UNE hosts second Southern Maine Climate Action Workshop

For the second year, the University of New England, in partnership with the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission (SMPDC), on Nov. 12 hosted the Southern Maine Climate Action Workshop, a day-long conference for municipal and town officials, local organizations, and members of the public aimed at addressing the complex public health challenges caused by sea-level rise, worsening storm patterns, and rapid ecological change.

Dozens of municipal and non-profit officials, and community members from across Maine gathered in the Harold Alfond Forum on UNE’s Biddeford Campus to learn best practices for making homes, communities, and towns more climate resilient. They came to learn from each other and planning professionals about what climate -action strategies have worked in Maine in a time of rising planetary health challenges.

Seminars and breakout sessions covered topics such as how to lower transportation emissions, nature-based strategies for coastal resilience, and the benefits in local climate policy and ordinance development.

Cameron Wake, Ph.D., director of UNE’s Center for North Atlantic Studies, opened the day of climate-focused workshops by emphasizing it’s never been more important for local communities to work together and share ideas in an era of cutbacks in federal funding — and for cross-disciplinary collaboration on new ways to achieve improved planetary health. 

“I am a firm believer that we're really all in this together, and it's going to take all of us together to actually address this challenge,” Wake said. “And this is the group that I think is really going to provide the innovation and the impetus to act.” 

Stephanie Carver, the SMPDC’s executive director, agreed many solutions can be found in collaborations between towns, statewide information sharing, and universities like UNE that have a focus on environmental studies and programs focused specifically on climate leadership.

"I am a firm believer that we're really all in this together, and it's going to take all of us together to actually address this challenge. And this is the group that I think is really going to provide the innovation and the impetus to act.” — Cameron Wake, director of UNE’s Center for North Atlantic Studies 

“We see a lot of uncertainties and confusion about sustainability and climate policy — we’re seeing dramatic shifts in grants and other resources for funding — but SMPDC has weathered storms like this before,” Carver said. “In those times, we've noticed how important it is to turn the focus to local and regional partnerships, solutions that keep things moving here in Southern Maine … Today's workshop embodies partnerships and networks that the sustainability and Resilience Division has helped build.”

The keynote panel discussion brought together Brian Ambrette, the Maine State Resilience Office director; Kaya Williams, an SMPDC community energy fellow; Eric Labelle, the director of the Kennebunkport Public Works Department; Julia Breul, the Greater Portland Council of Government’s Resilience Corps program manager; and Laura Berry, the SMPDC senior sustainability and resilience planner, who served as moderator. 

Many comments and questions focused on funding, grants, and the benefit of a strong volunteer corps dedicated to making communities more climate resilient.  

As Wake looked around the conference room at dozens of posters related to environmental research conducted by UNE students, he asked the nearly 100 gathered to also take time to learn from the UNE students who came to present research, many of whom hope to pursue work addressing climate resilience.  

“Our tagline at the University of New England is ‘Innovation for a Healthier Planet,’ and we think about that in many different ways,” Wake said. “We think about that in an individual way, sort of thinking about our students and how we can help them think about innovating for the future. We think about that in terms of the community that we live in and work in, as well as across a range of different disciplines. And we really think about it in terms of the natural world. 

“It's really wonderful that we're bringing all of that together at today's event,” Wake added. “Especially with a focus on our communities.”