On the same day the Press Herald reported that 2020 was Portland’s warmest year on record, the first of perhaps numerous objections to restoring Maine’s old state flag appeared here (“Letter to the editor: Legislature busy without flag bill,” by Richard Palombo, Jan. 5, Page A10).
Here’s another way of looking at the flag restoration bill: Images and symbols can be meaning makers. Maine’s obviously changing climate ties directly to how industrial societies have come to view humans as of central importance, detached from the natural world. Our current state flag reflects this view.
Fortunately, Maine’s Climate Council and the Portland-South Portland joint climate action plan, One Climate Future, propose concrete steps we can take to restore some balance between people and the rest of the planet. After all, we depend on air, water, light and soil – not the other way around. If we were to see the old state flag, with its elegant star and tree images, everywhere daily, this could powerfully remind us of our interdependence with nature. As Penobscot author Sherri Mitchell has said, “If we hope to survive into the future, we need to start shifting our value systems and place the value of life at the top.”
Restoring Maine’s old flag should be done in this spirit – understanding that it reflects and reminds us of our shared climate action responsibilities.
Elizabeth Parsons
Portland
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