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Articles 1 - 30 of 75
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Lessons For The Future From 50 Years Of Maine Fisheries, Robin Alden
Lessons For The Future From 50 Years Of Maine Fisheries, Robin Alden
Maine Policy Review
Fifty years of technological advances in fishing and the differing consequences of state and federal scientific and regulatory methods are examined to discern lessons for the future of Maine’s fisheries. This examination suggests that Maine’s fishery management is consistent with the governance approach recommended from study of social-ecological systems (SES), an adaptive systems approach suitable for an era of climate change. Maine’s regulations have demonstrated a way to break the pattern of overfishing and persistent depletion that has characterized fishing for over 200 years. As the gulf changes, the state’s coastal community fisheries have a strong foundation for incorporating a …
The Promise Of Floating Offshore Wind Power In The Gulf Of Maine: New Developments And New Challenges, Jack Shapiro
The Promise Of Floating Offshore Wind Power In The Gulf Of Maine: New Developments And New Challenges, Jack Shapiro
Maine Policy Review
Maine has set ambitious climate and clean energy goals in the past few years, requiring an economy-wide transition away from fossil fuels. This includes displacing fossil fuel power generation, as well as electrifying end-uses of energy in heating our buildings and fueling our vehicles. This transition will require significant amounts of new renewable energy. This commentary will explore the key role that floating offshore wind will play in in meeting Maine – and New England’s – climate and clean energy goals, including the challenge and promise of being a leader in newer floating offshore wind technology, floating offshore wind technologies …
Harnessing The Power Of Storytelling And Storylistening: Fostering Challenging Conversations In Coastal Communities, Holly E. Parker Phd
Harnessing The Power Of Storytelling And Storylistening: Fostering Challenging Conversations In Coastal Communities, Holly E. Parker Phd
Maine Policy Review
As sustainability practitioners we often spend our time in vibrant echo chambers. We’re invigorated by debates about how to support just and sustainable communities and environments. But what happens outside that echo chamber? What happens when we meet a neighbor, a colleague or a decisionmaker who doesn’t share our urgency for action? Do we go it alone as we seek to make change? Or do we need to build new, unexpected partnerships? In a time when technology and political and social divisiveness make it easy to dismiss the other, it is vital that we build pathways to understanding opposing points …
Before And After The Clean Water Act: How Science, Law, And Public Aspirations Drove Seven Decades Of Progress In Maine Water Quality, David L. Courtemanch, Susan P. Davies, Eileen Sylvan Johnson, Rebecca Schaffner, Douglas Suitor
Before And After The Clean Water Act: How Science, Law, And Public Aspirations Drove Seven Decades Of Progress In Maine Water Quality, David L. Courtemanch, Susan P. Davies, Eileen Sylvan Johnson, Rebecca Schaffner, Douglas Suitor
Maine Policy Review
In the 1950s, Maine established a water quality classification system creating the conceptual scaffolding of a tiered system of management. Passage of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972 drove dramatic advances in science, technology, and policy leading to systematic improvement for the next five decades. Today’s tiered classification system provides a range of management goals from natural to various allowable uses. The state assigns uses and standards for each classification, incorporating physical, chemical, and biological indicators. This system has brought steady improvement in water quality, ecological condition, and overall value for human use. Visible evidence of improvement and adoption …
Maine’S Potential To Be A Global Leader In Sustainable Seaweed Harvesting And Management, Hannah M. Webber, Stefan Claesson, Shep Erhart, Catherine V. Schmitt, Jessica F. Muhlin
Maine’S Potential To Be A Global Leader In Sustainable Seaweed Harvesting And Management, Hannah M. Webber, Stefan Claesson, Shep Erhart, Catherine V. Schmitt, Jessica F. Muhlin
Maine Policy Review
A multitude of macroalgae (i.e., seaweed) species that are harvested in Maine are economically and ecologically important. Currently, management of these resources in Maine is focused on rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum). This seaweed grows in abundance along intertidal rocky shores and provides a number of benefits including serving as habitat and nursery for many species including fin-fish, coastal protection from storms and sea level rise, carbon sequestration, and is a harvestable natural resource used primarily in fertilizer and animal feed production. It is critical that these functions and benefits are maintained and harvesting activities managed to ensure a sustainable …
“We Are Maine”—Is There An Authentic Maine Public Policy?, Mark Anderson, Caroline L. Noblet
“We Are Maine”—Is There An Authentic Maine Public Policy?, Mark Anderson, Caroline L. Noblet
Maine Policy Review
The authors explore whether there is something about how policy is developed, approved, and implemented—or something about the content of policy—that is based upon Maine as place? Is there a genuine Maine public policy that reflects the unique demography, geography, and culture of this place? Or is the work of policy here essentially the same as anywhere else in our democracy?
