I am a seventh-grade student at the Friends School of Portland. As a young student destined to inherit planet Earth, I consider reducing carbon emissions in Maine as a matter of utmost importance.

This is why I am extremely grateful for Maine’s new governor, Janet Mills. Quoting Gov. Mills’ inaugural address: “But today our connection to the land is endangered. After 80 years of studies warning that carbon emissions are destroying our environment, the danger is now at our doorstep.”

I am elated that Gov. Mills put the topic of climate change first in her address. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost any other body of saltwater in the world, with severe consequences for Maine’s fisheries. And the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states that humans have 12 years to cut the world’s carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent or the consequences will be catastrophic.

In this tunnel of darkness, there is a pinprick of light. That light is Gov. Mills. Her plan to ease Maine into renewable resources gives me hope. And hope is a very important thing for a child, inheriting this world, to have.

Anna Siegel
Yarmouth