15.04.25 HOPEFEST at UMO
The 21st HOPE (Help Organize Peace Earthwide) brought together 75 organizations working for peace, justice and sustainability.
The first HOPE Festival was held in Bangor in l995 and featured Helen Nearing, who with her husband Scott were leaders in the back-to-the-earth homesteading movement. A standing room only crowd listened to then 91 year old Helen Nearing urge “Live simply and frugally with an eye to the needs of the others to come”.
The free HOPE Festival was designed to celebrate Earth Day and to honor those who care for the environment, but it broadened to include honoring and celebrating the variety of ways groups are working to meet the needs of their communities. Organizations and members of the community come together to share information and affirm the unified power of the multi-faceted efforts to challenge and provide alternatives to corporate power, poverty, militarism and environmental destruction.
This year’s 21st annual HOPE festival held on Saturday, April 25 at the University of Maine’s Student Recreation and Fitness Center, opened with a call to action from Maria Girouard, a member of the Penobscot Nation, historian, environmental activist, and peace advocate. Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, introduced a range of sustainability demonstrations, including papermaking with recycled materials by ecomaine, a tour of biodiesel-powered Bettie the Bus, ideas for increasing your carbon handprint in order to reduce your carbon footprint, heat pumps, solar cell chargers, composting toilets, newspaper seedlings and more. Children of all ages were amazed and delighted by Zachary Field’s juggling. Throughout the day, children flocked to fun and educational activities by Fields Pond Audubon Center, Windover Arts Center, Maine Discovery museum and others. Local vendors provided delicious food and the day ended with a dance of unity led by Suzanne Kelly.
The HOPE Festival has been coordinated by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine and co-sponsored by the University of Maine’s Peace and Reconciliation Studies Program and other businesses and organizations and powered by dozens of volunteers.
Read MoreThe first HOPE Festival was held in Bangor in l995 and featured Helen Nearing, who with her husband Scott were leaders in the back-to-the-earth homesteading movement. A standing room only crowd listened to then 91 year old Helen Nearing urge “Live simply and frugally with an eye to the needs of the others to come”.
The free HOPE Festival was designed to celebrate Earth Day and to honor those who care for the environment, but it broadened to include honoring and celebrating the variety of ways groups are working to meet the needs of their communities. Organizations and members of the community come together to share information and affirm the unified power of the multi-faceted efforts to challenge and provide alternatives to corporate power, poverty, militarism and environmental destruction.
This year’s 21st annual HOPE festival held on Saturday, April 25 at the University of Maine’s Student Recreation and Fitness Center, opened with a call to action from Maria Girouard, a member of the Penobscot Nation, historian, environmental activist, and peace advocate. Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, introduced a range of sustainability demonstrations, including papermaking with recycled materials by ecomaine, a tour of biodiesel-powered Bettie the Bus, ideas for increasing your carbon handprint in order to reduce your carbon footprint, heat pumps, solar cell chargers, composting toilets, newspaper seedlings and more. Children of all ages were amazed and delighted by Zachary Field’s juggling. Throughout the day, children flocked to fun and educational activities by Fields Pond Audubon Center, Windover Arts Center, Maine Discovery museum and others. Local vendors provided delicious food and the day ended with a dance of unity led by Suzanne Kelly.
The HOPE Festival has been coordinated by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine and co-sponsored by the University of Maine’s Peace and Reconciliation Studies Program and other businesses and organizations and powered by dozens of volunteers.
