MAINE VOICES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

from the Portland Press Herald, FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014:
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/Maine_Voices__Citizen_leaders_stand_up_to_protect_Maine_s_precious_natural_heritage_.html?pagenum=1 

"Alice Bolstridge, now of Presque Isle, was born in Portage Lake.

"She is a proud grandmother who has spent countless hours educating her friends and neighbors in Aroostook County about the environmental threats from Irving Corp.’s recent proposal to weaken Maine’s mining rules to go after gold, copper and other minerals at Bald Mountain, not far from her home.

Alice drove a total of 24 hours in the last year to testify at three public hearings in Augusta on this issue. She came to public forums, wrote letters to the editor and helped organize a presentation about mineral mining in her hometown. Alice is a force to be reckoned with and a champion for clean air, clean water and the health of future generations."

EARTH DAY 2014

To our Legislators,

I have concerns relevant to climate-change legislation that must be addressed in order to make substantial progress in reversing the damage already done to our climate.  The influence of money and corporate power in political decisions has hampered efforts to protect our environment for at least a century and led to the predicament we are in now with global warming and all other damages to the environment.  That influence has greatly increased with Supreme Court decisions in Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC.  Right here in Maine, the influence of Irving, Inc. is only one example of many political decisions being made in Augusta that favor the profit of corporations over the protection of the environment.   What is your position on these decisions and on the increasing income inequality that reduces the power of the people to take care of the earth, our home?

I am increasingly alarmed about the influence of climate-change deniers, and those who see big profits for corporations as the only means to improve the local economy and create jobs.  This is a short-sighted view which has only worked in the last hundred years to hinder progress in protecting the environment, to send profits outside of the local area, and to prevent the growth of green energy and of stable, sustainable economic opportunity for all local citizens.  Please prioritize protection of the environment over corporate profits.