•
BIDDEFORD, Maine

UNE invites community to protect marine life at "Coastal Cleanup" event for World Oceans Day

Maine is home to one of the most beautiful coastlines in the country – that’s why the University of New England is taking steps to preserve it by hosting the UNE Coastal Cleanup on Monday, June 8, 2015, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in honor of World Oceans Day.

Community members are invited to join UNE faculty, staff and students at the UNE Marine Science Center to help clean up the beach along UNE’s seaside campus in an effort to protect and maintain the ocean and its marine life. The event will close with a community barbecue at the UNE Marine Science Center from 12 to 2 p.m.

“The UNE campus is located on the shores of the Saco River Estuary, which is connected directly to the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and offers our students an open ocean of opportunities,” says Barry Costa-Pierce, Ph.D., professor and director of Marine Sciences at UNE. “World Ocean Day is on June 8, but for UNE, it’s our commitment every day. UNE is an ocean university embedded in an ocean state in an ocean world. We are incredibly lucky to be in this special place, and we take our ocean stewardship roles very seriously.”

World Oceans Day is an annual celebration aimed at encouraging action to protect the ocean. This year’s theme, “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet,” focuses specifically on eliminating plastic pollution. Plastic waste poses a significant threat to all marine life, and 80 percent of it comes from land. UNE’s Coastal Cleanup provides a way for community members to take action and alleviate this issue.

The rain date for this event is Thursday, June 11, 2015. For more information, please contact Bradley Goodwin at (207) 602-2750, or email bgoodwin2@une.edu.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.