Photo Credit: Ellen Davidson
On Saturday, Sept. 4, Maine Natural Guard organized a protest at the Main Gate of the prior Brunswick Naval Air Station (BNAS). Peace Action Maine is one of several groups that co-sponsored and helped publicize the protest- distanced and masked event! Here is the poster for the event (follow link). The press release for the program is available to just find out more about the event and speakers. The full program raw footage with time log is now posted on You Tube. Watch for 1 hr edit on your local public access station!
Hello friends(this is a share from Lisa Savage),You may be interested in this media coverage of our vibrant and well-attended protest of the Blue Angels in Brunswick on Sep. 4. While our messaging focused on the climate harms of military aircraft, there were many related messages that resonated with the crowd and some spectators. Maine Beacon piece by Sam Pfeifle (no paywall), My blog post about it (no paywall), Bruce Gagnon's blog post about it (no paywall), Peace Action Maine's video of the entire protest program (no paywall), Times Record piece by C. Thacher Carter (paywalled in TR & Portland Press Herald, but using a link here as I got via 10 day free access on Sun Journal as all these papers have the same owner and share content):
Excerpt: The Blue Angel performances also drew a crowd of roughly 60 protestors, who spoke out against the environmental impact of the Blue Angel performance. Protestors stood near the main gate at the corner of Bath Road and Admiral Fitch Avenue late Saturday morning.
Lisa Savage, founding member of Maine Natural Guard and 2020 U.S. Senate Independent Green candidate, was one of the protestors present. The Maine Natural Guard is an organization that examines the Pentagon’s use of fossil fuels and its impact on climate change. “This protest was to point out that the carbon footprint of an airshow like this, the Blue Angels, is huge and putting a lot, a lot of carbon in the air,” Savage said. “To be burning jet fuel for entertainment is probably not a great approach to mitigating the effects of the climate change on the ability of this planet to sustain our life.” Savage said that the group also has the point of view that the airshows are recruiting events to encourage enlistment and that there are 140 nations that consume less fuel than the Pentagon does in a year.
I am especially appreciative of the work of photographers Ellen Davidson, Gigi Larc, and videographer Martha Spiess who contributed to reporting on this event. Be well, Lisa
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