The Equity Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council will support ongoing planning and implementation of the state’s climate strategies to ensure shared benefits across diverse populations in Maine.
Co-chairs of the Subcommittee are Ambassador Maulian Dana of the Penobscot Nation and Portland City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau. A full membership list is below. Meetings and agenda for the subcommittee will be posted here and on the state's public meeting calendar.
The Equity Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council was created in Maine’s four-year climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait, which was released Dec. 1, 2020. It is tasked with setting equity outcomes for climate actions, monitoring progress and making recommendations to the Council to ensure programs and benefits reach diverse and isolated populations and communities.
The subcommittee will build upon a groundbreaking equity analysis of the Maine Climate Council’s climate strategies that took place during the summer of 2020. That analysis, by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine, placed an equity lens on the four-year climate action plan, but also identified the need for further focus on ensuring climate equity in Maine as the state seeks to implement climate mitigation and adaptation programs.
Subcommittee Membership
Co-chairs
Ambassador Maulian Dana
Ambassador Maulian Dana was appointed by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis in September 2017. As Ambassador, Ms. Dana is responsible to act as a representative of the Penobscot Nation and to serve as a liaison for the Nation at the local, state and federal levels of government in order to educate and advocate for policy and laws that impact and protect the Penobscot Nation’s sovereignty, culture, natural resources and the general welfare of the Penobscot people.
Councilor Spencer Thibodeau
Spencer Thibodeau is an attorney and public servant, serving as a Portland City Councilor since 2015. In addition to practicing law, Spencer is a board member for the United Way of Greater Portland. Spencer has also served as a member of Maine Governor Janet T. Mills' transition team and was selected to be the Maine Senior Advisor to President elect Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential campaign.
- Maine Legislators
- Senator Lisa Keim, R-Oxford
- Senator Nate Libby, D-Androscoggin
- Representative Tom Martin, R-Greene
- Representative Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland
- Members
- Gabriela Alcalde, Elmina B. Sewall Foundation
- Becca Boulos, Maine Public Health Association; Maine Climate Council Community Resilience Planning, Public Health, and Emergency Management Working Group
- Curt Brown, Ready Seafood
- Shanna Cox, Lewiston Auburn Chamber of Commerce
- Lesley Fernow, Central Hall Commons
- Steve Golieb, Maine Climate Council; Town Councilor for the Town of Millinocket
- Honorable Craig Hickman, Former Maine State Representative; Owner of Annabessacook Farm
- Corey Hinton, Drummond Woodsum
- Amara Ifeji, Maine Environmental Education Association
- Melissa Law, Maine Climate Council; Owner of Bumbleroot Organic Farm
- Suzanne MacDonald, Island Institute
- Matt Marks, Maine Climate Council; Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine
- Gabe McPhail, Town of Vinalhaven
- Fortunat Mueller, Revision Energy
- Jason Parent, Aroostook County Action Program
- Lori Parham, Maine Climate Council; Maine State Director for AARP
- Ambureen Rana, Maine Equal Justice
- Darren Ranco, University of Maine
- Isaiah Reid, University of Maine at Farmington Student; Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations
- Jonathan Rubin, University of Maine
- Matt Schlobohm, Maine Climate Council; Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO
- Adelaide Taylor, E2 Tech
- Claudette Townsend, Dead River
- Ania Wright, Maine Climate Council Representative of Maine Youth; Sierra Club Maine