Portland, Maine featured in project highlighting “Voices for 100% Renewable Energy”
Environment Maine
For more information: Anna Hofmann – (202) 461-2453
Today, Environment Maine announced Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling as a leading voice for clean energy. Mayor Strimling is profiled in a national project, Voices for 100% Renewable Energy, featuring photos, testimonials and videos from a wide array of individuals – from academics, to mayors and other public officials, to community leaders, to business and non-profit leaders – embracing a massive transition to clean energy.
In April 2017, Portland city councilors, supported by Mayor Ethan Strimling, proposed a mandate to power Portland with 100 percent renewable energy by 2040. Since Mayor Strimling was elected in 2015, he has championed Portland’s transition to greater energy renewable energy use.
“We’re inspired by people like Mayor Strimling, who know we can, and must, shift to 100 percent renewable energy,” said Rob Sargent, Energy Program Director with Environment America. “We’re thrilled to share Portland’s story through this project. Our hope is that it will motivate the many folks who know we need a swift, steady, and complete transition from dirty to clean energy to lean into the effort.”
The people featured in Voices for 100% Renewable Energy cited a range of environmental, economic, equity, social, and health benefits from the transition to 100 percent renewable energy. Most focused on the urgent need to eliminate climate-altering carbon pollution. Others simply believe that it’s common sense and good economics to save energy and to harness unlimited, pollution-free energy sources.
Mayor Strimling says, “Here in Portland, Maine we’re moving city operations toward a 100% Clean Energy by 2040 goal. Protecting our long term environmental health will take hard work, collaboration, foresight and creativity. It will also mean never taking ‘no’ for an answer because when it comes to ensuring a sustainable future for all of Portland, it’s not a choice, it’s a necessity.”
“For years, we’ve been told that pollution from dirty fuels was the price we had to pay for progress,” said Anna Hofmann, a clean energy associate working with Environment Maine. “Those days are over. My confidence that we can make the shift to clean renewable energy has been boosted by the conversations I’ve had with so many people we’ve profiled in the Voices for 100% Renewable project.”
To view Voices for 100% Renewable Energy, go to www.100percentrenewable.org.
