Starting a Climate Committee: A Personal Guide

I founded and chaired the Town of Woolwich’s first Climate Resilience Committee from the summer of 2024 up until January 2026. During that time period, the committee re-enrolled in the state’s Community Resilience Partnership Program, hosted an Earth Day clean up event, and successfully applied for a $75,000 Community Action Grant.

I’ve really enjoyed working on climate solutions at the local level — it actually feels like we can make a difference. Starting the committee (and then chairing it) was been challenging, totally new, and incredibly rewarding. So I figured I’d share a step-by-step guide for anyone else curious about getting involved in climate action where they live.

This guide is completely tailored to my own personal experiences: your experience may vary.

Step 1: Have kids and get really scared, feel bad

“The cold never bothered me anyway,” my two-year-old daughter and I sing at the top of our lungs as we drive to daycare on a steamy April morning in 2024. As we pass the Wiscasset town hall, a scrolling digital sign flashes: Upcoming Climate Committee Meeting.

I glance at her in the rearview mirror — happily mumbling along, blissfully unaware — and I feel the weight of raising children in the era of climate change press against my chest.

First, I wonder what her life will look like. What will still be here when she’s grown? What won’t? Then, selfishly, I wonder what she and her soon-to-be-born sister will think of me once they understand what climate change really is, and what it means for their generation. Will they think I did enough? Will they be proud of what I tried to do?

Step 2: Ask your town clerk if your town has a climate committee.

After the daycare drop-off, I drive straight to the municipal building in Woolwich — the town my family calls home — and ask the clerk if we have a climate committee like Wiscasset does.

“We don’t,” says the town clerk.

She scribbles down the name and number of Tommy Davis, a Select Board member she believes might be supportive of starting a committee like this. Maybe there’s an appetite for this in our purple town, she says. Maybe I can do something meaningful at a local level, since my efforts to stop global fossil fuel emissions have, for some inexplicable reason, still come up short, I think.

The town clerk mentioned she thought I might need to get 75 signatures from Woolwich community members to get this committee approved. I figured I would think about that part later.

Step 3: Reach out to the person your town clerk suggests you connect with

Still, do I really want to do this? I sat down to seriously think through what I might be getting myself into once the high from the Frozen song session wore off. The lingering depression about the future of my children didn’t wear off as easily. And hey, it wouldn’t be that hard to just reach out to Tommy and get a sense of what might need to happen to get a committee like this started. I didn’t need to commit to anything yet. So, spurred by darkness and dread around climate change and a deep desire to gain affection from my children, I started crafting an email to Tommy.

Step 4: Panic at the immediate encouraging response from the person you reached out to

Uh-oh. Tommy responded immediately. He is telling me this is a good idea. I could just not respond to him and forget all about this. Carry on with my life, playing with my daughters in the hot summer, tick-infested, floodplain I call a backyard… while the power’s out… never mind. I better meet with Tommy in person and talk this through. Maybe I won’t be able to get the 75 signatures I need. Or maybe, just maybe, I actually want this.

I ask Tommy if he wants to grab a coffee and talk this through.

Step 5: Grab coffee(s) and talk it through

I met with Tommy in early May a cute little Italian pastry-shop that had tables the size of pizza platters. As Tommy and I attacked the tabletop puzzle game of how do we fit our coffee, pastries, and computers on this small desk, we got to talking about what it would take to launch a committee like this. I learned it was much easier than I was thinking.

“You won’t need signatures for this,” Tommy said. “You just need to pitch it to the Select Board, and I anticipate them all being on board.”

I also learned the timing was perfect. Our town had enrolled in the CRP in September of 2022, and CRP membership lasts two years. If we got this committee together by then, we could re-enroll in that program and apply for a community action grant.

He suggested looping in another member of the Woolwich Select Board, Allison Hepler (who is also a State Rep) over coffee to talk through how to get this committee started.

For our next round of coffee, the discussion wasn’t around whether or not this was a good idea, but the steps I need to take to make the committee real. They encouraged me to come up with a pitch to the Select Board about the committee — what our goals would be, why the town needs a committee like this, how we would create solutions without using town funds.

Step 6: Pitch the committee to the Select Board

I showed up to the Woolwich Municipal Building for a Select Board meeting on Friday, May 17. As I was walking up the stairs to the meeting space, I straightened my collar and started wondering if this was the beginning of a long and successful public service journey. I could just see the headlines: Local hero does something for community, out of fear.

The first order of business in the meeting was watching the Select Board open envelopes from local snow plow businesses all hoping to be selected as the town’s snow plowers for the upcoming winter. This was actually riveting stuff, as all the snow plowers were also in attendance. Local government is legitimately exciting to witness. There are real-world impacts and no smoke and mirrors. Stuff actually happens here.

I was the last item on the agenda, and by the time it was my turn, my stomach was in knots. I don’t know why I was so nervous; I’m pretty sure one of the snow plowers was now asleep and the rest had left. I went through the pitch I had practiced in my mind over and over, and was surprised when the Select Board gave the formation of this new committee unanimous approval from both sides of the tiny town aisle. Holy moly. This was really happening.

They approved an official town committee, with five members, and two backup members, and recruitment could start right away.

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Please don’t ask that, that’s your job.” said the chair of the Select Board.

Welp, here we go.