Dear Editor:

Thank you, Senator Maxmin, for your creation of the Pine Tree Amendment to our state constitution! You are a breath of fresh air, literally.

I believe your youth is just one of your qualities which guides your vision and actions, because the young are better equipped to see the aging world with a more critical eye. And, they have much more at stake for their future. Making environmental protections a constitutional right is huge.

Our country has always been in a state of change, and in need of updated protections and rights. If new rights were never embraced or created in response to this change, women would not be able to vote, children would still be part of slave labor in factories, black and brown people would be allowed to be treated as farm animals, rivers and lakes in or around urban centers would be dead, senior citizens would be left to starve and live out their years in squalor, hospitals could refuse to treat our poor, laborers would still be forced to live in company towns and under company rule. 

These are just a few of our rights that got installed as we move along in our ever changing, and now, ever suffering natural world. 

Keep up the inspired work that you are doing for us; upholding and defending rights already on the books, and implementing the ones we need to protect our great state. The fact that your resolution received bipartisan committee support speaks volumes, not just about the need for this right, but also about your refreshing approach to legislating. We are lucky to have you working for us!

Paula Arsenault

Boothbay