Toby acts as a moderator at the September 2023 Isleboro Energy Conference. (Marjorie Mills)
Submitted by Janis Petzel, MD, Islesboro ME
Green Energy Times lost one of its own in July 2024 with the passing of writer and G.E.T. distributor Toby Martin. Toby,a long-time resident of Islesboro, Maine, was one of those quirky, obsessive, territorial, and prickly characters who create the unique fabric of small towns. He was passionate about clean energy and preventing climate change. He was one of the founding members of our island’s community Energy Team, along with the Island Institute, and in 2011, spurred our select board into adding energy to the “Islesboro Looking Ahead” town planning document, which in turn led to the formation of Islesboro’s municipal Energy Committee (which he served on until his death). He was a great believer in convening of people and almost single handedly kept a yearly island Energy Conference going for years. He was also a poet and had recently started an event for poetry month at our library, where local poets ages five to 80+ (he was the oldest) read their work. He encouraged local writers and artists to contribute to The Island Reader literary journal and created a short-lived but fun play writing competition for the local summer children’s theater camp.
Annie Ropeik, Climate and Energy Journalist of Camden, Maine, who worked with Toby (and me) on the most recent Islesboro Energy Conference said, “Toby had a rare ability to enlist everyone he met into helping realize his vision of community-led climate progress. We spent many hours on the phone over the course of several months, brainstorming, sharing stories and ideas, talking about climate policy and Maine life, and organizing every detail of a one-of-a-kind event about which he cared deeply. His tireless dedication, relentless enthusiasm and healthy dose of stubbornness made the conference so genuinely special and impactful — offering a rare common space where Mainers from Islesboro and beyond could learn together and get excited about a vision of a more sustainable future. I am so grateful to Toby for striking up our brief friendship. Every small town should be so lucky as to have someone like Toby advocating for its energy transformation and a better future. He left Islesboro better for it.
We extend our sympathies to his family.
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