BIDDEFORD, Maine — The Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, University of New England, and five Maine communities are working together to create climate action plans.
Those five communities are Kittery, Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk, and Kennebunkport.
"Those strategies range from anything from setting up residential programs to help people electrify or do energy efficiency in their homes, to helping figure out coastal hazard impacts of climate change and how infrastructure can be upgraded to make it more resilient," Karina Grater, SMPDC's sustainability division director, said.
The first Southern Maine Climate Action Workshop was held in mid-November at UNE's campus in Biddeford.
At the workshop, individuals on climate committees and task forces in Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk, and Kennebunkport shared what their communities have in the works.
Pamela Morgan is an environmental studies professor at UNE and is also on a climate task force for Kennebunkport.
"One is about building resiliency. One is about engaging people, essentially. And the other is really about lowering emissions," Morgan said.
Morgan explained there is a lot of work that can be done at the local level, and having a roadmap can help.
"I think these plans are going to be super important for every community to have moving forward, so you know what steps to take and how to prioritize and what your community will support," Morgan said.
UNE students also showcased their own research at the workshop for attendees to see.
Cameron Wake is the director of North Atlantic Studies at UNE, and he is also helping with Kittery's climate action plan.
He hopes the students' research will strengthen relationships between communities and the next generation.
"One of our goals is in the future is for our students to be working much more with the communities on questions that they have that our students can help address," Wake said. "I think we really bring a set of technical skills and knowledge that can really help our communities."
That is a sentiment shared by SMPDC.
"I think it's really important to address both what we're experiencing now in terms of extreme weather events and also look to the future and what we know is coming with climate change to begin to proactively take steps to protect our communities and make sure that we can thrive in the face of those changes," Abbie Sherwin, SMPDC resilience division director, said.
