Active hope
From November 2022 Newsletter
On Wednesday, October 26, the first session of ACTT’s new Climate Ambassadors program began, with 20 community members coming together to learn more about climate change, local impacts and solutions, and support each other in identifying and actively stepping into their roles within solutions. In our first session, we covered an overview of basic climate science and the significance of the goal of keeping warming as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The same day, the United Nations released a report ahead of the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP), the annual international conference on climate change. The report found that while 193 countries agreed at last year's COP to step up their national climate action and deliver more ambitious plans before this year’s conference, only 26 of those countries have followed through. Notably, the large emitters like the U.S. and China are missing from that list of 26. Without an actual “stepping up” in action, the report found, the world is set to warm between 2.1 and 2.9 degrees Celsius, far beyond the 1.5 target urged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), crossing the threshold into catastrophic climate impacts.
I read about that report Thursday morning, after packing school lunches, hearing eager stories about the coming school day, wiping blueberries off my three-year-old's face, and kissing my daughter’s still soft cheek before she trotted eagerly to the school door. I sat at my desk in ACTT’s new temporary office space and read the news. I didn’t feel surprised, but something inside me ached. I ached for my children, yes, but also for all of us who love this world and dig our hands deep into what could be.
I closed my computer and drove to Tremont, where I sat with the Town Manager and talked about all the significant steps Tremont is taking to cultivate community resilience in the face of the changing climate. I felt awe at the leadership on display and whispers of hope.
I drove back to the new ACTT headquarters and opened the door to the echo of joyful voices. Our staff is a group of impassioned young women, and that Thursday morning I heard conversations about co-operative solar ownership, the benefits of heat pump hot water heaters, their excitement over collaborations with the fall ACTT interns, and how to help ensure that our community accesses and implements the funding opportunities available through the Inflation Reduction Act. I felt purpose charging through the hallways and my hope grew.
When I returned home that evening, my daughter told me about her day at school. “It was social justice day, Mom,” she said. “We talked about tides.”
“You talked about tides? Tell me more; what is the connection between tides and social justice?”
“Well, Mom, think about it. There are different types of tides, and sometimes, the tide is bigger and the water comes up much higher. And if you lived somewhere close to the water, you’d be in trouble. And if you didn’t have much money, you’d be in even more trouble, because you wouldn’t be able to fix what got damaged. That’s what we talked about today.”
Hope is all around us. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s good people of all walks of life learning and envisioning together, loving their communities and this world enough to work for what is still possible. It’s the small Maine town modeling effective climate action for the whole world, the first graders learning about tides and social justice, the grandmother holding her grandson on her lap while she participates in the Climate Ambassadors program, and the high school student spending time after school supporting building solutions for MDI residents. It’s the communities from throughout Maine that we meet with every month to offer support and collaboration in community-driven climate action. I know what the headlines say, but I also know my experience in this work and I have hope. Something is swelling from the ground up. Opportunities abound.