Well, Question One has been answered.

The winners will cheer. The losers will whine and step aside, for the voters have spoken, at least until the next round.

This battle was fought with a plethora of gimmicks, from the incessant onslaught of TV commercials to yard signs, phone calls, and heaven knows what went on the internet.

Be glad it is over.

But it is not. The struggle over what, if anything, to do about our changing climate is just beginning. Once upon a time, our friends in the electric power field said they had the answer. They told us they knew coal-fired power plants spewed pollutants from acid rain to God knows what else.

They had a simple solution. Just substitute atomic energy for coal and, voila, we would clean up the air and all will be well. So all around the world, from Russia to Wiscasset, big companies, with help from the government, hired small armies of engineers and contractors to build nuke plants. Some communities, like Wiscasset, loved the new plants, for they brought lots of new money to the community, pumped up businesses, and fattened local government and school budgets. Those who opposed the nukes were sidelined and ignored.

That is until 1979 when an accident occurred at a Pennsylvania nuke plant called Three Mile Island. Then a Russian-built plant in Ukraine blew up in a town called Chernobyl with fatal results.

Suddenly, the magical atomic answer to polluting, coal power plants became a major league problem. We could go on and on about Wiscasset and Maine Yankee, the plant and the hundreds of millions used to build and tear down our local nuke plant. The point is, there is no easy answer to the problem of climate change.

Even the hardened conservatives admit warming temperatures triggering wildfires and terrifying storms are evidence that something is going on with Mother Nature. What caused the atmospheric changes? Power plant pollution? Gas guzzling cars? Cow emissions? Natural weather cycles?

Who knows? But we all need electric power. And there are well-funded groups that oppose any change in the status quo. If you don’t believe that, what do you think Question One was about? It was not about concerned citizens and the majestic Maine north woods. It was competing energy firms arguing over billions of greenbacks.

From the local Rotary clubs, the great universities, to the White House, great minds and lots of not-so-great minds, like me, are trying to understand the problem and what can be done. Meanwhile, can we just take a short breather as the big boys gear up for the next battle?

Will it be fought by politicians eager to grovel at the altar of greed or power? Of course it will. Will well-meaning civic climate change advocates tug at our hearts? You bet. Soon we will be hammered by ads touting the benefits of off-shore windmills bringing power from the waters off Monhegan Island to East Boothbay and beyond.

Already, the Biden administration plans to lease off-shore parcels to industrial giants. The targeted areas include the Maine coast. Our local fishermen claim the windmills threaten their ability to feed their families. You can bet they won’t go away without a fight.

And then there are EVs (electric cars). All major manufacturers are on board with them. Last week, car rental firm Hertz pledged to buy 100,000 EVs from Tesla. EVs are powered by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. The United States imports most of the lithium needed to build these batteries. Recently, we heard stories of a huge lithium discovery in northern Maine.

If you think we had a statewide conservation donnybrook over the Central Maine Power plan to cut down a few forest acres, wait until the big money boys get wind of this lithium discovery and propose to bring giant excavators to open up the landscape in rural Newry.

I’ll bet the battle over a proposed lithium deposit mine will make the fight over Question One seem like playing bean bag.