Maine Conservation In An Age Of Global Climate Change, Richard Judd
Maine Conservation In An Age Of Global Climate Change, Richard Judd
Maine Policy Review
Maine has been a key player in one of the most dramatic changes in conservation strategy since Gifford Pinchot coined the term in the 1890s as private nonprofit land trusts have become essential to the conservation movement in the state. Land trusts spearheaded the new approach to conservation by drawing together landowners, philanthropic organizations, state and federal agencies, older conservation organizations, and most importantly, ordinary citizens. Given its prominence in the land-trust movement, Maine has provided leadership in a second revolutionary trend as trust managers embraced the emerging science of ecosystem management.
From Wilderness To Timberland To Vacationland To Ecosystem: Maine’S Forests, 1820–2020, Lloyd C. Irland
From Wilderness To Timberland To Vacationland To Ecosystem: Maine’S Forests, 1820–2020, Lloyd C. Irland
Maine Policy Review
The 200 years since Maine statehood span a series of changing metaphors used by people to understand the forest and its values: the forest as wilderness, as timberland, as vacationland, and as ecosystem. These metaphors have succeeded each other over time, but broadly speaking, they all persist to one degree or another. These ways of viewing and using the forest can conflict or can come to uneasy truces, but new developments can revive the tensions. Public policy is always well behind the shifting needs as timberland comes to be seen as vacationland and vacationland as ecosystem. Further, conflicts between different …
Maine’S Public Reserved Lands: A Tale Of Loss And Recovery, Richard Barringer, Lee Schepps, Thomas Urquhart, Martin Wilk
Maine’S Public Reserved Lands: A Tale Of Loss And Recovery, Richard Barringer, Lee Schepps, Thomas Urquhart, Martin Wilk
Maine Policy Review
The story of Maine’s public reserved lands—or public lots—is worth the telling for its own sake and for its enduring lessons. Provided for in the Maine Constitution of 1820 and neglected for more than a century, the public lots were once scattered widely across the Unorganized Territory of northern, western, and eastern Maine. Today, they are restored to public use and benefit, reassembled into large blocks of land that, in aggregate, are more than twice the size of Baxter State Park. These consolidated public lots offer a wide spectrum of extraordinary values, include many of the crown jewels of Maine’s …
Preparing For A Changing Climate: The State Of Adaptation Planning In Maine’S Coastal Communities, Eileen Sylvan Johnson, Esperanza Stancioff, Tora Johnson, Sarena Sabine, Haley Maurice, Claire Reboussin
Preparing For A Changing Climate: The State Of Adaptation Planning In Maine’S Coastal Communities, Eileen Sylvan Johnson, Esperanza Stancioff, Tora Johnson, Sarena Sabine, Haley Maurice, Claire Reboussin
Maine Policy Review
Climate change is having a range of impacts on Maine’s coastal communities, impacts that will be further exacerbated by increased coastal flooding, storm events, and a warming Gulf of Maine. To better understand the status of adaptation planning by Maine coastal communities, we conducted a survey and in-depth interviews with decision makers from coastal communities. We found that communities are addressing the effects of climate change and have moved towards specific implementation strategies. Adaptation planning to date includes incorporation of climate change impacts in comprehensive planning and addressing impacts on roads, culverts, and waterfront infrastructure. Respondents indicated the need for …
Creating Sustainable, Cost-Effective, And Equitable Waste-Management Programs In Maine Communities, Luisa S. Deprez, Ron Deprez
Creating Sustainable, Cost-Effective, And Equitable Waste-Management Programs In Maine Communities, Luisa S. Deprez, Ron Deprez
Maine Policy Review
The authors present several perspectives on popular municipal solid waste (MSW) policies and programs that can help guide decision making to address the waste hierarchy as well as to extend thinking in regard to MSW.
