Global warming is the existential crises of our time. The 2018 U.N. climate report states that we need to reduce our carbon emissions by 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and 100 percent below 2010 levels by 2050! We accomplish these goals only if we make massive, transformative changes throughout the world and here at home.

Global climate change has already had many real impacts in Maine. But if we do not act now, together, with all our resources, on all possible fronts, there will be much, much greater adverse effects to all the birds, fish, mammals, forests and people of our state.

This is why I support the New England Clean Energy Connect project to bring 1,200 megawatts of electricity to the New England power grid. It represents a dramatic, efficient and highly effective “quick” first step to bring a very significant amount of renewable carbon-free energy to the region.

Yes, the corridor project will have some minor effects along the corridor, but global warming will affect the entire Maine coast, our entire forest ecosystem and all the flora and fauna that inhabit them. This is not a time for subterfuge and equivocation. It is a time for action based on shared values and facts. We must work together for all our futures.

The good news is that we can achieve the goal laid out in the U.N. climate report! But do not fail to heed the warning of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said: “This report by the world’s leading climate scientists is an ear-splitting wake-up call to the world. It confirms that climate change is running faster than we are – and we are running out of time.”

Christopher Ayres

Pownal

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