Camden Community Action
How Does Camden Move Forward on Climate Work?
Process, process, process. Whose vision of Camden will guide us?
How we move forward together as a community matters as much as what we do as a community. We’d like your help navigating a climate future for Camden.
We’d could easily just say navigating a future, yet our work here is to shine a light of perspective on the boatload of pressing issues induced by our rapidly warming world, which we shorthand as climate.
Some neighbors and town staff inform us that all their decisions are grounded in the truth of the changing global atmospherics. We won’t buy that until we see a change in process, for if nothing else the emerging world is one where we need the way we work to change as much as the work we do.
Going forward, Camden needs to plot a more inclusive, citizen-led path through the pressures and issues we face, whether it be the inundation and infiltration of our wastewater plant (view the select board agenda on the joint Camden-Rockport wastewater meeting here, the livestream here—tonight 9/24/24) or the decisions we will make about the Public Landing and the Yacht Club. (See Camden Harbor Resilience below.)
We need hundreds of us to get engaged in these issues—show up, speak up, as groups or individually: letters to the editor, conversations with select board, notes to this column. Be heard.
The good news is that process seeds have been sewn for climate resilience in town. We have a two-town Pathways Committee working on Complete Streets, more room for walking, bicycles, and non-fossil-fuel transport. Have you let them know how you feel about their work? What about asking for ebikes discounts and program, enrolling the help of the DOT? (There are many initiatives around the state—Rockland is leading the way, see their ideas, here.)
We are closer to a citizen’s-led group examining the Megunticook Watershed (closer because the agendas are not yet set by citizens). We’re glad they’re investigating ways to provide vital habitats for humans and non-humans.
We have a Harbor Committee investigating non-fossil fuel waterfronts. We’d also like to encourage that group to create a process that ensures that anyone with a Camden mooring (for boats with accommodations) document their use of the free pump-out boat in order to get a mooring renewal; we’d also like a report on the equitable and fair turnover of Camden moorings. Oh, and what about focusing on incentives to discourage ships burning large amounts of carbon? See Bar Harbor’s work on this. Harbors belong to more than the folks who already have boats or own boatyards.
It’s your town, your harbor, your watershed. Our Camden.
This transition is about process, equity, transparency, caring for non-human populations, and ensuring future generations live in world that reduces power struggles between populations. We share the planet. We share the power.
It’s taken a while—citizen input and collaboration are not the fastest ways to get societal changes made. Or to win grants.
Yet. Speed of decisions isn’t what’s needed. We need to focus on an agreed set of values—and we’ll only get there by hashing out what’s important. For all. Compromises will be made.
Our changing world involves weaving the perspectives of those who are monied and those who are struggling to pay their new Camden tax bills; human, and non-human, who also rely for their lives on our values and voices.
We can create pathways—voiceways—for ALL Camden voices.
Welcome to Camden Community Action. Let’s make it a way of life going forward: citizens guiding the process.
We’ll need to create robust forums for input and for sharing the process and outcome of our work. See the links to websites of neighboring towns below—we can do this.
Community Action Grants
When the state launched its Maine Won’t Wait climate plan four years ago it included a program called Community Action Grants. They included a requirement for towns to enroll in a community partnership, and demonstrate that they’d held town-wide workshops to gather community input.
Quietly, Camden applied for round one ($50,000 for an electric bus—the school led the request—we can’t find any record of a community-wide discussion); round two ($2,000 to help purchase an EV for the town planning office); and round three ($50,000, initially focused on sea-level rise and the Public Landing; revised in the wake of the January 2024 storms to focus on the entire inner harbor). The round-three grant was awarded by the select board 07/02/24 and is being implemented by Richardson Associates/WSP USA (see below: Camden Harbor Resilience—Come Be Heard).
The state has just announced its next round of community action grants. The List of Community Actions (go to this page, scrolling down to the download) focuses on community actions that align with Maine’s broader climate goals. (If you can’t access the list, read of recent grants here and here for inspiration.)
We’re hoping you’ll review the list and answer the poll at the bottom of this eletter. Or send your ideas/preferences for this action in the comments section below. Stay tuned here for open meeting dates to discuss ideas.
And forward this newsletter to others—we’ll need all Camden voices to be successful.
Camden Harbor Resilience—Come Be Heard
As mentioned above, Camden’s third Community Action Grant involves creating a vision for a Camden Harbor that can withstand the next century as seas continue to rise and the world continues to warm.
