that lead us toward resiliency.
Upcoming Local Climate Change Events
6/5/24, 5 pm Wednesday, and 6/6/24, 1 pm Thursday, Camden Public Library, CamdenCAN Climate Conversation Circles. See more here. (These are held on the first and third Wednesdays and Thursdays of each month, at 5 and 1 pm respectively.)
6/5/24, Wednesday, 6 pm, Rockport Public Library, Bill Bow, “Understanding Sea Level Rise in Rockport.” The final event in this spring’s lecture series presented by the Rockport Conservation Commission. Read more at the calendar listing here.
6/11/24, Tuesday, 6:30 pm, Camden Public Library, Paul Stancioff, “The En-Roads Interactive Climate Solutions Simulator.” Learn about this insightful way to envision our future from Camden native Stancioff. Read more here. You can check out the En-Roads climate solutions simulator here.
6/13/23, Thursday, 6:30 pm, CamdenCAN presents Camden Talks Climate, “Planning Climate-Friendly Home Energy Upgrades,” with Camden resident and Maine Monitor journalist Annie Ropeik, and Colin McCullough, of All-Around Home Performance in Gardiner. Annie will use her recent experience analyzing emissions reduction in homes (especially her own, 125-year old house in Camden), exploring the energy insights provided by Colin. Come hear how you can reduce carbon emissions at home. See more here. Event is in person and via zoom.
Other Climate Change Opportunities and Inspirations
One of the leaders in climate work is Johanna Macy. Recently she’s been part of the creation of a podcast series called We Are the Great Turning. We think you’ll find it inspirational—maybe we can create a podcast listening circle for this in the fall.
Portland’s One Climate Future sponsors an impressive array of climate talks, learnings, and policy sessions. You can read about them at their website, and signup for their newsletter. The site is a trove of information—their climate action plan, mapping, and events. We particularly like the Coffee and Climate events. This month they’re walking the waterfront—maybe we could do our own version?
Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War, by Tim Steyer. Listen to an interview with the author on Outrage and Optimism, a climate change podcast that makes a great addition to your playlist. Or read this article in Time.
“I first became a ‘climate person’ on a 2006 trip to Alaska with my family. I wanted them to see how beautiful and powerful the untouched American landscape can be. Except there was one problem—Alaska was melting. The vast glacial expanse that I admired on my first visit there in 1981 had completely disappeared. From that point on, I’ve dedicated my time, resources, and energy to helping America win the climate war.” —Tim Steyer
CamdenCAN Newsletter Summer Schedule
We’re advocates of exploration and immersion in this living world. As such we’ll be reducing our publishing schedule over the next several months while we seek adventures—we hope you’ll also have the chance to recharge in all the ways you enjoy.
Concluding Thoughts
We’re fortunate to live in this corner of the world.
Working together, seeking common values, we’ll create a resilient, abundant, and healthy ecosystem, for people and non-humans. We look forward to Camden 2029 and all that it’ll offer.
Thanks for joining in the work of crafting our future.
I’m not saying that you should drop everything and devote yourself full-time to climate—at least not necessarily. But I am saying you should think about it. If you want to lead an interesting, rewarding, and fulfilling life, the kind of life that makes a difference, there’s nowhere better to do it than as part of the climate movement. And there have never been more ways to join that movement than there are right now.
Though you don’t have to completely upend your life to do your part, there’s a good chance you’ll have to make big changes. To be a responsible person in today’s world, you need to understand the basics of what’s happening to our planet and how it affects us all. Most importantly, you have to make sure your actions reflect that understanding, not just at the margins, but by incorporating climate into every big decision you make—you have to become a climate person. “What are you doing to fight climate change?” is the “What did you do in the war?” of our time. —Tim Steyer, interview in Time