enlarge Jack Milton/Staff Photographer

Alfred ‘Fred’ Padula, a retired history professor, paid for the 52 solar panels on the roof of the Abromson Community Education Center at the University of Southern Maine.

enlarge Jack Milton/Staff Photographer

Alfred ‘Fred’ Padula stands in front of a mural explaining the Abromson Center’s energy and environmental efficiencies at the University of Southern Maine.

I BELIEVE

EDITOR'S NOTE: For some people, passion and commitment to an ideal is more than something for the holiday season. For them, faith in that ideal is a touchstone for their lives. Last of five parts.

Some people around Portland know Alfred "Fred" Padula for the pointed e-mails he fires at them from a computer in his energy- efficient home near Back Cove.

Padula is a prolific critic, a nag even, of local institutions and bureaucracies that he believes are not doing enough to fight global warming. And not many escape that list.

But other people know a different, more private, man. That's the Padula who volunteers to help people make their homes more energy-efficient and donates untold thousands of dollars for things like solar panels on school buildings, climate education programs, and library collections on global warming and energy conservation.

Padula, a retired history professor, is not a politician or a celebrity. You've probably never heard of him.

But when it comes to believing that the world is hurling itself toward a climate catastrophe, and that one man can make a difference, Al Gore has nothing on Fred Padula. And Padula's passion is quietly making a mark in his small corner of the world, whether it's because of his griping or his generosity.

He's called a catalyst, a change agent and an unsung hero. He gives a more humble assessment.

"I'm an environmental gadfly," Padula says with a grin.

POST-RETIREMENT ACTIVIST

Although Padula's passion for the environment has been developing for a long time, his battle against global warming is the latest in a series of careers.

He served in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to '61. And he was the U.S. State Department's Cuba analyst in the mid-1960s, after Castro's revolution and the missile crisis had thrust Cuba to the center of the foreign policy stage.

"Occasionally, you catch the wave in life," he says.

In 1972, he came to Portland and got a job teaching history at the University of Southern Maine, where he continued to focus on Latin America. He wrote articles and co-wrote a book about women in socialist Cuba.

His career as a history professor there lasted 27 years, until he retired eight years ago.

Padula reinvented himself after his retirement. He canceled his subscription to a Cuban newspaper, gave away his library on Latin America and began his new career as an environmental activist and benefactor.

"He had some time to reflect on what was really important," said Sandra Wachholz, a criminology professor at USM and a friend of Padula. "Fred is convinced that we really have this fairly narrow window to make change around the climate. There are people who are approaching this through the lens of diplomacy, and there are others who feel they just have to stand in the face of all these challenges and be as strong and vocal as they can be. And Fred is one of them."

Padula has been a driving force behind Maine's Green Campus Consortium, an organization that helps the state's colleges and universities promote energy efficiency and fight global warming. That role hasn't kept him from criticizing those schools – especially Bowdoin College, the state's wealthiest.

"They don't have a single solar panel at Bowdoin," he said. "If you look at all the institutions in the state of Maine, who has the money to really change? The (one that) could really change the paradigm is Bowdoin."

A Bowdoin administrator who is on the receiving end of many of Padula's e-mails did not return a telephone call for this story. But a spokesman for the school said the criticism is misplaced.

"We've been recognized as a leader in sustainability," said Scott Hood. "We are doing a lot and will continue to do more."

The school's efforts include programs that promote recycling, energy efficiency, alternative transportation and earth-friendly purchasing. "I don't think there's anybody who knows what we're doing who would say we're not taking things seriously," Hood said.

Bowdoin is in good company when it comes to facing Padula's ire. Most of Portland's large private and public institutions are not taking...