Hannah Pingree, director of Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, explains the Maine Climate Council’s mission at a workshop Tuesday at the Lewiston Public Library. Frida Zeinali/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — The Maine Climate Council began its statewide tour Tuesday night at the Lewiston Public Library with a question in mind: “What does successful climate action in Maine mean to you?”

Attendees had a chance to answer that question and others as the council held the first of five workshops this month in an effort to hear Mainers’ concerns about the climate.

The first draft of Maine’s next climate action plan for the next four years, Maine Won’t Wait, was met with criticism for lacking resolve around certain targets, such as transportation emissions. The council is on the road to hear what efforts Mainers want to rally around to combat climate change.

“We have specific goals in law to reduce emissions 45% by 2030 and at least 80% by 2050 to help our state on the path to carbon neutrality,” Hannah Pingree, director of Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, said. “We need to think about how we prepare our communities, our people, and our economy for the impact of climate.”

“We’re out listening to Maine people. The Maine Climate Council will start deliberating at the end of September,” she said. “All of the feedback we’ve heard from Maine’s people is going to be what we bring to the Maine Climate Council.”

First, the attendees used sticky notes to describe what successful climate action meant for them.

Then, the attendees were asked to take a walk around the library’s Hallett Hall, where the council’s proposed strategies were lined up on boards. After that, they were split into groups with themes to critique the strategies, point out what was most relevant and what was missing.

The strategies were intended to help ease the impact of a variety of climate-related issues. The major themes across the strategies were diverse, from waste and land management, reducing fossil-fueled vehicle traffic to conservation efforts to protect marine habitat and increasing infrastructure for housing and more public transportation.

“I’d say the main reason I’m here tonight is just the severity of the recent storms over the past year. That made me want to be a little more involved,” Paul Josephson said. “Obviously, things have been getting warmer for a long time now.”

The attendees at the first of Maine Climate Council’s action plan workshops, held Tuesday at Lewiston Public Library, were asked to describe successful climate action in Maine. Frida Zeinali/Sun Journal

Once the discussions were over, each group got to report its notes.

“Really doing anything to just take the focus off of cars and put it on pedestrians will go a long way in making public transportation more efficient because less people will simply be taking cars,” said Jon Diotalevi, speaking for his group which had focused on transportation. “We (had) different ideas about how to not encourage cars, like heavier taxes on larger trucks and cars, wider road shoulders for bikers, and more sidewalk shoveling through cities. A lot of it is ‘build it and they’ll come.’”

Another group shared thoughts about energy. “(We didn’t see an item for) providing access to energy efficient programs for renters and ensuring that renters see their benefits as well,” Brian Allen said. “Another item we noted is that the home weatherization effort seems to be lagging. There’s really been no discussion of why that is, but it does seem like a pretty small number of many homes that have been weatherized, maybe 17,000.”

“And the last item wasn’t mentioned, but seems to be worthy of mention, is this idea of signing up for solar shares, which can save you 15% on your electricity bill,” Allen added. “That’s kind of a free, no-cost program that every household should be signed up for.”

The council has four more workshops scheduled this month in Portland, Bangor, Biddeford and Ellsworth. The workshops are open to the public. More information about registration is available at the council’s meeting calendar at maine.gov/future.

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The Portland-based non-profit Preble Street is preparing to take over the operations of Maine’s second-largest low barrier homeless shelter.

Penobscot Community Health Care, which runs Hope House, had said the Bangor shelter would close this fall if couldn’t find a new partner to patch an $800,000 funding hole.

Executive Director Mark Swann said Preble Street was determined to keep it open. The stakes of seeing Hope House close, he said, were too high.

“When you don’t have enough shelters, you have what we have in Maine, which is lots of encampments, people sleeping outside, real tragedy happening on a daily, nightly basis,” Swann said in an interview. “All of this has contributed to us saying, OK, we’re being asked here to do something, and we have a responsibility to at least try.”

The move is made possible with three-year funds that state lawmakers approved for Maine’s low-barrier shelters, as well as money from the state’s opioid settlements.

“We were able to cut the deficit between the new legislative funding, as well as some funding from the attorney general’s office where the Preble Street board felt, OK, we’re close enough here. We still need to raise about $200,000 a year, probably from private philanthropy, so we’re knocking on doors. We’re looking for that kind of support. But we’re close enough.”

Penobscot Community Health Care will keep running the shelter this year.

Swann said the two non-profits must finalize the transition of a shelter contract with the state before the move is official. But the plan is for Preble Street to take over operations in February, he said.

Low-barrier shelters do not require background checks or sobriety. And because many residents bring untreated mental health challenges and complex medical conditions with them, low-barrier shelters are more expensive to operate and have been struggling to stay afloat.

Preble Street has an office in Bangor and provides services to unhoused veterans. Swann said he’s hopeful that existing Penobscot Community Health Care staff will stay on board at Hope House after Preble Street assumes operations at the shelter.

ORONO, Maine (WABI) – Derek Robertson used to start at quarterback for Maine, but he’s going to be back in Orono as an opponent with the Monmouth Hawks this weekend.

“It’s definitely a great opportunity. I know they like to pass the ball a lot. We’re just really focused on just the Black Bears this week. We know Derek is a good quarterback, so we have to bring our A-game for him,” said Shakur Smalls, senior defensive back.

“If he didn’t want to be part of our program, that’s fine. The next guy steps up. We have Carter (Peevy) in. Carter’s a great quarterback, mobile, runs around, knows what he’s doing, and we’re confident in him. He’s going to make a lot of plays this Saturday,” said John Costanza, senior defensive lineman.

The Black Bears are uniquely familiar with Robertson thanks to going up against him in practice.

“(We’ll be) just keying in on his eyes. He’s a really accurate quarterback. He managed the games well. It should be a good day for the Jack Boys to get an interception,” said Smalls.

“He knows us, we know him. We’re going into this game scouting the past two games he’s played. We’re going in there (with) confidence. We’ve seen him for three years now here at Maine. It’s going to be who wants it more,” said Costanza.

There’s quite an incentive for a strong defensive performance this week with Robertson on the other side.

“It’s always good to play against one of your former teammates. You just have that familiarity. (I’m thinking the) Black Bears are getting the win always,” said Smalls.

“It’s going to be a little more chippy with a little extra edge on it. I know the DB’s are excited. The D-line is excited to get after it. We’re going to make him pay,” said Costanza.

Kickoff between the Black Bears and Hawks is Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Alfond Stadium.

Robertson’s brother, Jimmy, is the quarterbacks coach at Monmouth.

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