Despite the strong winds, members of the UNE community gathered with determination to speak out on climate change.

On April 17th, over 65 students and faculty took to the streets of the Biddeford campus in a protest against the lack of climate action under the current Trump administration. Following the march, a small number of students and faculty spoke on the need for the fight against climate change.

Starting on the Commons lawn with the reading of two climate-related poems by Mary Oliver and Amanda Gorman, the assembled crowd completed a circuit around campus. The path went around Featherman Hall, all the way to the Marine Science Center, then back through the Quad, around Decary, and ending back on the Commons lawn.

The march was organized by Earth’s Eco, a UNE club that promotes environmental awareness.

“I had this moment of ‘Oh, shit!’ after the inauguration that we need to do something,” said club secretary Nina Parziale. “This school isn’t very political, but we have voices, and we should use them.”

“People need to know they’re not alone, that they aren’t speaking into the void,” said  Miranda Carrabba, a member of Earth’s Eco, referencing one of the student speeches made after the march. “I hope that everyone who came keeps showing up to fight for the planet.”

Speeches were also made by UNE professors Dr. Pam Morgan and Dr. Anna Bass, warning about the effects of climate change. “Things disappear without us paying attention,” Dr. Bass said in her speech.

At the start of the event, stations were set up to write letters to representatives and express fears around climate change on ribbons. The ribbons featured fears about losing childhood homes, family camps, and the range of New England’s seasons. “I live on the Connecticut River, and now it floods or dries so you can’t drive a boat,” says Lex Piwcio, an aquaculture, aquarium science, and aquaponics major. “It wasn’t like this as a kid.”

The march was largely seen as a success both by the organizers and by other students. “I thought it went pretty damn well,” says UNE political science student Quinn Thayer. “For a school as small as ours, this was a lot of people.”

Parziale, who helped organize the event, is optimistic that students can take the sense of community and zeal seen at the event and use it as a reminder that change is possible.  “Don’t lose hope,” they said.