FARMINGTON – A Global Climate Strike event that included gatherings across the world resulted in two events in the Farmington area, with more than 150 people participating.
More than 150 countries participated in the Global Climate Strike last Friday, with mostly students and other young adults demanding that world leaders take steps to address climate change. The events were designed to coincide with this week’s United Nations climate summit. In Maine, the largest event in Portland drew more than 2,000 participants, according to the Portland Press Herald.
In Farmington, Rangeley Lakes Regional School student Hannah McMillan helped organize events in Meetinghouse Park at noon and an evening event in front of the post office. She said that Farmington was a perfect location for the event, with the University of Maine at Farmington and Mt. Blue Middle and High school.
“I think it’s important to get as many young people involved in the fight for climate justice as possible,” McMillan said. “They have to realize that it is their future in which climate change is going to have direct impacts upon.”
More than a 100 people were at Meetinghouse Park Friday, listening to a series of speakers. McMillan said she was grateful to see the turnout.
“It gives me high motivation moving forward knowing that there are a lot of other students in Maine wanting to be a part of this fight. Seeing the world strike for climate change gave me a sense of unification, a global initiation to change our ways in order to live more sustainably,” McMillan said.
Governor Janet Mills appeared before the United Nations General Assembly Monday, the first such appearance by a sitting governor in Maine’s history. She indicated that she had signed an Executive Order committing the state to carbon neutrality by 2045.
“We all have what it takes to combat climate change, to protect the irreplaceable earth we share and care for,” Governor Mills said, in her remarks. “What is more precious than water, air, soil, the health and happiness of our children and our children’s children and yours? For all of them, today, by Executive Order, I am pledging that Maine will be carbon neutral by 2045.”
The order requires that the newly-created Maine Climate Council provide recommendations by the end of the year on ways to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
Here we go….
If the world does not have a ‘Boogey Man’ They will make one up….Today’s Boogey Man’ is no longer President Trump..it is ‘Climate Change’. March March March and it will not change a thing. Can the Governor explain in detail what is ‘Carbon Nuetral’ in a world where electric car production and use creates more of a carbon footprint that gasoline powered vehicles? What are we going to do with all the toxic batteries when they need to be replaced? Is anyone aware of the carbon footprint of recycling toxic material? While all the sheep are marching to a drummer they really do not understand they might take the time to pull their head out of their rear ends
and learn the facts between the climate, weather and the natural cycles of planet earth. A world wide march and protest against CHINA and their pollution to human environment might be a consideration for future UMF students….
Dear Lion, you can comfort yourself with your own version of science, but that won’t change reality. If you can’t face it, at least let people of good will try their best to confront this problem constructively.
Good luck with your fantasy that all is cool – in a way, I envy you.
To the Lion ……Indeed, please educate yourself on the facts about climate, weather, and natural earth cycles. But don’t take the word of politicians, tv and radio talk show hosts, conspiracy theory websites, or so-called unbiased science experts from conservative think tanks. There is a big difference between a ‘scientific opinion’ (which is based on peer reviewed studies and longstanding supporting data) and someone’s personal opinion, political opinion, or the opinion of anyone (scientists included) who has connections or financial interests with the fossil fuel industry. Think about the drummer that YOU are marching to. Climate change is not a debate among reputable scientists.
Climate change deniers always point the finger at the rest of the world and bring up China. China’s emissions are twice what they are here in the US. (11 billion tons vs our 5.3 billion tons of CO2 a year.) But their population is 1.4 billion people while ours is 330 million. Then there is India (3rd highest CO2 emitter in the world) ….population 1.3 billion with CO2 emissions at 2.5 billion tons a year (half of ours.) While I agree that China and India CO2 emissions are way up there, the US is a lot worse CO2 emitter than they are considering the number of people.
When I feel the need to get my point across I put on a stupid hat to show just how serious I am. In addition what are those hats in the picture made of? Looks like plastic hmmm
Oh just noticed 2 cell phones in the hands of protesters in the above picture and we all know there were many more in that crowd.
According to the researchers, smartphone components that require the most amount of energy to produce are the chip and the motherboard – as they are made up of precious metals mined at a high cost.
While these phones consume little energy to operate, 85% of their emissions impact comes from production, the researchers said.
Go ahead and Google it I’ll wait,
Hardly. Trump is still THE Boogeyman. Boogeyman-in-chief.
Taxpayer, I noticed the cell phones also. Since these kids are constantly on their phones/tablets/laptops etc. you would have to assume they need to be plugged in a lot to stay charged. Is that “green”?
The Lion Roars – The Eagle Soars……………..you can swim, can’t you?
