In The News

The Island Institute will host a free lecture series this summer that will feature authors, artists, and experts sharing insights into life on the Maine coast, as well as their perspectives and reflections on the challenges of making it here. Lectures begin Wednesday, July 5, and will be held every Wednesday through August 9, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Events will take place in the fourth floor conference room at the Island Institute, 386 Main Street in Rockland, and are free and open to the public.

Bowdoin College’s Eileen Johnson will be collaborating with the Rockland-based Island Institute to help Maine’s 120 coastal and island communities cope with battering storm surges and rising sea levels. This effort to mitigate climate-induced disasters is being funded by a $240,000 grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This grant, awarded to the Island Institute, is part of a $3.2 million pot recently given to almost a dozen coastal organizations, from Alaska to Florida and Maine, to help seaside towns build resilience to coastal flooding and climate change.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree has reintroduced a bill that would require federal officials to work with coastal communities in Maine and around the country to address the impacts of ocean acidification. The bill, H.R. 2719, has bipartisan support in Congress. "Climate change and warming temperatures aren’t the only effects of carbon emissions that we have to worry about. Ocean acidification is already having an impact on valuable Maine fisheries,” Pingree said. “It's time we start paying more attention and getting the information we need to understand the potential impacts on our coastal communities.”

After a month of renovations, Archipelago, the Island Institute store, will officially unveil a newly redesigned space that features a modern, open concept, new artists and new products. The store, located at 386 Main St., will host a grand re-opening celebration during Rockland's First Friday Art Walk Friday, June 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. The public is invited to stop in to enjoy some light refreshments and see the new look.

Join KELT for its spring lecture on Wednesday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the Patten Free Library, featuring presentations by Dr. Heather Leslie and Dr. Susie Arnold, sharing local research focused on coastal resilience. This lecture will identify characteristics and new projects that are strengthening our coastal environment and communities, so we can adapt to and overcome changes that threaten our coast. At our annual meeting, KELT shared what it takes to make a landscape resilient, and now we are shifting our focus to the coast.

The Island Institute is receiving $240,000 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to fund a project about disaster preparedness in Maine related to sea level rise. The Institute says the money will help pay for a project that benefits Maine’s island and coastal communities by addressing threats from natural disasters and environmental change stemming from rising sea levels.

A Maine nonprofit group is receiving $240,000 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to fund a project about disaster preparedness in the state in the era of sea level rise. The Island Institute says the money will help pay for a project that benefits Maine’s island and coastal communities by addressing threats from natural disasters and environmental change stemming from sea level rise.

The Rockland-based nonprofit Island Institute received a $240,000 grant through the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to fund a collaborative project that focuses on disaster preparedness in Maine's island and coastal communities and addresses threats faced from environmental change and natural disasters related to sea level rise.

By Heather Goldstone / WCAI We tend to think of spring as planting time, but kelp farmers in the Gulf of Maine are in the midst of their annual harvest right now. Growers and ocean researchers say kelp could be a huge win-win-win – improving the local environment, boosting other fisheries, and all while providing a saleable food source. Ten years ago, there were no kelp farms in the northeast. Now, there are more than a dozen. So, what gives?

Rockland-based Island Institute kicked off its seventh annual Island Energy Conference in South Portland on April 28 by recognizing two groups for their work as energy leaders and champions for Maine's island communities. The Island Energy Innovation Award was presented to the Monhegan Plantation Power District for recent upgrades made to the island's power station which will create cleaner emissions and incorporate renewable energy into the island grid, and the board and staff of the Swan's Island Electric Cooperative received the Island Institute Community Champion Award for their work in securing a pathway for affordable electric power for the people of Swan's Island and Frenchboro.