Climate Change Institute

Determining how climate change will affect spruce forests along Maine’s coastline and inspiring new ways to conserve them is the goal of a new study by University of Maine faculty and students. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded $643,848 for the project, led by Jay Wason III, […]

The Washington Post interviewed Jacquelyn Gill, associate professor of paleoecology and plant ecology with the University of Maine School of Biology and Ecology and Climate Change Institute, for an article about geologic records in Canada’s Crawford Lake reflecting human history’s impact on the environment. “Formalizing the Anthropocene creates a hard and bright line, and you […]

The New York Times and Forbes cited data from the University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer about high global and sea surface temperatures in June 2023.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded $650,000 to a University of Maine project investigating the impacts of climate change on wild blueberry ecosystems and economics. Wild blueberry fields provide important crops for the state of Maine. They also support ecosystems by providing water regulation, nutrient cycling, […]

The LA Times reported that Jacquelyn Gill, associate professor of paleoecology and plant ecology with the University of Maine School of Biology and Ecology and Climate Change Institute, analyzed fern and fungi spores, pollen grains, leaf fragments and other microscopic traces of prehistoric plant life from crushed mineral samples as part of a NASA-funded project […]

Morgan Talty, assistant professor of English, and Jacquelyn Gill, associate professor of paleoecology & plant ecology, received 2023 Maine Literary Awards from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (MWPA). Talty won the Book Award for Fiction for his debut novel “Night of the Living Rez,” and Gill won the Short Works Competition in Nonfiction for […]

The Bangor Daily News noted the University of Maine is partnering with 10 municipalities and the Penobscot Nation to support residents and improve infrastructure in Penobscot County in the face of a changing climate as part of a new initiative called Penobscot Climate Action.

https://mailchi.mp/maine/2023climatechangeworkshopfollowup   The University of Maine will host the second annual Climate Change Workshop, titled “Communicating Climate Change Science,” July 18–19. This two-day online professional development program, developed in partnership by the UMaine Climate Change Institute (CCI) and Division of Lifelong Learning, will feature keynote talks and interactive sessions on interdisciplinary climate change topics, led […]

USA Today interviewed Maine State Climatologist Sean Birkel for a fact checking article titled “April 1895 v. April 2023 temperature comparison does not disprove climate change.” According to Birkel, also assistant professor with a joint appointment at University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the UMaine Climate Change Institute, determining whether global warming has occurred by […]

In an article about a record-breaking heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, Axios used data from the University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer to create a map of forecast temperature departures from average during Monday through Wednesday May 17 in degrees Fahrenheit. The Climate Reanalyzer was developed by Sean Birkel, Maine state climatologist and assistant professor […]