Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Researchers with UMaine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), a program of the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, have built a dynamic digital platform that will give cities a more effective tool for forecasting and planning. Covering over 80 municipalities in the Portland and Bangor regions, the Urban Sim-based model, developed by researchers at University of Southern […]

Successful river restoration requires a lot more than a focus on improving the biophysical. Renewal of these important freshwater resources requires buy-in from local communities and organizations as well as close consideration of  social dimensions. Eileen Johnson, a recent doctoral graduate based at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, studied these essential […]

Sustainability science is not, at its core, about innovation or high-tech advancement. It is, first and foremost, an exercise in humility, an approach that requires the elusive skills of listening and patience. Academic agendas? Leave them at the door. “It may not be what we went into science and technology looking for,” said William Clark of […]

Most people know water runs downhill from mountain to sea. But they may not be aware of what gets picked up along the way, things like human waste, animal feces and storm water full of nutrients and pesticides from farm fields. In the past this was thought to be a good thing. The water washed […]

Hollie Smith and colleagues made surprising findings when they examined where Maine state legislators get routine science information and how they use it. Her team discovered that media coverage seems to drive science-related bills presented at the State Legislature. Researchers also found and that exposure to these science topics led legislators to want more personal […]

With water quality in slow decline and development pressure challenging already fragile ecosystems, basic measures are needed to save the Belgrade Lakes Watershed from serious harm and the resulting economic consequences. A team from Colby College realized that before phosphorous pollutants and algae blooms could be purged from the lakes and more rigorous development standards […]

Reseachers Jessica Jansujwicz and Teresa Johnson from the Renewable Energy From The Tides project published an article, “The Maine Tidal Power Initiative: transdisciplinary sustainability science research for the responsible development of tidal power” in the August edition of “Sustainability Science”. The article discusses the formation of the Maine Tidal Power Initiative (MTPI), an interdisciplinary team […]

SSI researcher Rob Lilieholm spent a week at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park with a group of 17 students and young professionals studying land use in the Penobscot River Watershed.   As part of the Fourth Annual Acadian Program in Regional Conservation and Stewardship, participants learned about the restoration of the watershed, and had […]

UMaine is piloting a new course based on Maine tidal power development research being conducted since 2009. The course, Marine Renewable Energy: Engineering, Biology and Human Dimensions, is coordinated by Gayle Zydlewski, one of the team leaders from the Renewable Energy from the Tides project. The goal of this interdisciplinary course is to offer a […]

In an August 15 article in the Bangor Daily News, Mitchell Center researcher Sarah Nelson and her colleague Steve Kahl of Unity College discuss a decades-long study that reveals good news for Maine lakes. The study found that lakes in Maine and New England are recovering much faster from the effects of acid rain than […]