“Notre Dame est en feu”

Every day the news out of Washington seems to get worse, especially from an environmental viewpoint. If it’s not loosening protections for natural areas and water quality, it’s bringing back coal — OMG coal!! — fired electrical plants, while shutting down offshore wind power. As this chaos continues, we need to identify some type of grounded activities that allow us to keep working, at least locally, toward a healthier planet with cleaner air and cleaner water. This is why ACES is thinking about the significance and saga of Notre Dame de Paris this month, as the anniversary of the great fire that destroyed much of it approaches.

On April 15, 2019, as the world watched in horror, flames engulfed the 850-year-old medieval heart of Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral. The fierce fire ravaged the cultural and spiritual icon, bringing down its familiar spire and destroying the ancient wooden roof — the forest, as it is known. The distress we all experienced seeing those flames rising from inside the stone walls was joyfully forgotten this past fall as the world witnessed the reopening of Notre Dame. We saw the gargoyles, stained glass, and spire restored, and the white limestone walls cleaned of centuries of grime now glowing.

The rebuilding required finding more than 1,200 oak trees, with the stipulation that they be straight, free from knots and "frost cracks", and measure 13 meters long. Altogether there are 35 triangular framing trusses running the length of the building that bear the weight of the roof. Much of the wood was hand-sawed, then hewed into shape with hand adzes, just as the beams were in the 12th and 13th centuries. Altogether it took about 200 years to build Notre Dame Cathedral as we knew it, but only about 5 years to restore it.

In 2025, as the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Climate Accords, we ask you to see the rebuilding of Paris’ Notre Dame as a motivation and a metaphor for environmentalists trying to rebuild our environment after centuries of watching it being destroyed. We can all be grateful that the Bloomberg Philanthropies and others will ensure the nation’s funding and reporting obligations to the UN Climate Change Secretariat are met. The fires are burning now, floodwaters are raging, and climate change is real and needs to be addressed.

In rebuilding Notre Dame, philanthropists and everyday people contributed their time and money to fix the problem; the architects and construction engineers, carpenters, and stonemasons relearned old techniques. The world rallied to rebuild their valuable piece of world culture. The American people have voted in a new administration, and we wish it works out well over the next four years.

But the administration’s stated views on climate are factually wrong and appear to be driven more by corporate profit than by concern for our communities’ air and water quality and the well-being of future generations.

Luckily, our system of decentralized governments and non-profits has its power distributed across state and local levels and can act to do what is best in their communities. Consider the recent Historic New England Christmas tree “Chip Fest” where people partied in the snow at the annual Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm and Historic New England's first ever non-bonfire celebration. This year, the donated old Christmas trees were sent through chippers rather than being burned — a conscious decision for eliminating the air and water pollution that has been the custom over many years past.

There are no simple answers here. But ACES is committed to being a place you can pitch in to make whatever progress we can to be keepers of the legacy of our vibrant planet now burning. Let’s all help each other and work harder on improving the health of our planet over the rest of this century.

As for Notre Dame, may it last another 850 years. À votre santé!

ACES believes we can make a BIG difference together. Team members invite you to stay updated on environmental matters by subscribing to our monthly newsletter via the “Join Our List” link on this page. Please consider joining our community of stewards who are committed to Make Every Day Earth Day by contacting acesnewburyport@gmail.com.

This educational column first appeared in The Daily News of Newburyport on April 11, 2025.