Uh oh phone users
Children as young as seven are working in perilous conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to mine cobalt that ends up in smartphones, cars and computers sold to millions across the world, by household brands including Apple, Microsoft and Vodafone, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International.
Damn these facts
The human rights group claims to have traced cobalt used in lithium batteries sold to 16 multinational brands to mines where young children and adults are being paid a dollar a day, working in life-threatening conditions and subjected to violence, extortion and intimidation.
Throw all of these devices away immediately
Just can’t take my eyes off of the protesters with concerns about humanity
How many have gold jewelry on? Did you know
It is estimated that around 1 million children work in mines throughout the world.
Mining is considered a form of hazardous labor unfit for children under any circumstances, including poverty. Mining can lead to serious injuries; health consequences and an unknown number of children lose their lives while mining every year.
Around the world, children, ages 5-17, work in mines for as little as $2 per day.Because of the relatively small number of child miners (one million), compared to child laborers in agriculture (over 100 million), child mining has not received the attention it deserves. Additionally, mining often takes place in temporary, remote, small-scale locations making it difficult to regulate and monitor.
Because of the relatively small number of child miners (one million), compared to child laborers in agriculture (over 100 million), child mining has not received the attention it deserves. Additionally, mining often takes place in temporary, remote, small-scale locations making it difficult to regulate and monitor.
Children can be found working in mines in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and in parts of Europe.
Work for child miners includes digging shafts, crushing rocks, and carrying ore in gold mines and digging, scraping and lifting in salt mines and carrying and crushing large stones in quarries.
Child miners face many potential health consequences due to the nature of their work including: over-exertion , respiratory ailments, headaches, joint problems, hearing and vision loss.
In addition to the risks faced by all child miners, children miners in gold also face potential side effects from working with Mercury. Mercury is a highly toxic substance used to extract gold. Mercury poisoning can affect a person’s brain, heart, kidneys, and lungs. Additionally, Mercury poisoning is extremely detrimental to children, affecting their nervous system development leading to long-term developmental disabilities.
Children are often forced into mines by poverty. Human Rights Watch, a CLC member, believes that the boycott of goods produced from mines where children work is not the answer. Reducing the income of already impoverished communities can lead to higher levels of children labor. Instead, companies and their supplies need to work to initiate programs removing children from the supply chain.Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom are top destinations for products of child mining. Consumers often buy diamonds, gold and precious gems from retailers with disregard to the origin of their jewelry and the human toll that helped produce it.
Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom are top destinations for products of child mining. Consumers often buy diamonds, gold and precious gems from retailers with disregard to the origin of their jewelry and the human toll that helped produce it.
I’m sure all of the jewelry here was responsibly sourced ?
It’s disgraceful to use kids as political pawns. We will not be manipulated into surrendering more of our rights and hard-earned money for this overblown hoax. It’s not a grass-roots movement when literally every establishment authority from the media to academia to celebrities are all promoting the same alarmist narrative. Green? They’re growing a patch of watermellons. Green on the outside and communist red on the inside. The schools and teachers promoting and sanctioning these so-called “protests” should be ashamed of themselves.
What about the high school students who left school to attend this rally. Hopefully they will be disciplined for cutting classes.
I’m sure everyone walked to this event and didn’t use a cell phone containing copper or cobalt, charged by fossil fuels so they didn’t further the earths destruction.
Why not be concerned? This is happening in our backyard.
Ocean heat waves: “The abnormally hot water affected animals that live off the coast of Maine, including lobster and other creatures that are crucial to the local fishing economy. What’s more, it quickly became clear that the state wasn’t alone.”
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/25/755859707/earths-oceans-are-getting-hotter-and-higher-and-it-s-accelerating?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20190925&utm_campaign=breaking-news&utm_id=13736134&orgid=
Also by NPR:
Sales of garbage bags skyrocket when bag bans are implemented.
You would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic grocery bag to make using it better for the environment.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage
People need to know this stuff. Bag bans and other silly legislation make legislators feel like they are “saving the planet” when actually, like most government solutions, it has a deleterious effect.
Speaking of education…….people……..wake up! If you are smart enough to read, why not study the planet’s scientific history for the real truth about climate change. There is nothing you can do about the next 100 million years or so, of MAYBE the world temperature changing three degrees in either direction. The cycles will continue no matter what.
Being woke means hating yourself, your culture and nation and still thinking everyone else is brainwashed and crazy. Just like a crazy person.
Why not put your money where your mouth is?? Be FIRST to start LIVING the REAL MOVEMENT. PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH, don’t try to force everyone ELSE to!
