UNE Plays Host to First-Annual Southern Maine Climate Action Workshop

The first-annual Southern Maine Climate Action Workshop at the University of New England aimed to help transform Maine municipalities into climate-resilient communities — and to try to do so, when possible, without help from the federal government. That’s what keynote speaker Susanne Moser, Ph.D., advised at the event on Nov. 13 at the Harold Alfond Forum in Biddeford.

“We're going to see faster sea level rise. We're going to see accelerating emissions. We're going to cross more tipping points. I think we already have crossed several,” said Moser, a research scholar in the School of Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England and a contributing researcher on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The workshop organized by UNE North and the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission explained to community leaders the work that’s been done by five York County towns and cities that completed their climate action plans over the past three years. The workshop aimed to lay the foundation for future collaboration between UNE researchers and southern Maine town officials to help more communities become climate resilient. 

Such collaboration is already happening, said Cameron Wake, Ph.D., the director of UNE North, the Center for North Atlantic Studies at the University of New England, who helped organize the workshop. One example, Wake said, is the UNE Sustainability Fellowships that placed six students in communities to work on climate-adaptation research projects last summer.

“These fellowships not only help us transition towards a more sustainable future — they also help prepare the next generation of climate leaders and build a network of sustainability professionals,” said Wake, a climatologist who has led more than 25 scientific research expeditions to the mountains of Central Asia and the Arctic.

“If we are to continue to address the existential challenge posed by human-driven climate change, dare I say, from looking across this group, it's clear to me that we have laid a really strong foundation for action. Yet we need to do more,” Wake added.

Karina Graeter, the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission’s sustainability division director, agreed. Graeter said in the past few years the commission helped five of six southern Maine towns or cities develop plans to achieve net-zero-carbon emissions in the near future. And, of those municipalities — Kittery, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Biddeford, and Saco — two had UNE faculty working on climate action task forces. Wake was the chair of Kittery’s Climate Adaptation Committee and Pam Morgan, Ph.D., a UNE professor of environmental studies, chaired the Kennebunkport task force.

“Our work is oriented by four guiding principles. The biggest one, which is evident today, is collaboration,” Graeter said. “What we're talking about today is helping with actions — so helping increase climate resilience by supporting capacity building to reduce emissions and help adapt to climate change in your communities and in the region.”

The climate workshop showcased the work being done through a panel discussion with town officials, a poster session in which UNE students presented the results of their climate research, and several breakout sessions that focused on implementing greenhouse gas emission reductions and adapting to climate change in certain sectors, such as in transportation, energy use, and land use.

Pratt said grants are key, and partnering on grants with other communities or nonprofits can help land them. For example, her town recently applied for a grant to create resilience to flooding along the Kennebunk River — which will help both the towns of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

“There’s grants out there. And I think you have to be creative in your proposals, and I think you also need partners with similar goals when you’re applying for grants,” Pratt said. 

A few panelists spoke about not only coordinating between towns, but also between departments within a town, as well as with town residents.  

“Staff capacity is a definite constraint,” said Favreau. “I think one of the constraints is corralling all of that work being done under one umbrella so that everybody knows what everybody else is doing so that we can more easily move forward.” 

Likewise, Chisholm, Saco’s assistant city planner, recommended building on studies that have already been done. Before Saco passed its climate action plan, it already had completed the Camp Ellis Resiliency Study that looked at an area imperiled by erosion and sea level rise. Now, Chisholm explained, the town is trying to use that study to see how it can maximize its approach to climate adaptation. 

And Morgan spoke about how an environmental course taught at both UNE and Kennebunk High School  allowed students to help conduct climate research along the coast, showcasing another useful way to involve residents in the critical work ahead. 

“You may not have a class like that at your school, but there are teachers, I guarantee you, who would love to have you come in and speak with their students and talk about what you're doing,” Morgan said. “It's a way that students can get involved in a positive way to feel like they're having input instead of the doom and gloom that they hear all the time.”