Norway – “What did you eat for dinner tonight?” asked Chris Miller, Democratic candidate for governor. Miller spoke Thursday night at the Fare Share Commons sponsored by Running on Empty.
“Most of the food we eat comes from hundreds of miles away. This food weighs more in oil (the amount of oil it takes to grow, process and ship it to the grocery store) than the food value you can actually eat,” he said.
Miller calls himself a “communitarian decentralist.” He said he believes “we must break up the centralized public bureaucracy that evolved to serve corporate power” and send the money and power back to the communities. His noted that oil supplies are dwindling and that this decrease in energy confronts Maine and the nation with “the biggest challenge the human species has ever faced.”
He said the solution is twofold: Reduce oil dependency and empower local folks to organize on a grassroots level. “We need to kick this growth habit before it is too late, while Maine still has the strength of community and rural infrastructure to do this with thought and grace.”
Specific plans include building health-care cooperatives at the local level and creating a public transportation system “that makes sense.” He sees the state’s role as providing technical support to the communities.
John Howe, a Running on Empty member and author of “The End of Fossil Energy” and “The Last Chance for Sustainability,” introduced Miller by saying, “He’s like us. He’s got the message and he’s going to make things happen.” When asked how he’d describe his platform briefly, Miller replied, “Maine oil-free by 2020.”
The candidate lives in Gray and has two sons who attend Lyman Moore School in Portland. Miller has been a general contractor, a designer and a builder of solar homes and heating systems. He also has worked as an Internet service provider. He graduated from MIT in 1979 and moved to Maine in 1983. In recent years, Miller has worked to elect local candidates through the Kucinich presidential campaign and, more recently, with the campaigns of Jean Hay Bright and Dexter Kamilewicz.
For more information, visit www.mainecommonwealth.com.
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