This means:
No phones, no iPads, no computers, no internet, no Xbox, no new clothes, no new shoes, no makeup, no public transportation, no concerts or dance parties, no rides to school, no exotic food from elsewhere (soy, yogurt, kashi, goya…you know), no new medicines, no plastics, no heat set over 62 in winter, 30% increase in property taxes right off, $7 gasoline, any service you use (plumber, painter, furnace tech etc) add 30% to their bill….
and we don’t want to hear you complain, one bit when you get the bill!!!!! All you’re asking for is to give all of your freedom over to (in your own words) a corrupt government – what could go wrong? Remember you asked for it when a Trump comes along, wielding the power YOU gave away… :)
BTW, yup…you can get 1,000 bags from Amazon for $30, and many ppl are doing just that. They biodegrade rapidly, in spite of your virtue signalling.
Taxpayer, $2 is 14yuan in China, they earn, using your $2 model, $430usd per month, that’s, 3,066 yuan per month, or about half what an adult earns per month(6,125 yuan after taxes). Nobody pays kids the same as adults to do anything, if an adult shovels your driveway they charge by the hour or by the job, if your kids shovel the driveway you buy them a cheap toy from Walmart or if the kid next door shovels, you might throw him a couple bucks, it’s probably not going to be anywhere near minimum wage. And American kids today are too materialistic to work like a kid in a foreign country. You say to an average American kid today, “Hey I’ll pay you $20 if you load and unload 2 hay wagons.” they’d look at you like you spoke a different language. But in communist and socialist countries kids working is how it works, EVERY body contributes.
Janet and the snotty little girl from Switzerland make me want to to start burning coal just for the heck of it….
Just a couple other things to add to the ruined world, what about nuclear waste that is 20,000 times safe standards, dumped by japan in 2018 into the pacific ocean from fukashima? It has 24,000 year half life. That will effect far more generations than climate change. The nrc should be in focus as well.
Hrtlss, couldn’t agree more about some of our youth being lazy along with their sense of entitlement. My point was and is that these climatears always preach to us that they have everyone’s best interests at heart without knowing all the facts such as the children doing the work in these mines with all of the risks involved. The Hypocrisy of the left never ceases to amaze me.
@Eunice Shurtleff & Captain Planet…couldn’t agree more!
I think the biggest point here is that us humans are so egotistical and self important to believe that we can save the planet. The history of humankind here is but a speck on the timeline of our planet and universe. It has seen worse than us and it will again. Earth will continue on without us. It will shake us humans off like a bad case of fleas.
Meanwhile, you baby boomer morons posting comments on this article from your iPad are so concerned about holding onto your “hard earned” cash and property and supporting your guy Trump that you have no idea what is going on around you. Your children and grandchildren are GOING to be affected by climate change. But you don’t care, because you’ll be gone, and that’s all that matters.
Time to get your head out of the sand and care for your fellow human beings. Donald Trump doesn’t care about you.
Typical….put people down and call them names. What are we in….grammar school?
All you have to do is look at the incredible melting at the poles to see that we have big problems considering the amount of heating that had to take place for that to happen. This should be a huge worry for everyone who sees it, yet conservatives continue to deny that anything out of the ordinary is happening while planning how to cash in on all the business opportunities in shipping and resources this opens up.
Nobody wants to have to change how we live. We all like it. Humans have carved out a comfortable existence filled with conveniences. But we didn’t plan things well (if at all). Our whole society revolves around fossil fuels which the earth had safely tucked away underground for millions of years. In our ignorance, we have been drilling and digging and bringing this stuff up to the surface for over a century. Now we have more CO2 in the atmosphere than has been for over 3 million years.
The science is clear. Our way of life here on earth is going to change in big ways. We can either get in front of this and have some control over those changes and maybe slow things down, or we can keep denying the whole thing, do nothing, and then try to adapt. LOL
Lindy, just what are you doing to combat this? I hope you’ve thrown away your computer, phone, bought an electric car, dont travel, don’t buy anything plastic and don’t forget gold,silver and diamonds cant have those either. What do you heat your house with? Really please enlighten us as to what your doing?
I find it highly amusing that so many efforts to “debunk” the harsh science behind climate change, or to “prove” that the protesters against climate-denial are not somehow totally pure in actions, deportment, or ideology, only shows that these protests–this resistance–are highly effective and very disturbing. I cheer the courage and energy of people young and old who seek to call our attention to this looming disaster–and disaster it will be–and strive to make our world a better place and to ensure the survival of the human race.
