Mitchell Center to host talk on climate adaptation planning for rural communities April 10
The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk, “Rural Maine Feels the Heat,” on Monday, April 10 at 3 p.m.
Speaker Brian McGill, professor at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine, will present ongoing efforts and preliminary results from a National Science Foundation-funded research project to increase Maine and Vermont’s climate change adaptation planning and capacity.
Much of Maine’s economy is dependent on natural resources, whether directly through harvesting or indirectly through tourism. Climate change will require substantial adaptation, not just from crops, trees and wildlife, but also from the rural communities whose economies depend upon them.
McGill is the lead investigator of an interdisciplinary grant studying adaptation to climate change in Maine and Vermont that involves eight faculty and three universities (UMaine, University of Maine at Augusta, University of Vermont), as well as stakeholders from conservation and agriculture as advisors. McGill will discuss the models leading to near-term, policy-relevant predictions of range shifts of crops and conservation targets in response to climate change; changing phenology of crops and resulting changing agricultural practices; national analysis of farmer adaptive behaviors such as crop switching; and modeling of the impact of social networks on adaptation.
All talks in the Mitchell Center’s Sustainability Talks series are free and are offered both remotely via Zoom and in person at 107 Norman Smith Hall. Registration is required to attend remotely; to register and receive connection information, see the event webpage.
Please note that face coverings are required for all persons attending Mitchell Center Sustainability Talks.
Updates for this event will be posted to the event webpage. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196; hallsworth@maine.edu.