As the coast of Maine begins the recovery process following the two recent storms, there are a lot of questions about how to prepare for the future. The conversations are taking place from the highest level down to the most local. The topics of adaptation and preparation are not new ones and many of the conversations taking place now are continuations of those begun over the last several years as managers and stakeholders seek to find strategies to deal with changing environmental conditions along the coast.

In Brunswick, these conversations have been spearheaded by the Climate Action Task Force — a group of nine citizens who work alongside town staff as well as liaisons from the Town Council and representatives from the town’s Recycling and Sustainability Committee. The areas of expertise represented in the group include: sustainability and adaptation, transportation, business, planning and development, energy, food systems, natural resources, and land use and conservation.

The Climate Action Task Force was first convened in response to being selected as one of more than 100 communities to receive funding through Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership. This included $50,000 in funding to support the creation of a town Climate Action Plan. One of the difficulties that many people, myself included, have in thinking or writing about climate change is to make it real and relevant to people. To understand more about the overarching goal of the CAP, you can break it down into things like inventorying the town’s greenhouse gas emission sources and mapping out areas that are particularly vulnerable to change. This is a particularly easy one to understand right now as we have all, no doubt, seen photos of the recent coastal flooding. The trickier part of their mandate is that the actions identified to address these issues also need to “support economic growth and improve the lives of residents.” Certainly, having a town that is more resilient and adaptive to change benefits everyone in the long term, but it can be tricky to find strategies that have positive economic impacts in the short term.

The process that the task force is undertaking is multi-stepped and multi-pronged. The group meets monthly to work through a variety of topics and also solicits feedback from the public and also from the town’s other committees. After conducting a public survey last year and also holding a workshop to gather input, the group now is focusing on gathering ideas from the other committees in town, including the Conservation Commission, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Rivers and Coastal Waters Commission, and the Marine Resources Committee of which I am a member. That will be categorized into strategies and goals and then shared again with the public for further input.

There is a lengthy list of goals and many resources to plumb on the task force’s website at brunswickme.org/710/Climate-Action-Task-Force. There, you can see who the membership is as well as the specific plans they are working through. You can also sign up for email updates by subscribing to the town’s “Brunswick Climate Action” Notify Me list to find out when there are opportunities for public input. In addition, all of the meetings are public and are available in person and also via Zoom. Meetings occur the third Monday of every month from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Town Council chambers. You can also see them afterwards via recording on the town’s cable TV station. Meeting minutes, agendas and links to attend or watch prior meetings are also on the town website.

If you are thinking of ways to positively respond to the recent storms, learning more about our town’s plan to respond in the future is an easy start. Just learning more about the process and the ideas being considered helps to build public awareness and also to strengthen the plan. Providing input when there are opportunities goes even further. Whether you live on the water or not, the impact of storms like those in the recent weeks has literal ripple effects well up the watershed that give all of the town’s residents an opportunity to participate in how we look ahead.

Susan Olcott is the director of operations at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

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