William D Jennings, Climate change reversal is like Morton’s fork, the natural way would be to plant more green trees and grasses, Pro changers claim the key to lessen our reliability on fossil fuel generated power is to eliminate more green trees and grasses to build things like windturbines and solar panels that require the burning of fossil fuels to make, the whole saying “You can’t have it both ways.” is true when it comes to trying to reduce our carbon footprint to zero or even lowering it. Human need prevents it. people can resist or protest all they want, it won’t do any good. People in the bigger cities in America could easily ride bikes to commute which would lower that city’s CO2 emissions, but people won’t. We live in a tech driven world, tech requires power and lots of it, people will not turn off their main breakers during the day while they work and are not home to reduce the power usage during the day which will lower the need to produce as much electricity as more will be stored and that means that less will need to be produced. Very easy things can be done by individual people to reduce the carbon foot print, but I guess it’s easier to protest and rally than it is to actually do anything about it. Personally, I call BS, on the whole thing.
All this hostility! We are all Americans, but we seem to want to put down people who have different values. We are all earthlings, but instead of pulling together to improve our lives some of those who wrote their opinions about those of us who warn against climate change get more satisfaction from publishing put downs. Why is it that we can all sympathize with first responders and neighbors of the LEAP explosion, but so many feel hostile to their neighbors who get together to bring attention to the slower, but real threats to life as usual on planet Earth. Is this a question of Republicans v.s. Democrats, or is it a culture war against science and “Liberals”?
To Taxpayer…….Thanks for asking….it sort of illustrates the whole point. Our society has evolved to be almost entirely dependent on petroleum products and fossil fuels and it is that high usage that is creating the high CO2 emissions that are now heating up the earth. Our everyday lives are so dependent on petroleum related products, it is difficult to function within society without utilizing them because non-petroleum products are no longer available or are too expensive. Even if you live in the back woods somewhere and off the grid, you can’t entirely escape petroleum.
Lindy, thank you for your response. So you’ve done nothing to lessen your carbon footprint but want to tell others that they need to do something. The only people getting rich are the Al Gore types who fly on a private jets to tell others we need to carpool, install wind turbines and drive electric cars. The old don’t do as I do do as I say doesn’t work for me.
To Taxpayer…..I am hesitant to respond about my personal info to someone who operates under a pseudonym. And, I don’t know what that even has to do with anything. We ALL have a carbon footprint and that is the whole problem. Our society is almost completely dependent on fossil fuels which is what has gotten us to the current very serious climate change crisis. To make matters worse, we are doing little to change things because of the very powerful fossil fuel industry and the corrupt politicians they back. Then, there are the people who believe the politicians over the scientists!!!!!! Why do you do that?
Lindy, I never said I believe politicians over scientists? Now you sound like Shiff and Nadler.
What do Schiff and Nadler have to do with this unless you are referring to their work trying to remove a toxic stench from the White House!
If anyone is still reading this, I have something important to say. The responsibility for mitigating Climate Change does not and should not rest solely on the shoulders of individuals.
Combating this issue should be at the top of everyone’s agenda, but choosing not to use technology (like all of us are doing to access this article), or any other small individual choice won’t change the world alone; although in no way am I discouraging changing your personal habits based on ethics.
If we want to see real changes, we must urge corporations and governments to do better.
Do not turn people into hypocrites for acknowledging that their future is crumbling.
As a student, I will continue to demand changes from the power structures that limit my personal choices.
For anyone who believes that us students are not making environmentally or socially ethical choices, please help us by leading as an exemplar.
We won’t stop you if you want make systemic changes all on your own so that we can finally make the right choices.
But if you can’t make those systemic changes on your own, remember that we aren’t giving up.. and we will not rest until we see some systemic change.
@david firsching taxpayer was referencing how Lindy twists his words and therefore makes what he says wrong or simply deflects from truth. Ya know how schiff twisted the transcript in a way it fit the narrative of Impeachment yet nothing he said was factually in the transcript. He lied but he’s a democrat so he can say it was a parody and it makes it ok to make a mockery of the governments council. As for nadler well he should concentrate on his appearance and not be so delusional with his conspiracy theories after three years of investigation they still have no proof of anything for impeachment so they keep grasping at straws. Have a great weekend
@david firsching…I guess you didn’t watch the farce during the Legislature’s Intelligence (that’s questionable) Committee hearing the other day
Reading the last few comments above I now understand why we can’t have nice things, or conversations. Just a reminder that this is an article about a Student led gathering that took place in Farmington to stand in global unison with people doing the same in thousands of other places around the globe for an hour or two. It has nothing to do with more recent events or your personal political view. Obsessing and repeating a radio or tv personality’s “opinion” one way or another is misinformation attempts 101. Great work to everyone who came out to support our global future together. Change is slow but inevitable. Me and my children and grandchildren… thank you.