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.
Hall-Dale High School English teacher Brandon Terrill’s climate crisis lightbulb moment occurred while mowing his lawn and listening to a podcast. Terrill’s lawn mower stalled as he realized the urgency of informing young people about our current climate situation. In a new Climate Crisis unit, Terrill is teaching students in his College Composition course about global and local climate threats. The final assignment? Essays describing specific Maine Won’t Wait strategies - and how they can motivate people to take action.
Read more of Hall-Dale High School English Teacher Inspires Student Climate Action
Moise Mulamba Kalonji of Portland, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is an electrical engineering student at Southern Maine Community College. With a passion and global experience in solar, Moise is excited by the opportunities renewable energy presents for his future - and for Maine’s environment and economy.
Why did you choose Maine to live and study?
Read more of Moise Mulamba Kalonji: New Mainer & Electrical Engineering Student Sees Bright Future in Clean Energy
Maine is nationally known for its leadership in the aquaculture industry, with local businesses growing fast to meet the rising demand for farmed kelp and shellfish. However, many small farms can only scale up so quickly without reliable labor, and bottlenecks in workforce development have stunted the number of qualified workers in the field.
Read more of Cultivating Talent: Aquaculture Apprentices with Bombazine Oysters
Matt Lutkus is Town Manager in Damariscotta. The town is taking action to protect its historic downtown from rising sea levels with a comprehensive waterfront infrastructure project to guard against flooding, replace sewer lines, improve drainage and pedestrian access, and build new public restrooms. This work was funded by a $3 million federal grant and $1.3 million in funds raised locally after being planned for a decade — a timeline the Climate Action Plan wants to accelerate for towns through a State Infrastructure Adaptation Fund.
Read more of Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus is Protecting Historic Downtown from Rising Sea Levels
Karina Graeter and Abbie Sherwin are on the front lines of climate resiliency with the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission in coastal York County, where rising sea levels portend serious economic and environmental damage. As Sustainability Coordinator and Senior Planner & Coastal Resilience Coordinator, respectively, they work collaboratively with several coastal towns on resiliency strategies, a regional approach the Climate Action Plan endorses as a model for other communities to consider.
What inspires you to do this work?
Read more of On the Front Lines of Southern Maine Climate Resiliency with Karina Graeter + Abbie Sherwin