Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

The poster exhibition at this year’s Maine Sustainability & Water Conference reflected the conference’s broadening agenda on urgent issues affecting New England and beyond. Diverse research on citizen science, fisheries, energy conservation and other sustainability topics grabbed the interest of attendees, who had a midday opportunity to peruse the poster gallery. The poster session offered […]

Farmers have some measure of control over the land they till. They can buy it, divide it, get rid of things they don’t want. Not so for fishermen Like the fish and crustaceans they seek, fishermen are at the mercy of submerged ecosystems they cannot control. And, increasingly, scientists are aware that these systems are […]

Economics major Tagwongo Obomsawin didn’t anticipate huddles with biologists or shellfish harvesters during her undergraduate program. But as a research assistant for the New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST) Safe Beaches and Shellfish Program, she’s moved into the bustling crossroads of sustainability science. “I love that no day is same. I’m involved in a wide variety […]

A new digital tool could offer a wide range of Mainers access to streamlined, interactive data on climate, population, land use and nature. The tool is not just a clearinghouse of information. The user will be able to chart trends and use previously incompatible data sets to examine things like housing or demographic changes in […]

From sessions on the health of beaches and shellfish beds to innovative local climate change adaptations to citizen science successes, the 2015 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference features an expanded agenda on urgent topics affecting New England, the country and the globe. This year’s event offers 13 half- and all-day sessions on water resource and […]

With commercial honeybees dying off and prices for their pollinating services threatening to rise, UMaine researchers are taking a closer look at Maine’s native bees. Blueberry growers have been wary of depending on these local pollinators. They’re hard to get a handle on. Unlike honeybees, which live in manufactured hives up to 70,000 insects deep, […]

When most of us think of bees, we think of a buzzing hive of yellow-back striped bodies. We think of the big, winged queen pumping out eggs in the heart of the action. But while honeybees may live this way, most of Maine’s native bees do not. In fact, their lifestyles are a mystery to […]

Science matters, says John Hagan. Except when it doesn’t. Take climate change, he challenges. Despite an ever-growing body of scientific evidence supporting the fact that human activity leads to global warming, the issue remains as polarizing as ever. The U.S. Congress, for example, has been unable to agree upon or pass major legislation to deal […]

Could Northeast shellfish fisheries and beaches along Maine’s coast have fewer contaminated areas than currently reflected in closures and advisories? The possibility is being examined by scientists looking for methods to test the areas in question with greater precision. Maine, New Hampshire and other New England states close thousands of acres of shellfish fisheries every […]

The Sebago Lake watershed supplies water to 15 percent of Maine’s population, but projections indicate continued development over the next few decades could have a negative effect on water quality. Brett Gerard, a PhD student in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, decided to look where early signs of change within the watershed might […]