A meeting outlining the goals of this grant will be held Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at 6:30 pm at the Camden Public Library. (We know this conflicts with a select board meeting—we’re hoping that the latter gets rescheduled, but if not, you can view both, but only one of them live!)
This is the first of several sessions—at this meeting the overall situation and process will be explained, with dates and agendas for future sessions provided as well.
There will be refreshments, and an overflow room where children can make themselves comfortable. (Let us know what other barriers to attendance you face and we’ll do our best to accommodate.)
Food Garden Tour Followup
We want to give a big shout out to the dozen or so gardeners who led guided tours of their food plots or allowed their gardens to be viewed on drive-bys. We loved the buzz we could feel in each garden—the literal buzz of all the pollinators, as well as the joy of neighbors meeting for the first time, sharing bits about rain catching, cultivating raspberries, or keeping pests at bay without harmful chemicals. We hope to make this an annual tour, with year-long educational events and workshops. Local food and reducing food waste help reduce our carbon usage.
Upcoming CamdenCAN Events
10/2/24, 5 pm (Wednesday), and 10/3/24, 1 pm (Thursday), Camden Public Library, Final Climate Conversation Circles (for now—until January 2025). See more at the Camden Public Library event calendar.
10/3/24, Thursday, at 6:30 pm, “Hurricanes in Midcoast Maine: Past, Present, and Future,” with Dr. Kerry Emanuel, emeritus professor of atmospheric science at MIT. Part of the Camden Talks Climate lecture series. Event will be in person and on video. Read more about it here.
10/15/24, Tuesday, at 6:30 pm, Camden Harbor Resilience, with Peter Slovinsky, Maine State Geologist, Blake Sanborn and Todd Richardson, from Richardson Associates. Food and child-friendly room (with livestream) will be provided. Meeting will also be on video.
Other Upcoming Climate-Related Events
9/28-10/13/24, Rockland/Camden Window Dressers Build (scroll down to Rockland), American Legion Hall, Park Street, Camden. If you can’t figure out the site and want to volunteer, email cevans@gwi.net.
10/9/24, Thursday, 5-7 pm, Tenderwild Farm, 33 Gurney St., Rockport. “Climate, Community, and Farming,” sponsored by Midcoast Climate, Energy, and Green Building Happy Hour.
Our Neighbors’ Climate Work—Inspiration!
We wanted to share the websites/document of neighboring towns to showcase their climate groups and initiatives.
Rockland—among other inspirations are the fact that they have a sustainability coordinator, a biking initiative, and efforts to improve an already robust EV charging infrastructure. (Plus lots of community input sessions.)
St. George—the link takes you to the work of their Community Resilience Committee. Shares information about the investments they’ve made with their Community Action Grants. Read the sidebar on the left to see the immense inroads they’ve made on town vulnerability assessments as well as solar power. They’re currently collaborating with South Thomaston for their next grant.
Vinalhaven—the link takes you to their Sea Level Rise and Climate Committee. Terrific outline of the scope of the committee and its expanded mission (2024).
Brooklin—the town dedicates many pages to the work of its Climate Response Team. Have a look, and sign up for the substack penned by Doug Hylan. They’ve had potlucks with focuses on reducing climate impact (bonus, meet your neighbors!), helped neighbors navigate Efficiency Maine rebates, etc.
Isleboro and here—lots of work with joint heat pump purchases, helping folks afford home energy audits, and coming together to solve major issues like road washouts and energy independence.
Lincolnville and here—their conservation commission’s page outlines their solar array initiative. Also links to a talk they hosted on Sea Level Rise and Groundwater Intrusion, as well as a slide deck on Sea Level Rise given by a Gulf of Maine research scientist in 2023.
Hope—currently creating a Resilient Communities Task Force.
Belfast—the link takes you to the home page of their Climate, Energy, & Utilities Committee. This link takes you to the town’s 2023 Climate Action Plan. And, the folks up there have also created a Waldo County Climate Action Coalition. Who’d like to help us create a Knox County Climate Action Coalition?
Concluding Thoughts
“Don’t it always seem to go…”
Let’s not wake up in ten years and wonder what happened to Camden, or Maine, or the planet. The time for Camden Community Climate Action is now.
Read up, share this newsletter, get inspired by our neighboring towns. And talk to your neighbors, over the fence, or over a cup of tea. Come join us. We’d love to meet you.
