Birkel, Mayewski, Stancioff cited in Pine Tree Watch climate planning piece

University of Maine scientists Sean Birkel, Paul Mayewski and Esperanza Stancioff were mentioned in a Pine Tree Watch report about planning for climate change that ran in The Times Record. The Climate Change Institute’s Coastal Maine Climate Futures report, prepared by Maine State Climatologist Birkel and CCI director Mayewski, was highlighted in the article. “With the eastern Arctic mean annual temperature having warmed as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit in less than five years, this climate shift is as dramatic as the abrupt change from ice age to modern climate that took place 11,500 years ago,” they wrote in the report. Birkel says as a scientist he hopes that his work, including applying a scenario planning model to anticipate possible climate effects on farming and fishing in Maine, can be of benefit. Stancioff, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension climate change educator, is surveying municipal officials to gauge their needs. She hopes to create a website to share community-project information, according to the story.