While Washington Ignored Its Responsibilities To Address Climate, Mainers Embraced Ours
OPINON
Author:
Dr. Holly Parker
Photograph:
David Wright
February 2021
Jutting out from the United States’ northeastern corner, Maine’s gnarled coastline, if untangled, would stretch for more than 3,000 miles, all the way across the wild North Atlantic.
Each day, as the sun rises on the United States, it touches Maine first.
Maine’s history is tied inextricably to our place, to our forests, our rivers and lakes, and the bounty of the Gulf of Maine. For centuries, Mainers have carved livelihoods from and built communities in what can be a cold and unwelcoming landscape, but one we nonetheless cherish.
Celebrating our bicentennial in 2020, we honored not only the stubborn and determined generations who came before, including the Indigenous peoples, but also the place itself. Our home.
Mainers recognize that our future is also dependent on this rugged place; its continued health is vital to our health as people and communities. For the last four years, while Washington D.C. ignored its responsibilities to address climate, Mainers embraced ours. We recognize climate impacts every day, right here in our backyard, writes Dr. Holly Parker the Director of UNE North - The Institute for North Atlantic Studies at the University of New England.
Each day, as the sun rises on the United States, it touches Maine first. JONAA©David Wright
Maine Won’t Wait
The Gulf of Maine is the second fastest warming body of water in the world. Higher temperatures and acidification are disrupting species key to our blue economies. A once thriving shrimp fishery has closed; invasive species such a green crab are impacting our shell fishery. In our forests, our iconic moose are suffering the impacts of warmer temperatures. These massive creatures are being felled by surging tick populations, which are also impacting human health as they bring new vector borne diseases to the region.
When the Trump Administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, Maine’s state and local governments, NGOs, research and education institutions and businesspeople filled the leadership void. Our congressional delegation, in particular Senator Angus King (I), continued to give voice to the challenges of a rapidly warming Arctic and its potential impacts to Maine’s economy, environments and communities.
Inaugurated in 2019, Governor Janet Mills (D), immediately prioritized climate science and action, establishing the cross sectoral and interdisciplinary Maine Climate Council and charging it to create a four year action plan to address climate change. The plan, entitled Maine Won’t Wait, was released in the waning days of 2020, an incredible achievement considering the challenges of policy making during a pandemic. Maine’s largest metropolitan area, Portland/South Portland, co-created its own climate action plan, One Climate Future, also in 2020. These plans, informed and endorsed by government, business, science, and community leaders are national models for addressing climate change and envisioning a more regenerative, sustainable and equitable future.
This brand of leadership, of a small state taking the reins of its own fate, comes as no surprise here in Maine. We have a history of “punching above our weight class” when it comes to climate and environmental leadership.
Our environmental pioneers
In 1962, author Rachel Carson, who lived on Southport Island, published what is considered to be the first widely read environmental science text in the American canon, Silent Spring. She revealed to a broad audience the deadly impact of pesticides, particularly DDT, to our ecosystems, inspiring an environmental movement that would lead to legislation and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.
Another pioneer was Edmund Sixtus Muskie who served in the Maine House of Representatives and then as Governor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1959. He would serve there until 1980 when he became U.S. Secretary of State. As a Senator, Muskie became the father of American environmental law. He co-wrote and sponsored the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972). He was inspired to act to reduce pollution at the national level by the impacts he saw here in Maine. During his walks alongside the Androscoggin River, which was deeply polluted by tanneries and factories along its shore, he recognized before many of his peers the interconnectedness of human and environmental health. Despite great opposition driven by industry interests and even a presidential veto, he successfully passed both pieces of landmark legislation. Maine in determining its own sustainable development and climate action fate, is simply continuing a long legacy of leadership and self-determination.
As President Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and immediately renewed the country’s commitment to battling climate change by rejoining Paris and appointing former Secretary of State John Kerry as the first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, I did feel the weight of four years of climate science denial lift from my shoulders. And I rejoiced for those of us Mainers who, despite the lack of federal leadership in those four years, have stubbornly worked towards science-based climate change response and for the sustainable development of our communities here and throughout the North Atlantic. As the world welcomes the U.S. back to the table, Maine is perfectly positioned to build new sustainable development partnerships throughout the North.
Since the arrival of Icelandic shipping company Eimskip on the Portland waterfront in 2013, Maine has increasingly looked to the Northeast, rather than south to Boston and New York, for opportunities to grow our blue and green economies, build meaningful research and education partnerships, and learn from the sustainable development experiences of our neighbors in the North. The arrival of that single company has transformed our vision for our future. We began to better see the deep connections – cultural, environmental, economic – with the North Atlantic.
