It’s Getting Hot In Here

On Friday, February 9th, over 100 people gathered at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Me to hear Allison Drayton speak about the challenges of Climate Change and what it will take to solve them. Though depressing in some aspects, her words were engaging and gave a great kick-off to a very successful weekend.

Saturday was spent getting talked at by a diverse group of impressive speakers. The topics included international climate politics, urban planning, carbon sequestration using plankton and concrete, solar installations including financing options, sustainable endowments, climate science skepticism, ice core research, and the impact of food on climate change. The diversity of subjects and active engagement of participants made for a productive and exciting dialogue that lasted into the night during social hours.

Sunday was reformatted to become a work day with a kick-off address by College of the Atlantic’s president David Hales. After his inspiring and grounding words the crowd headed out side for a photo petition, or two, and then headed back in to get hands dirty. The rest of the morning was spent organizing around three ideas, and each group experienced progressive outcomes:

Idea 1: Action around Step it Up 2007
-Created facebook group: Step it Up 2007 Maine
-Formulated plan for cohesive action on April 14th

Idea 2: Moving beyond Step It Up
-Plans in progress for kick-starting nationwide student lobbying on 80% by 2050
-Connect other organizations working on this
-Conference call this week
-Tentative timeline mapped through the spring!

Idea 3: Reviving and Maintaining a Maine Youth Climate Network
-Identified a listserve coordinator
-Identified 3 candidates from 3 different schools for Maine Network Coordinators
-Using SSC for Listserve, and Maura Cowley for coordination support
-Bates interested in starting SustainUS Southern Maine Geocluster
-Volunteer to bring UMaine System more in the loop
-Keep organizational branding to a minimum

Added to this, Bates College has volunteered to host the 5th Annual Summit next year in Lewiston. The whole weekend was filled with people stepping up to take responsibility for much needed roles, and participants left with a feeling that not only was it educational and a good change to meet good people, but it was productive and created practical momentum in moving forward! Maine also plans to have a huge presence at the Northeast Summit and hopes to send youth delegates to the Commission on Sustainable Development this spring.

A big THANK YOU to all of the participants, especially our speakers and the volunteers that busted their chops to make it happen!

Special Thanks go to Planktos and Sierra Student Coalition for sponsoring the event alng with many local businesses in Bar Harbor.

And it wouldn’t have been possible without SustainUS Maine!

GO MAINE!!!