Collecting Signatures at the polls to Stop the Central Maine Power (CMP) [Corridor] New England Clean Energy Connect NECEC

Political / Environmental Advocacy

The roots of Heidi’s environmental and social concern began when she was making mud-pies in her own imaginary Land of Make-Believe in her backyard in Athens, and in Atlanta, Georgia she lived through the racism of the 60’s/70’s.  After the Three Mile Island meltdown in Pennsylvania, at Summit K-12 Alternative School in Seattle, in 8th grade; she wrote a script, Love In Radiation, about two high school students closing a nuclear power plant where she lived in the Pacific Northwest. Her solo with Camp Orkila on Satellite Island, introduced her to the perils of oil tankers in the  Salish Sea (the native name for Puget Sound). Thus began her desire to see the development of alternative sustainable energy resources.

Her Advocacy /  Journalist career dates back to 1980 when she wrote a newspaper article for a forum that she produced as part of a successful campaign to stop the development of a toxic waste chemical treatment plant in Smithville Flats, NY, an upstate rural area, in her Freshman year of High School! Her family made the move to Down East Maine, and with the George Stevens Academy (Blue Hill) Outing Club, she hiked to Chimney Pond at the base of Mount Katahdin.

Heidi’s Deer Isle-Stonington High School experience taught her about the rhythms of nature and the lives of the fisherman off the coast of Maine (Dan Fogleberg wrote the song The  Reach about what she saw out her windows). Her 1984 graduation present was a 1983 trip to India and Nepal, and the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas.

To back her  messages, especially her lyrics, with accuracy, Heidi’s collegiate education focused on globally important ecological issues. She majored in Human Ecology at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, near Acadia National Park.

Co-founded Students In Support of Berklee (College of Music in Boston), to advocate on behalf of Students interests, including Faculty wages, when the Teachers went on Strike.

She spent a semester at Long Island University at Southampton: The Friends World College Program, which helped introduce her to the Student Environmental Action Coalition, and the

The American Indian Dance Theater at
The Ban The Dam Jam for James Bay Concert;
See their website which mentions this concert!
http://www.americanindiandance.org/make-a-donation-1

The Ban The Dam Jam for James Bay Concert;
The Beacon Theatre, Manhattan, New York City;
October 7, 1991;
Photograph by
© 1991 Heidi J. Vierthaler

Ban the Dam Jam for [the Cree in the] James Bay, ecosystem South of Hudson Bay in Canada. Which has been  devastated by Hydro-Quebec Mega Dams. In her Junior year at the University of Southern Maine, she produced the Maine Earthday Alert: North America’s own Amazon at the Portland High School Auditorium. Her final project in earning her B.A. in Geography and Anthropology, was the production of a TV talk show that she hosted: Exploring Aspects of World Religion Universals.

Graduation with a Bachelors of Arts in Geography & Anthropology; from the University of Southern Maine; with Honorable George Mitchell and USM President Richard Pattenaude; Portland, ME; 1994. I so honor Honorable George Mitchell, for his public service and the Good Friday Peace Accord; and USM President, whom became Chancellor of the University of Maine System (July 2007), I so respect Richard Pattenaude for his long service to Maine!

Heidi endeavors to improve global politics by:

● Joining the Ward 5 and Waltham City Democratic Committees in the Boston area, and the Village Independent Democrats in New York City.

● Attending State Conventions (in MA & ME) eventually, as an elected member of the Cumberland County Democratic Committee in Maine, running to be a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Obama and Bernie Sanders

In the past Three Decades, Heidi has:

● Served as a Community Liaison, not a student, for the Harvard Living Wage Campaign, 1999:

• Enlisted support from local politicians,
• Spoke about The HLWC when Fishbone put Heidi on their stage for a sold-out Concert at what is now the Brighton Music Hall,.
• Heidi gave a HLWC pin to Joey McIntyre (New Kids On The Block!), and wore it as he was interviewed on Boston TV after his Boston Music Awards Induction. Ceremony

● Attended the Lessons from Woburn Town Hall Meeting on the morning after the A Civil Action movie premiere about the deadly issue of the cancer cluster in Woburn, MA,

• Attended the Massachusetts Toxic Action Conference,

• Served as a Media Consultant for Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s),

• Attended with 350 Maine the Forward On Climate Rally, 2013,

• Recorded the Cowboy and Indian Alliance’s Reject and Protect Rally in 2014:
  • Both against the Keystone XL Pipeline, both in Washington D.C.

• Joined a coalition of many environmental organizations spearheaded by Occupy Maine and 350 Maine led by Protect South Portland to stop the reversal of the Portland to Montreal Pipeline that would have brought toxic genocidal tar sands from Alberta, Canada to South Portland, Maine,
• Lobbied Congress and has given Testimony on various issues at the State and Federal level,

• Was chosen to be one of 220 Participants, from across the country, in the Progressive Change Campaign Committee: Inaugural National Candidate Training, Washington D.C. 2015.
• Was a Keyboard Warrior for the Standing Rock movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

• Won a referendum to stop the New England Clean Energy Connect NECEC that would have brought genocidal, to the Cree, electricity through high voltage wires through Maine from James Bay from Hydro-Quebec mega dams into Massachusetts.
• Developed The Energy Paradigm Shift: Transforming Fear into a Green Energy Economy: Unless we solve the Climate Crisis, Nothing Else will Matter proposal. [ https://heidijv.com/2025/09/11/the-energy-paradigm-shift-transforming-fear-into-a-green-energy-economy/ ]
• Testified in Deborah Haaland and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s listening session for the American Climate Corps at a White House Zoom Meeting.

  

Heidi is launching a new venture as a public speaker on human ecological & cultural preservation and career counseling. She is also devoted to multi-partisan solutions in the endeavor of promoting positive change for the world, through the simple differences we all can make by utilizing good conservation, and by sharing compassionate kindness.

My Latest Posts

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• The Energy Paradigm Shift: Transforming Fear into a Green Energy Economy:September 11, 2025
  Unless we solve the Climate Crisis, nothing else will matter. It’s imperative that we compassionately help those dependent on the Fossil Fuel economy, and other outmoded industries; to overcome their… Read more: The Energy Paradigm Shift: Transforming Fear into a Green Energy Economy:

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