Ten years ago, Helen Nearing, a leader in the back-to-the-earth homesteading movement and a resident of Maine, was the featured speaker at the first Help Organize Peace Earthwide – or HOPE – Festival in the Bangor area.

“Live simply and frugally with an eye to the needs of the others to come,” the then-91-year-old Nearing told the standing-room-only crowd.

She was speaking of valuing the earth, its resources and inhabitants. But her phrase “others to come” might have equally included the young people destined to inherit not only the earth but the peace movement, too.

Ethan Miller, a musician and activist, is one of those heirs apparent. Miller will perform during the 10th Annual HOPE Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Brewer Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, which is located in Bangor.

“Ethan has inherited the vision of the folk singer as someone who expresses concerns about peace, social justice and environmental issues,” said Ilse Petersons, program coordinator at the Peace and Justice Center. “We had singers in the ’60s – Peter, Paul and Mary, and Bob Dylan – who helped to express the feelings of those seeking alternatives and seeking peaceful and ecological ways of living, and they helped to nurture that movement.”

Miller also sees himself as stepping into the large shoes of his singing predecessors, including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Malvina Reynolds.

“I think in a way, I didn’t choose music,” said Miller, who lives in Morrill. “It would be trite to say music chose me. But I just found myself singing songs that seem to resonate with people. So in that process, I decided I should keep doing this. These songs come from my studies and activism and thoughts. There’s something about having something sung rather than having something spoken. Music can take things to a level that words can’t always get to.”

The 26-year-old guitarist was born in Pennsylvania into a family that encouraged personal responsibility and a respect for questioning issues and authority. His middle-class upbringing prepared him for enrollment at Bates College in Lewiston, where he pursued environmental studies with an eye toward political science. While there, Miller became involved in peace and justice organizations in Maine and elsewhere.

When his formal education ended in 2000, he and a friend took what Miller called “a big walk” from the northern forests of New York to the northern forests of Maine to “unlearn what was learned in college.” The 41/2-month trip exposed the post-grads to people living close to the land – farmers, woodsmen, the employed and the unemployed.

“I took away a sense that a lot is at stake with the changes that are happening in society right now, things I had only read about,” said Miller, who has been active in protests, teach-ins and other forms of activism. “I also took away how much we have here in New England in terms of our culture and what possibilities are still open here, places that haven’t been entirely colonized by Wal-Mart. We can still build real communities with rich heritage and strong people. That made me feel really good. It had nothing to do with that myth, what people say: Oh, the people don’t really get it. I don’t think that’s the case. I think people are not stupid at all. They have real experiences of the injustices that affect their lives.”

Miller said that his music is one way to help people think about the world in which they live. His original tunes, some of which he sings with his girlfriend, Kate Boverman, include hard-hitting commentary about the government, social injustice and lazy liberals. His enthusiasm and mission are seemingly unstoppable – even, or perhaps because of, the particular difficulties facing Americans in the political and worldwide arenas today.

“I don’t find holding on to hope all that much of a struggle,” said Miller, who will soon be releasing his second recording. “Maybe that’s a strange thing to say, but I’m constantly trying to learn about movements all around the world fighting for peace and justice, and I find those movements really incredibly inspiring. I think of all those people who, in the face of exploitation and injustice and being pushed down and robbed of hope, find hope anyway and continue struggling. Hearing about those people constantly refuels me because I am able to see the emerging human spirit.”

It’s a quality, said Petersons, that is infectious among young and old audiences alike, even though the peace movement isn’t as ubiquitous as it was in the 1960s.

“Ethan has a special magic,” she said. “I think it’s similar to Peter, Paul and Mary. They have carried on and never deserted the roots of social change music. Peter Seeger never abandoned those roots, either. Ethan has been able to carry that on. In the early days of the anti-war movement, it was small, too. Folk music helped it to grow. Ethan is playing a powerful role in making young people become more engaged.”

The HOPE Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 17 at the Brewer Auditorium. In addition to Ethan Miller, performances will be offered by the Bangor Fiddlers, George Mann and Julius Margolin, also known as “Young and Younger,” and Hawk Henries of the Nipmuc Nation. Activities for families include a sing-along, balloon-making, juggling, yoga and puppetry. For more information, call 942-9343.