Maine Campuses Won’t Wait Climate Change Initiative
Maine Campuses Won’t Wait is a collaborative of Maine higher education institutions to advance meaningful climate change activity in the state through cross-campus partnerships and to provide support and recognition for Maine’s campuses in their efforts to address this urgent threat on campuses and in communities throughout Maine.
Overview of Maine Campuses Won’t Wait
In the wake of the release of the Governor Janet Mill’s Maine Won’t Wait climate action plan, which includes goals to grow Maine’s workforce in high-demand areas as a result of forward-looking policy changes and investments in clean energy, energy efficiency and environmental education, Maine Campus Compact (MCC), in partnership with Maine’s higher education institutions are well positioned to respond to the Governor’s call to action through a new initiative, Maine Campuses Won’t Wait (MCWW). Our combined expertise, research centers, and resources, and with our ability to mobilize our students, our campuses and our communities will serve as a powerful multiplier to our individual efforts.
MCWW kicked off with a Maine Campuses Won’t Wait Presidential Summit held virtually on February 2, 2022 At the Summit, Governor Janet Mills, members of her team, and 20 Maine campuses participated, including 11 campus Presidents, to discuss the Governor’s Maine Won’t Wait Climate Action Plan and the important role that higher education could play in advancing the Climate Action Plan’s goals. We currently have 14 campuses signed up to participate in the MCWW collaborative (see campus participant list below).
MCWW Goals:
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- To serve as a higher education collaborative for advancing meaningful climate change activity in the state of Maine through cross-campus partnerships.
- To provide useful technical assistance support, resources, information, and best practice sharing for campuses and sustainability coordinators/ sustainability campus contacts to advance meaningful climate change activity for MCWW campuses, including for campuses with limited capacity in this area.
- To serve as a reservoir/resource hub of knowledge related to Maine campuses climate change activities, achievements, assets, and progress through asset mapping; and when possible, to share this information through dissemination/outreach to the public.
MCWW benefits for participating campuses include:
- Ongoing technical assistance support for campuses.
- Access to resources, ideas, expertise, and best practices for campuses.
- Ongoing collaboration with Maine campuses.
- Participation in collective impact projects for addressing climate change.
For more information, please contact Sally Slovenski at sally@mainecompact.org