Moving Up The Waste Hierarchy In Maine: Learning From “Best Practice” State-Level Policy For Waste Reduction And Recovery, Cindy Isenhour, Travis Blackmer, Travis Wagner, Linda Silka, John Peckenham, David Hart, Jean Macrae
Moving Up The Waste Hierarchy In Maine: Learning From “Best Practice” State-Level Policy For Waste Reduction And Recovery, Cindy Isenhour, Travis Blackmer, Travis Wagner, Linda Silka, John Peckenham, David Hart, Jean Macrae
Maine Policy Review
As Maine residents look toward the future, it is increasingly clear that more sustainable waste and materials management solutions will be necessary. A recent stakeholder engagement process involving nearly 200 industry professionals, municipal representatives and citizen groups confirmed this point. As we move together toward a more sustainable waste management system, participants in the engagement process identified an outstanding need to learn more about policies options. This article responds to that need with a review of state level policies designed to reduce waste generation and increase material recovery rates. We find there are a wide variety of state-level policy tools …
Climate Policy 2015: Reports From The Congressional Trenches, Sharon Tisher, Peter Mills
Climate Policy 2015: Reports From The Congressional Trenches, Sharon Tisher, Peter Mills
Maine Policy Review
The bipartisan commentary by Peter Mills and Sharon Tisher urges action in Congress to address the problem of climate change, and stems from interviews with Senator Susan Collins, Senator Angus King, and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree regarding their climate-related initiatives in 2015.
Municipal Approaches In Maine To Reduce Single-Use Consumer Products, Travis Wagner
Municipal Approaches In Maine To Reduce Single-Use Consumer Products, Travis Wagner
Maine Policy Review
Maine’s solid waste management hierarchy prioritizes reduction and reuse over recycling. While most municipalities in Maine have focused on increasing recycling, they have undertaken minimal efforts to specifically foster source reduction and reuse. In this paper, Travis Wagner examines the approaches adopted in Maine by the state and by municipalities to reduce the consumption of single-use consumer products including bans, fees, consumer education, choice architecture, and retail take back.
Interview With Robert Kates, Pathfinder In Sustainability Science, Bridie Mcgreavy, Robert Kates
Interview With Robert Kates, Pathfinder In Sustainability Science, Bridie Mcgreavy, Robert Kates
Maine Policy Review
In this interview, Robert Kates discusses the challenges of sustainability science in moving from what scientists know to actions that can provide solutions to pressing environmental and development problems. Kates notes that sustainability science has the dual mission of addressing core scientific and intellectual questions, while at the same time addressing development in particular places. He suggests that one of the key questions is how to address long-term trends and transition to a “better synthesis between environment and society.”
Wicked Tools: The Value Of Scientific Models For Solving Maine’S Wicked Problems, Tim Waring
Wicked Tools: The Value Of Scientific Models For Solving Maine’S Wicked Problems, Tim Waring
Maine Policy Review
“Wicked problems” are urgent, high-stake socioeconomic-environmental challenges that often involve ideological conflict and have no “best solutions.” Using examples from Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative projects, Tim Waring describes how scientific models can be used to address these kinds of problems. When well-constructed and tested models are used to address policy-relevant issues, include input from stakeholders, and integrate social, economic and environmental dynamics, they can become “wicked tools” to address some of society’s biggest challenges.
