NORWAY – A neighbor-to-neighbor program to build environmentally aware and active communities will continue this spring in the Oxford County area with two programs at the Norway Memorial Library on Main Street.

Jointly sponsored by the Maine Council of Churches’ Environmental Justice Program, the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club and members of the Oxford County Clergy Association, the first program will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, with a video presentation of the award-winning documentary “Oil on Ice.” Refreshments will be served. The public is invited.

“Oil on Ice” has been called a visually stunning journey through a pristine land (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) that is teeming with wildlife, enriched by centuries of Native American culture, and at risk of being destroyed by the invasive trucks, bulldozers and pipelines of the oil industry.

The film focuses on the Refuge and the controversy over drilling for oil there, which is a centerpiece of the Bush Administration’s proposed energy policy.

Following the film, local leaders who have helped to shape a state global-warming action plan and state energy policies currently under consideration in Maine’s legislature will provide an update on the plan and its implementation.

The next program in the series will be “Maine Rivers: Caring for the Androscoggin and Little Androscoggin Rivers.” Local environmental leaders will showcase the rivers as natural treasures and discuss current issues on water quality. The program will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at the library.

For more information please contact the Maine Council of Churches’ Environmental Justice Program at 623-0560 or the Unitarian Universalist Church in Norway at 743-2828.