Dover Foxcroft
At the Thompson Free Library, Dr. Corlew was joined by seven participants interested in discussing climate change on October 15 and 22, 2019. Chris Maas, Joan Shapleigh, Kelly Doyle, Louise Ringle, Janet Yelch-Weatherbee, Lesley Fernow, and Katy Waitt discussed what they have noticed about climate change in their lives and communities and explored those ideas further by sharing photos of items and places in their life that reminded them of this change. They noted several observations that became common themes among the rest of the focus groups that Dr. Corlew conducted, including the lack of birds, the economical effects of climate change, new growing seasons, and the idea that no matter what happens, the earth will survive.
"I spend four to six hours outside every day and I just enjoy so much being out in the fields or the garden. I just find it so sad that [it] might be gone, or we might be losing it." - Louise Ringle
"How can we do things collectively, and how can we do things individually? Maybe we are just that little starfish, but I know I feel a lot better when I'm standing with a group that's trying to collectively make change." - Katy Waitt
"GDP measures all kinds of things, but as Robert Kennedy said, we don’t measure what matters. The problem is the things that matter, like caring for each other or the community, don’t factor into the GDP. In fact, the GDP increases when more people are sick, because then the medical costs are higher, there are more medical employees that have to take care of you, there are more drugs that are bought, sold, and delivered, and more hospitalizations. That actually raises the GDP. So in our economy, we think it is better if people are sicker." - Lesley Fernow
"We don’t know what we’re doing when we pave things over and build more and more and just sprawl out – we don’t know what we’re doing." - Joan Shapleigh
"My wife has bird-feeders and it's very clear to her that the birds aren't there. The birds are not there." - Chris Maas
"I’m sorry, I’m angry. I’m always so angry. I am resentful that individual people [are] doing this, not that this is a bad thing. It’s a good thing. But what I am saying is that shouldn’t even be necessary. What the problem is, is who is generating [trash and recycling]? It’s not me, and it’s not you. It’s none of us." - Kelly Doyle
"I will note that the weather has changed since I’ve been doing this. I now have many more bugs I have to contend with. I don’t like using insecticides or anything, so I’m out picking bugs. I have much more mildew than I use to - powdery mildew is something I struggle with now. So the climate change has affected how my gardening is, even in this tiny little area." - Janet Yelch-Weatherbee
The Photos
"Maine has, I believe, the oldest population in country and one of the poorest. The old population lives in houses like that - their children are grown and gone, so the house is way too big for them. They are probably using 2000 gallons of fuel oil, which has its own set of problems, not the least of which is that it used to be 80 cents and is it now three dollars a gallon. Who on a fixed income can afford that?" - Chris Maas
"This year, 60% of our clients were low income clients who receive these for free.... Many of the homes that I went to needed a lot more than window inserts, they need doors, new windows, the house to be propped up, stairs, they need food, and they need lots of other things....The reason I took this photograph was to demonstrate the fact that some of the solutions that we are going to look towards in the future are community solutions." - Lesley Fernow
"It just angered me, that building. It angers me because of the big money coming in and changing things and then leaving when it doesn’t work and then you are stuck with that." - Kelly Doyle
"And I could be wrong, but it's almost like people from out of state have come here and then improved things because they don't understand how they work. Not because the people that live here don't understand that that's a one way road. It's to help people that aren't familiar with the area instead of getting to know the area and understand the area." - Kelly Doyle
"I look at this building, however, and I think back about [my] childhood when I skated on ponds in the middle of nature and it just seems to me that we are encouraging our children more and more to go inside, to be in artificial, man-made, surroundings. I worry that their ability to love the environment and be good stewards of the environment would be compromised by our move as nation to pull our kids indoors." - Katy Waitt
"Globally, it's important for everybody to do their part to try and reduce their carbon footprint. I take my recyclables to the recycling center... I walk my dog every day. If I see bottles or cans, I pick them up, just because that's what everybody should do. And I've done that for years." - Joan Shapleigh
"It kind of reminds me too of what we were talking about earlier, if you want something new to happen you have to create a culture change or something like that. And you mentioned this is so easy and it’s helped you be consistent with [recycling]." - Dr. Corlew
Chris Maas: In 30 years of doing this, could you take a stab at how much longer the growing season might be? In your memory, Janet?
Janet Yelch-Weatherbee: I would say three weeks.
Chris Maas: Whoa.
Lesley Fernow: That’s a lot.
"We try to extend our season as long as possible, so we pretty much have food, - our own vegetables, they are fresh - from [the] first of March till [the] first of November. We have an unheated greenhouse we got from Soil Conservation. But this happens to be outside. We just keep planting things. All summer we planted, we actually planted potatoes in August. They are bug free and this big." - Louise Ringle
"You have to do something with your life. It’s healthy. [Gardening is] a good thing to do." - Louise Ringle
"We need to protect water resources. The[se] mills were built in 1801, and [they] show the way we’ve evolved in our agriculture. Farmers would come with their oxen and carts. My brother’s farm, which is about three miles from here, the [farmers that used to be there] had oxen and they would take the grain to this Mill to have it ground for the season. All the farmers did that, and they would meet at the mills and talk about their crops and all. So I think that this is a wonderful place with a lot of history and it should be protected." - Louise Ringle
"When we moved into this mill, we were told that they were gonna be working on this [dam]. They haven't. But it wouldn't produce a lot of electricity, and not so much when the river is down, but it would produce some. And it used to. They've got some of the machinery there, [which has] to be updated. And the other thing on top of this, they said they were gonna put solar panels, which they didn't." - Joan Shapleigh
"I have been driving this way because it is so beautiful. However, I don’t know how they farm. I don’t believe they are organic. I know how important the blueberry crop is to our economy, however, the Round Up and Velpar and the derivatives of that are so damaging to the soil, to the ground water, to the air. When one of the derivatives breaks down, it releases carbon dioxide into the air. They are harmful to people’s eyes, their skin, their respiratory [systems]. It’s believed to cause cancer, [and] it’s believed to destroy habitats of animals, kill bees, birds." - Katy Waitt
"It is about is the reality our impermanence. Everything is impermanent. And all of us will become cadavers and all of our animals will become cadavers, and all of our loved ones will become cadavers, and that’s a reality." - Lesley Fernow
About CHANGE
CHANGE is a climate change research project directed by Dr. Kati Corlew and is dedicated to reaching a better understanding of peoples' perceptions of climate change. Our research was conducted using a qualitative research method called PhotoVoice. PhotoVoice, is a method “by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community”. (Wang & Burris, 1997, p. 369) Our participants met in focus groups to discuss the research topics, and then went out into their communities to take photographs according to their conceptualization, values, and priorities regarding the topic. They then selected photographs to present and discuss in a final focus group (Gleason & Corlew, 2019). By placing participants’ photos, stories, and conceptualizations at the center of the study, we hope to expand the exploratory nature of this research to include themes outside of current climate change conceptualizations. For more information, please visit our Main Page.