Document Type

Report

Maine's Climate Future Report

Authors

University of Maine Climate Change Institute

Publication Date

2020

Abstract/ Summary

Maine’s Climate Future 2020 builds on the Maine’s Climate Future 2009 and Maine’s Climate Future 2015 reports and the Coastal Maine Climate Futures report (below); it is not intended as a comprehensive revision of all aspects of the previous reports. This update demonstrates the progression of accelerating change in the climate in Maine and its effects, reflecting dramatic evidence for accelerating climate change around the globe with the often dire consequences of those changes. This report looks at examples of evidence of effects in Maine drawn from the scientific literature and news media accounts of Maine people and their experiences. MCF 2020 highlights some of the many national and international reports over the past several years demonstrating the urgent need to implement aggressive solutions to what many now call the ‘climate crisis’. This report also highlights the importance of simultaneously investing in science-informed, cost-effective adaptation to accommodate the reality of a changing Maine in which we live, work and play. It goes without saying that the many people who contributed to this report or are referenced in this report share a common experience of the escalating consequences of out changing climate. However, it is the generations to come who will pay the highest price, or benefit the most, from the decisions and actions we take now and in the next several years. To that end, the report also points to resources detailing the many people and organizations who have been working to address the climate challenge in Maine, and to the important framework that Maine state government has launched in 2019 to get the job done.

Repository Citation

University of Maine Climate Change Institute, "Maine's Climate Future Report" (2020). General University of Maine Publications. 1564.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications/1564

Version

publisher's version of the published document

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