Growing up in a big city outside of Maine, I never knew how nature-deprived I was. Experiencing a great sense of serenity while being in a kayak for the first time, appreciating the rugged lake shoreline and tranquil surface of the water, seeing the night sky filled with stars while camping in the great woods of northern Maine, hiking the biggest peaks of the state while realizing how small we are: That is why nature conservation matters.

I lived most of my life without realizing how privileged we are to experience and appreciate the natural places around us. Rapid decline in plant and animal species, inevitably leading to trophic cascade – an ecological imbalance – and degradation of the entire ecosystem, affects every living being. As we lose 10,000 acres of forest to development every year, according to the Maine Climate Action Plan, Maine’s local communities will suffer economically and politically, as the loss of natural reserves means the loss of our humanity.

That’s why I am glad to see that the Maine Climate Council has pledged to protect 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030 in the new Climate Action Plan. But Maine can also lead the nation on this issue. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King can champion conservation by co-sponsoring the Thirty by Thirty Resolution to Save Nature (S.Res. 372). Efforts like 30×30 can unite people to find common ground and protect what was here way before us, and what will most certainly outlive us.

Ivana Radovanovic
Bangor

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