This letter is an appeal, especially to our state government officials from western Maine. We are members of the Maine Western Mountain Chapter of Third Act, senior citizens over 60 years of age concerned about climate change. We have about 60 members from towns across western Maine. In our long lives, we have seen significant negative changes across the world and here in Maine. Climate change is a key factor behind many of those changes.

In recent years, Maine has experienced extreme weather that has cost us millions. Some businesses still have not reopened or resumed full operations due to destruction from the brutal storm in December. Maine businesses repeatedly suffer revenue losses from disrupted seasonal weather that negatively affects vegetable/fruit crops, maple syrup production, cold weather-related businesses, farmers, forestry, etc. The warming Gulf of Maine has impacted commercial fishing.

It is common sense that considering the billions of dollars in damages and business losses every year due to extreme storms, wildfires, floods, heat waves, droughts, etc., across the country, we should be working diligently to get control of climate change, so the destruction doesn’t happen in the first place. Our culture, tightly woven around greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels, has proven to be unsustainable and we must shift to other energy sources. Unfortunately, despite endless climate related disasters and huge losses, many in government continue to stand in the way of climate action.

We are counting on our Maine senators and representatives to back legislation that expands and promotes green energy use, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, and supports the measures outlined in Maine’s Climate Action Plan. We can get climate change under control if we all pull together.

Doug Rawlings, Chesterville

Lindy Moceus, Vienna

Eileen Kreutz, Industry

Randy Oakley, Mount Vernon

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