Economies deeply tied to Maine’s natural resources
The 2010 US Census found that Maine is the country’s most rural state, with more than half a million Mainers living outside urban and suburban areas. Maine is also the country’s oldest, with an average age of 44.7 years. Our economies are deeply tied to our natural resources, with forestry, fishing and tourism as some of our largest sectors. And our environmental systems are inextricably connected to the North. The Labrador Current’s icy waters have long sustained the Gulf of Maine’s rich ecosystem, but as the Arctic ice melts and currents shift, the Gulf of Maine rapidly warms.
Maine recognized the opportunities these shared challenges present. The Maine North Atlantic Development Office (MENADO) was formed by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development to increase trade and investment between Maine and markets of the North Atlantic Region and develop Maine’s policy in Arctic affairs. Colleges and universities began building programs to help our young people prepare themselves for roles as regional leaders. Maine’s research institutions such as the University of Maine Orono and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, with their deep strengths in marine/ocean sciences, engineering and and policy, actively engaged in projects throughout the region to co-produce and activate new knowledge. In 2019, Governor Mills led Maine’s delegation to the Arctic Circle Assembly. With more than 60 Mainers, the delegation was the largest of any single sending body at the Assembly. Maine’s ecosystem of business, government, education and research leaders is rich with those ready to extend our hands in partnership and collaboration in the North.
All work grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The University of New England is Maine’s largest private university and has particular strengths in health, marine, life and environmental sciences. UNE is also home to the state’s only medical college and is a key partner in providing rural health care. In 2018, the University of New England launched UNE North – the Institute of North Atlantic Studies, which I am privileged to helm. Our mission is to connect researchers, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders from across Maine and the North Atlantic to implement collaborative approaches to building resilient communities, healthy environments, and thriving economies. Our core values are a belief in the power of interdisciplinarity and the respectful co-creation of knowledge across cultures and communities. We ground all of our work in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG17 – Partnerships for Sustainability.
In its first two years, UNE North has served as a key partner on projects throughout the North Atlantic. Most recently, we have worked with the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme of the EU to quickly activate a Covid Response Project which is supporting six thematic research networks examining the responses to and impact of the pandemic in rural northern communities. Our work, which is to be completed in Spring 2021 will result in policy recommendations to support these communities and their recoveries. UNE North is also working locally, leading with our colleagues at SustainaMetrix, a bioregional planning project here in Portland/South Portland and Casco Bay bioregion to support the implementation of the One Climate Future Plan. That work is being shared with similar projects across the North Atlantic in Iceland, Scotland, Ireland and Finland so that we can learn from each other’s experiences and continue to hone our processes, particularly in how we engage stakeholders from the margins and our Indigenous communities. These initiatives and others like them from across our rich Maine/North Atlantic ecosystem have positioned Maine well for new projects and new partnerships.
2021 is a new day in the U.S. There are still many uncertainties for us to face as a country and as a global community. But Mainers, for generations, have faced uncertainty with grit, determination, and a deep love of community and this rugged place we call home. I recognize those same qualities in the partners I am privileged to work with throughout the North Atlantic. I believe, in the end, it is those qualities on which the best partnerships are built. And that those Maine North Atlantic partnerships will build the pathways and solutions we all need for a more regenerative, equitable and sustainable North. ▢
“And I rejoiced for those of us Mainers who, despite the lack of federal leadership in those four years, have stubbornly worked towards science-based climate change response and for the sustainable development of our communities here and throughout the North Atlantic. As the world welcomes the U.S. back to the table, Maine is perfectly positioned to build new sustainable development partnerships throughout the North”.
Dr. Holly Parker is the Director of UNE North - The Institute for North Atlantic Studies at the University of New England. Her work focuses on connecting researchers, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders from across Maine and the North Atlantic region to implement collaborative approaches to building resilient communities, healthy environments, and thriving economies. An educator for almost 25 years, Holly has worked in traditional, experiential and digital classroom settings. She has collaborated with school systems from Alaska to the USVI to develop interdisciplinary digital curricula, taught high school English for 14 years in boarding school settings, and directed a boat building program for at-risk youth in Maine. A lifelong mariner, Holly is passionate about maritime and ocean issues impacting Maine and the North Atlantic region. Holly is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine.
David Wright is a filmmaker and photographer, based in Maine. David apprenticed at Oxford Scientific Films in the UK, has spent time living in Australia and Svalbard before settling in the US. During a 30 year career in the television business, he has worked in over 65 countries with work shown on National Geographic Television, Apple + TV, Netflix and the BBC. Stories cover a wide range of subjects, but most are based around environmental or social justice issues and awards include two Emmy’s and a BAFTA. David’s website is www.expeditioncamera.com and on Instagram he is under @david_wright_photo. David Wright is one of the founding members of JONAA.
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