I was happy to read Bowdoin student Violet Apodaca’s May 5 op-ed urging Mainers who are concerned about climate change to get out and protest. I agree with Violet’s comment that it indeed does “seem that we’ve lost our appetite for climate activism.” I also agree, as Violet wrote, that “protests can achieve radical policy change.”

Case in point — In 1970, as a high school sophomore, I received permission from my parents to skip school and attend what was then the first Earth Day celebration march and protest in Philadelphia. I have vivid and cherished memories of that day, one in particular being that a U.S. senator from Maine — Ed Muskie — gave a speech! I also recall being asked by my science teacher to lead our class in a discussion about Earth Day later that week.

It is estimated that 20 million people nationwide attended hundreds of the inaugural Earth Day events, giving rise to the nascent environmental movement. And wouldn’t you know it, the Clean Water Act was passed two years later, in 1972.

So, yeah! Care about climate change? Protest!

Harry Nelson
North Yarmouth