Portsmouth Herald Story about Climate Fair
Energy efficiency efforts continue to grow in York
Janet Thompson and Kay Cichon with Sky Juice New England answer questions about their products during the York Energy and Climate Fair held Saturday at York Middle School.Amy Root-Donley
From Deb McDermott’s column today in the Portsmouth Herald
YORK, Maine — It’s an oft-quoted phrase, but more meaningful for the retelling. “Never doubt,” said anthropologist Margaret Mead, “that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
In another of my occasional looks at the sustainability efforts taking place in some of our Seacoast towns, I turn my attention to York this week. I’ll try not to let my hometown pride show too much, as I live in that lovely seaside town, and have off and on since I was a teenager.
Margaret Mead’s assessment is certainly nowhere more true than in York. Back in the green dark ages — 2005 — a small group of residents gathered for the first time to talk about sustainability issues.
“We were really fringe at the time,” said Eric Hopkins, a junior high school teacher who said he’s been interested in renewable energy since volunteering at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., some years earlier. He came to that first meeting because “I knew I had to do something. I was tired of complaining, and I said I’d better put my money where my mouth is.”
Another one of those first members was Cynthia Raymond, a great-grandmother who has lived in York most of her life. Because of her progeny, now three generations deep, she said, “We’ve all got to be thinking about what kind of planet we’re leaving for the future. I’ve always been a naturalist, so this just made sense to me.”
