The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com

Jack Shapiro is the climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Jeff Marks is the executive director of ClimateWork Maine.

On Thursday, Maine released its updated Climate Action Plan, “Maine Won’t Wait.” It provides an ambitious and achievable pathway for meeting the state’s climate goals while encouraging new economic opportunities, creating good-paying jobs, saving money on energy costs, and making our communities and businesses more resilient for all Maine people.

A bipartisan climate law passed in 2019 set the stage for the creation of the first Climate Action Plan published in 2020 and required it be updated quadrennially. In those last four years, we’ve seen enormous progress made across the state. But scientists and our own experiences have made clear that the impacts of climate change have become more pronounced, causing damage to critical infrastructure, harm to local communities and businesses, and interruptions to Maine’s way of life.

The new plan provides a framework for addressing these impacts and creates a promising vision for moving forward through a number of strategies, all linked to the health of our economy and the health of our communities.

First is a focus on the two largest sectors for carbon emissions: transportation and buildings. The plan outlines how we can modernize our transportation system to better connect residents to local businesses, critical services like health care, and to provide more mobility choices. Zero-emission cars, trucks and buses are part of the solution, as is expanding public transit and encouraging safer walking and biking.

Making our buildings more efficient, resilient, and healthy is next. Greener buildings will help save families and businesses money while also reducing indoor air pollution and making spaces more comfortable.

Building reliable, home-grown clean energy sources is key. Diversifying our energy sources by adopting proven renewable energy technologies is a practical path forward that will benefit Maine people, our economy, our communities, and our abundant natural resources. 

Most of the technologies we need to help reduce climate change already exist and will cost Mainers less than continuing our dependence on expensive and polluting sources of energy. Investing in new clean energy technologies creates jobs, attracts talent to Maine, and helps local businesses grow.

Maine’s natural and working lands are part of the plan, with a goal to expand conserved land to 30 percent of the state by 2030 while supporting heritage industries like forestry and farming. The plan prioritizes conservation in areas with rich biodiversity, carbon storage potential, lands with cultural and economic importance, and lands that improve public access.

Other key elements of the plan are building an equitable clean energy economy — which already employs 15,000 Mainers — and empowering healthy and resilient communities. We will also want to make sure workers employed in the fossil fuel industries have the training to transition to this new clean energy workforce in order to keep Maine competitive.

For the first time, “Maine Won’t Wait” addresses the impact that waste has on our climate and health. Reducing waste won’t just save taxpayers money, it will encourage businesses to work with entrepreneurs and others to creatively curb plastic pollution, reduce food waste, and lower the burden on our landfills.

Even if climate change wasn’t a crisis bringing increased flooding and storm damage to our doorsteps, these strategies would be common sense. That’s why Maine people from Kittery to Caribou have grabbed on to solutions like heat pumps — that reduce pollution and heating costs all at once — making Maine a national leader in heat pump adoption.

More transportation options and less air pollution, more efficiency and less waste, more job opportunities, and less money spent on out-of-state fossil fuels – these are things we can all agree on.

In face of expected attempts to roll back federal climate action, Maine Won’t Wait presents an exciting opportunity for us to set an example for the rest of the nation. By working together to implement the recommendations in the plan we can improve the lives of all people throughout our rural state, not just a few.

ALLSTON – While the Celtics were at the White House Thursday celebrating their championship, high school students from across Massachusetts gathered in their practice gym in Allston to discuss race, religion, and discrimination. 

Social justice workshops

More than 100 students from 24 different towns participated in the Playbook Initiative at the Auerbach Center, presented by New Balance, the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, and the nonprofit organization Project 351. 

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the students participated in workshops about social justice issues, aiming to educate them on how to intervene in uncomfortable situations. 

“So they kind of reflect on, OK, what is the safest, most brave path that I can take in this moment,” said Noor Al-Saad, Playbook program manager at Project 351.  

Up stander instead of bystander

After attending today’s event, Chelsea Barnor, a participant of the program, told WBZ-TV she felt empowered to unify her own school by becoming an “up stander, rather than just a bystander.”

“I think it’s really important that we shed light on things in our communities and address these situations that can be hard to talk about,” Barnor said. 

Today’s event was a training session for high school students like her to lead difficult discussions in their own communities. 

“We hope incrementally by like equipping these young students with that ability, that they can change their school climate and culture year after year,” Al-Saad said. 

In January, the high school trainers will be paired with middle school students for a mentorship program.

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The UVM men’s soccer team is marching on to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 for a third straight year after dominating Iona 5-0 on a wet Thursday night at Virtue Field.
Vermont broke the ice less than 20 minutes in on a long range effort from David Ismail, but it was Yaniv Bazini who broke the game open in the second half. The redshirt senior forward curled one around the Gael keeper from outside the box less than 20 seconds into the second half, then made it a brace with a cheeky backheel effort ten minutes later.
“We have a lot of experience,” Bazini said after the Cats’ sixth NCAA Tournament victory in the last three seasons. “I think for every person, when it’s like a do or die situation, everybody gives their best and everybody here is a team. As individuals give their best for everything. So I think this is the recipe that we have for our success.”
Ryan Zellefrow and Maxi Kissel would add tallies of their own for the emphatic 5-0 final score.
“I thought we came up and played really well,” head coach Rob Dow added. “We knew they had strengths. They’re champions of the MAAC, a possession oriented team, and they had a lot of confidence on the ball. We had to endure a few of those moments, but once we broke we knew we could be dangerous. And we had Sydney (Wathuta) going forward. We have Bazini going forward, Marcell (Papp) underneath and David (Ismail) on the right. That’s a really hard four to defend. And all of them had really good games.”
Vermont will head down to Long Island for the next round, where #7 Hofstra is waiting. Kickoff from Hempstead is slated for 5 p.m. on Sunday.