The Path To Sustainable Water Resources Solutions, John Peckenham, David Hart, Sean Smith, Shaleen Jain, Whitney King
The Path To Sustainable Water Resources Solutions, John Peckenham, David Hart, Sean Smith, Shaleen Jain, Whitney King
Maine Policy Review
Water is essential both to human survival and to the ecosystems on which people depend. Although Maine is blessed with abundant water sources, managing them is crucial for both short and long-term uses. The authors describe the varying time and spatial scales involved in managing water resources, pointing out that policy decisions made at one time can have far-reaching consequences. They provide illustrations of water-resource projects from Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative, ranging in size from Sebago Laketo vernal pools on individual properties.
Our Environment: A Glimpse At What Mainers Value, Mark W. Anderson, Caroline Noblet, Mario Teisl
Our Environment: A Glimpse At What Mainers Value, Mark W. Anderson, Caroline Noblet, Mario Teisl
Maine Policy Review
Understanding environmental worldviews is important because values can play a strong part in defining and resolving policy debates. Mark Anderson, Caroline Noblet and Mario Teisl present analysis of a survey that included questions about Mainers’ environmental values. They note that people can value the environment in multiple ways at the same time, and that these values are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In the end, they say, “values matter” in environmental policy.
Advancing Science And Improving Quality Of Place: Linking Knowledge With Action In Maine’S Sustainability Solutions Initiative, Damon Hall, Linda Silka, Laura Lindenfeld
Advancing Science And Improving Quality Of Place: Linking Knowledge With Action In Maine’S Sustainability Solutions Initiative, Damon Hall, Linda Silka, Laura Lindenfeld
Maine Policy Review
The authors give an overview of how research carried out through Maine’s Sustainabilty Solutions Initiative (SSI) improves traditional models of science by providing a fuller picture of the interaction between social and ecological systems. They provide examples of university-community research partnerships, where there is a continuous communication and feedback process that identifies problems and develops projects with a solutions-oriented focus. SSI projects, they argue, “focus on issues that may make lasting improvements to Maine’s quality of place.”
Student Perspective: Margaret Chase Smith Library 2011 Essay Contest:, Zoe Anderson, Ali Clift, Allaina Murphy
Student Perspective: Margaret Chase Smith Library 2011 Essay Contest:, Zoe Anderson, Ali Clift, Allaina Murphy
Maine Policy Review
Each year, the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for Maine high school seniors. The focus of the 2011 contest was environmental protection. The essay prompt quoted a 1972 statement from Sen. Smith: “We must recognize that we’re not going to eliminate pollution overnight. It’s going to be a hard, long fight. It’s going to take a long time and a lot of sacrifice on the part of each one of us.” By happy coincidence, the essay contest topic fits perfectly with the subject matter of this special issue of Maine Policy Review on sustainability. We feature here …
Attitudes Toward Offshore Wind Power In The Midcoast Region Of Maine, James Acheson
Attitudes Toward Offshore Wind Power In The Midcoast Region Of Maine, James Acheson
Maine Policy Review
Given the likelihood of the development of offshore wind farms in Maine and the increasingly politicized nature of discussions about wind power in general, there is a need for more systematic information on Mainers’ opinions about offshore wind power. In this article, James Acheson provides information on the range of public opinion about offshore wind power based on a survey of fishermen, tourism-related business owners and coastal property owners in Midcoast Maine. He assesses the accuracy of some public concerns and discusses the broader policy issues raised about offshore wind development.
Sustainability: The Challenges And The Promise, George J. Mitchell
Sustainability: The Challenges And The Promise, George J. Mitchell
Maine Policy Review
Senator George J. Mitchell’s Margaret Chase Essay reflects on sustainable development. He discusses how teams of Maine faculty and students are working in partnerships across business, government and non-governmental organizations to seek solutions for a wide range of ecological and economic challenges.
