Mainers from every corner of the state are stepping up to the climate challenge. Practical, creative and trailblazing teachers, bus drivers, students, communities, recent graduates and professional athletes alike are taking action to get ahead of the climate curve. Read their stories.
It can seem pretty overwhelming to navigate the world of green jobs in Maine. So, we sat down with Kassie Murch of Maine Public's @GreenJobsExplained to break down everything you need to know about sustainable careers.
Q: How did you get to where you are now – running the Green Jobs Explained Instagram account for Maine Public?
Martin Carriere first faced the reality of the climate crisis in 2014, when the farm that had been in his family for generations struggled with drought and a new uncertainty due to climate change. Then in 2021 there was not enough water to flood his grandfather’s rice fields in California, a phenomenon that had never occurred since the farm was founded in the 1800s.
From a young age, Alyssa Soucy was fascinated with graphs, maps, and data But it wasn’t until she attended college in Lowell, Massachusetts that she learned about climate change in an academic setting. As Soucy undertook a degree in geology, she learned about earth systems and earth history but recognized that her interests expanded beyond the physical aspects of the earth and into the human dimensions and interactions with these systems.
At age 17, Leela Marie Hidier of Yarmouth published her first book, Changes in the Weather, and her life began taking a whole new trajectory that has included a new love of social justice, climate action, and an honor by First Lady Jill Biden at the White House. Her novel follows four teenagers displaced by climate change in the U.S.
Many people mark Maine Maple Sunday on their calendars to focus on the sweetest product of spring, but for fifth-generation maple syrup producer Scott Dunn, the weeks leading up to the festivities are changing and challenging.
Changes to the climate are shortening the sap season, bumping up production timelines, and tightening the bottom line at his 1,600-tap family-run operation in Buxton. He describes his approach now as adapting to Maine’s volatile “microseasons.”