Millinocket
Project Director Dr. Kati Corlew was joined by two participants at the Millinocket Memorial Library on December 3 and 17, 2019. Don Nodine and Julia Onoyama come from varying backgrounds and are of varying ages. Yet, despite their difference in age and background, the two came together and shared thoughts and ideas concerning climate change. Most notable were the changes in weather, especially during the winter seasons; the struggle of individuals to figure out what can be done that's effective; and how all our actions have consequences.
"I have faith that most of what we need to solve our problems is already here, is already in our brains and in our world. But we often don't collaborate enough to see that or be able to access that." - Julia Onoyama
"[Climate change] is going to affect them, my granddaughter, a lot more than a 77-year-old." - Don Nodine
The Photos
"We haven't had prolonged cold weather and so the ground is [only] partially frozen in places... Any moist areas that have not frozen over, water is seeping out. There's no snow layer. At one particular place - a place of the ski trail that is probably six feet in length - the full width of the trail [is] mud." - Don Nodine
"Going back 20 [or] 30 years, sometimes the ponds would be frozen [at Thanksgiving]. Sometimes it would be open water. Come Christmas, they'd always be well frozen. Recent years, most years, it'd be open water on Thanksgiving and Christmas. There might be ice, but you wouldn't dare to go on it because it's not frozen well enough. - Don Nodine
"...partially, I think due to the economic downturn and the rise in gas prices, but also partially because [snowmobiling] just wasn't a reliable sport anymore. You don't see that - the winter break week of February is very busy - but you don't see this town packed from January through March, not like you did 15 years ago." - Nicole Brennan
"It's not always global warming as we experience it here. But it's just out of control and people feel like they don't know what to expect anymore. Just anything the gods are throwing at us." - Julia Onoyama
"Another thing, when I came to town in 1966 and in the late '60s, early '70s, there'd be a cold stretch in the winter, maybe two of them, but at least one. [For] a week or 10 days, [I'd] get up in the morning [and it would be] 20 below." - Don Nodine
"Where in Maine can a person stay in a motel, meaning here in Millinocket, free skiing on groomed trails at four different areas within 10 miles of Millinocket? I bet there's no place in the state where they can accomplish that." - Don Nodine
"This particular tree, I'm sure it was standing, but it fell down with the really high winds two days ago.... Because the last year or two or three, and especially in the last three or four months, we've had some high winds around here." - Don Nodine
"We had a couple of really dramatic wind storms [at Bowdoin] and one of the trees in the middle of the quad just totally collapsed. It looked very apocalyptic and I think the power - I lived in a house just out in the town and we lost power for like eight days... I've been surprised that we haven't lost it here more but we do live downtown on the main streets." - Julia Onoyama
"What is our relationship to place and to the land? That feels really interdisciplinary to me. It would include the way the land is changing and the way we are changing it inadvertently or on purpose and how we think about and how we move around in space." - Julia Onoyama
"I think about how it doesn't affect everyone equally and that's what really bothers me. It keeps me up at night, I guess, because I know that I'm someone who has the resources and lives in a place like Maine, which, compared to other places in the world, is less affected in the immediate sense." - Julia Onoyama
"I think most people care and want to do the right thing, but often don't know where to begin. I observe in the liberal spaces in Maine that it's often that behavior of, what can I do to not be a hypocrite or to be able to live with myself doing these tiny minuscule things?" - Julia Onoyama
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.