Bringing Local Foods To The Farm Bill, Chellie Pingree
Bringing Local Foods To The Farm Bill, Chellie Pingree
Maine Policy Review
U.S. House Representative Chellie Pingree addresses the importance of revising the Federal Farm Bill to provide greater support to small, local farms if Maine and the nation are to have a sustainable food system..
Toward A Working- Waterfront Ethic: Preserving Access To Maine’S Coastal Economy, Heritage, And Local Seafood, Robert Snyder
Toward A Working- Waterfront Ethic: Preserving Access To Maine’S Coastal Economy, Heritage, And Local Seafood, Robert Snyder
Maine Policy Review
Maine has one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, one for which people are willing to pay a premium. But for Maine fisherman, the coast is how they access their livelihood. In 2002 only 25 miles of Maine’s 5,300-mile coastline supported working-waterfront access. This article discusses creative and innovative strategies to preserve Maine’s working waterfront, including current-use taxation, purchase of development rights, and community-supported fisheries (CSF).
Land Use Planning On A Grand Scale: A Decision Maker’S Perspective, E. Bart Harvey Iii
Land Use Planning On A Grand Scale: A Decision Maker’S Perspective, E. Bart Harvey Iii
Maine Policy Review
The author of this commentary, who served as a commissioner on the Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LURC) discusses the ground-breaking 400,000-acre concept plan by Plum Creek Corporation for development of the Moosehead Lake region in Maine. The highly-contested plan approved by LURC involves rezoning for hundreds of acres to allow for single family homes and resorts, and sets aside significant acreage in conservation.
The Clean Water Act In Maine: Goals And Financing, Andrew Fisk
The Clean Water Act In Maine: Goals And Financing, Andrew Fisk
Maine Policy Review
Andrew Fisk gives an overview of the history of the federal Clean Water Act and of Maine’s efforts to improve the quality of the state’s lakes, rivers and streams. He describes how the Clean Water Act works and how its provisions are implemented. While the quality of Maine’s water bodies has improved greatly, much work still remains to be done in the areas of rain and stormwater runoff and mercury pollution, and in having adequate financing and infrastructure over the long term.
What We Can Expect From The Federal Government To Address Climate Change And Energy Independence, Adam Cote
What We Can Expect From The Federal Government To Address Climate Change And Energy Independence, Adam Cote
Maine Policy Review
Adam Cote highlights major federal energy and climate initiatives that the new administration and Congress are likely to try to enact. Many of these initiatives could be important for Maine, particularly policies and funding that promote clean energy, energy efficiency, conservation, and “green-collar” jobs.
Confronting Global Warming: Maine’S Multi-Sector Initiatives, 2003–2008, David P. Littell, Gary S. Westerman, Malcolm C. Burson
Confronting Global Warming: Maine’S Multi-Sector Initiatives, 2003–2008, David P. Littell, Gary S. Westerman, Malcolm C. Burson
Maine Policy Review
David Littell, Gary Westerman and Malcolm Burson describe Maine’s pioneering efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting energy efficiency, and developing less carbon-intensive and more sustainable energy sources. They discuss in particular the goals and accomplishments of the state’s Climate Action Plan and Maine’s participation in several multi-state and regional efforts, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Transportation And Climate Change, Jonathan Rubin
Transportation And Climate Change, Jonathan Rubin
Maine Policy Review
The transportation and residential sectors in Maine use a large proportion of fossil fuels, primarily petroleum products, and are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Jonathan Rubin’s article on transportation reviews mechanisms by which petroleum demand and greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced, emphasizing state and federal legislation to achieve these goals. He describes ways in which transportation systems will be affected by and have to adapt to climate change.
Planners And Climate Change Action: An Approach For Communities, Samuel B. Merrill, Robert M. Sanford, Mark B. Lapping
Planners And Climate Change Action: An Approach For Communities, Samuel B. Merrill, Robert M. Sanford, Mark B. Lapping
Maine Policy Review
The authors discuss the role of planners in helping local communities prepare for the near-term effects of climate change, especially the impact of rising sea levels and increased storm severity.