A half-dozen University of New England students put their classroom knowledge to work last summer helping local partners tackle sustainability challenges such as how to reduce extreme heat, lay hiking trails through wetlands, and help businesses reduce their carbon footprints.
The students were UNE’s first sustainability fellows, each paid a $6,800 stipend to work full time over 10 weeks to address real-world sustainability challenges identified by local community partners, such as Climatework Maine, The Ecology School and Nonantum Resort.
“For me, the fellowship was like a trial run for my career,” said Abby Tasca, a 21-year-old from Worcester. “As a marine biology major, I thought I’d do research. But I keep taking marine affairs and law classes. So this summer was a test. Could I really love the business side?”
For Tasca, who spent 400 hours building a five-year business plan for The Ecology School in Saco, the answer was a resounding yes. She especially loved doing a market analysis to find growth opportunities for the educational environmental camp and learning center.
Cameron Wake, the director of UNE’s Center for North Atlantic Studies, hopes the program he launched will train the next generation of sustainability leaders, aid community partners seeking help on specific sustainability challenges, and build an official sustainability network in southern Maine.
“We want to co-produce the research questions and co-produce the research agenda and methods with our partners,” Wake said. “We ask for proposals on what challenge our partners want to address. So it’s very much their program, solving their practical sustainability challenges.”
The university and the community partner split the cost of the stipend and agree to closely mentor the students throughout the summer, Wake said.
Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral said the municipality has already put to use the shade tree plan that junior Alexis Weaver created during her fellowship to address urban heat islands: areas of the city that are hotter due to a concentration of buildings, roads and sun-absorbing infrastructure.
Weaver, an environmental science major minoring in geographic information systems, mapped Kittery’s heat islands and created a shade tree key to help the town pick the best shade tree to plant in any island, including five new shade trees just planted to increase “walkability” near the library, Amaral said.
“It’s a what-to-plant-where guide,” Amaral said. “It’s not a plan that is sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. We’re already using it on municipal projects. Now we’ve got it posted to the town website so private landowners and businesses can make use of it, too.”
Weaver identified nine heat islands in Kittery, her hometown, ranging from the outlet malls full of big roofs and big parking lots to the heavily developed Foreside neighborhood to low-income neighborhoods with little landscaping, such as Admiralty Village and Yankee Mobile Homes.
On one summer day, she logged a 20 degree temperature differential between the town’s typical urban heat island, Kittery Trading Post, which clocked in at 95 degrees, and a typical forested coastal area, like Gerrish Island, which clocks in at 75 degrees.
Weaver used that example often when talking to residents about Kittery’s need to boost tree shade.
“I enjoyed talking with people at the farmer’s market, where I set up a booth to share my findings and solicit feedback about what people want to do about the heat islands,” Weaver said. “I really came out of my shell because I felt like I was helping and hearing from my neighbors.”
Mia Meister and Juliann LaPierre, who graduated last spring with marine science and environmental science degrees respectively, mapped out a path for a perimeter 2.4-mile hiking trail that sidesteps wetlands at Meadow Woods, Kennebunkport Conservation Trust’s newest preserve.
At the end of the summer, the trust hired them part-time to finish building the trail they designed.
“Our primary goal was to bridge the gap between conservation, education, and recreation,” Meister said. “We understood the importance of creating opportunities for people to immerse themselves in nature and learn more about their surroundings so that they will be more inclined to protect these ecosystems.”
UNE solicited community proposals this fall for next summer’s sustainability fellows. The university – which is helping communities initiate local climate action planning – starts accepting applications from would-be student fellows on Dec. 7.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs. You can modify your screen name here.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.