This year, our family decided to cross the Piscataqua River and spend the holiday in Maine — a first for me as a committed Granite Stater. Although I maintain that New Hampshire’s mountains, moose and maple syrup are unrivaled anywhere, I have to admit that I was impressed by Maine’s recent record on environmental protection. As the new legislative session gets underway, our state would do well to consider three simple policies road-tested by our northeastern neighbor to protect the people and planet we hold dear.

1. Take a pass on plastic: While picking up groceries in Bangor, I was surprised to learn that single-use plastic bags are now a thing of the past under a new state law. A small sign at check-out informed me of my options: buy a sturdy reusable bag for 5 cents or bring my own and save 5 cents. Looking around at the other check-out lines, I was amazed that no one seemed to be using any plastic bags at all. I loaded up my groceries in my arms and walked out.

Maine is one of eight states that limit plastic bags, along with 340 municipalities and 60 nations around the world.

These bans have been shown to effectively cut consumption without compromising quality of life. According to National Geographic, Americans use some 100 billion plastic bags made from 12 million barrels of oil annually — enough for one new bag per person every day of the year.

In addition, 91 percent of plastics are never recycled in the United States but find their way into landfills, oceans or are strewn across the land. There, they take thousands of years to photodegrade into microplastics, which continue to leach toxins and pollute the environment indefinitely. Among the many plant and animal species harmed by their chemical leachates are the marine bacterium prochlorococcus, considered the world’s most important microorganism because it provides a tenth of all the oxygen we need to live. If these statistics take your breath away, then join me in urging NH legislators to take a pass on plastic bags like our neighbor.

2. A new feat in heat: When checking into our holiday rental in central Maine, our family was astonished to find no furnace or fireplace. Instead, the well-insulated 1890s home was fully heated with a pair of high-efficiency electric heat pumps, also known as mini-splits, and a few electric baseboards in the harderto-reach rooms. For the duration of our five-day stay, with nighttime temps dipping down near zero, we didn’t burn an ounce of fossil fuels.

Our heating situation was a direct response to Maine state policies. While New Hampshire’s Republican leaders have repeatedly sought to slash energy-efficiency funds (a feat recently achieved by the NH Public Utilities Commission), Maine is two years into a 100,000 heat pumps campaign that is adding millions in local investment and thousands of private-sector jobs. For every heat pump system installed, Maine families are expected to save between $300 and $600 per year while also gaining access to air conditioning in summer.

The state expects to fully fund the program by cutting electric capacity costs for all ratepayers.

3. Harness the sun: Driving through rural Maine, we couldn’t help but notice fields of solar panels, ranging from one acre to 20, filled decommissioned landfills, gravel pits and the occasional farmer’s field. One offset the municipal needs of the town in which we stayed. Others serve hundreds of homes, schools and nonprofits in the form of monthly bill credits corresponding to gigawatts of clean electricity fed into the grid.

None of the solar farms we encountered across Maine existed just two years ago. While both Maine and New Hampshire were slow to harness our region’s most abundant and inexpensive source of energy, the inauguration of Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in 2019 brought a pair of far-sighted policies aimed at slashing carbon emissions while building the clean energy economy.

Although Maine’s solar capacity is expected to quadruple in a few short years, the total footprint will likely remain a fraction of 1 percent of the state’s land. When paired with the almost limitless potential of offshore wind, hydropower and energy storage, the state could well achieve its 100 percent goal ahead of schedule, while adding thousands of well-paying jobs and cutting costs for all.

As a member of New Hampshire’s clean energy economy, which is falling far behind Maine and the rest of the region, I hope our leaders will finally declare our state open for business in solving the climate crisis. As a father of three young kids who stand to inherit an uninhabitable earth, I pray they won’t delay.

Dan Weeks of Nashua is vice president at ReVision Energy.