State of Maine Publishes First Maine Climate Literacy Plan

Pictured: Fifth-grade students from MSAD 17 observed ash trees as part of their STEM lessons at Roberts Farm Experiential Learning.

The Maine Department of Education (DOE), in partnership with the Maine Environmental Education Association, has published the state’s first Maine Climate Literacy Plan (MCLP) with support from the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

This plan will serve as an addendum to the Maine Environmental Literacy Plan (MELP), which was first created in 2010 and revised in 2022. The MCLP provides seven recommendations for parties throughout the state, including the Maine DOE, community partner organizations, school administrative units (SAUs), and other leaders, to help support climate literacy in Maine schools and among Maine youth.

View the Maine Environmental & Climate Literacy Plan (MCLP) here.

The Maine DOE established a taskforce to develop the MCLP in the Spring of 2024. This taskforce consisted of 30 key partners from a wide range of roles and locations throughout the state, including interdisciplinary educators, school administrators, community organization leaders, and youth. The taskforce held six meetings total to construct the recommendations provided in the MCLP.

The MCLP is one of the first of its kind in the nation. It is designed to chart a supportive plan for climate literacy throughout Maine schools. As the State of Maine continues to see climate change that affects the state’s workforce, infrastructure, natural environment, and future generations, it is imperative that schools feel they have the tools to support students’ understanding of these challenges, develop an appreciation for the environment, and provide the skills necessary to meet the future head-on.

The MCLP is the result of the 2020 Maine Won’t Wait recommendation by the Maine Climate Council. As an addendum to the MELP, the MCLP builds on the long-term vision, and success thus far, of prioritizing environmental education throughout the state, while setting more specific and shorter-term goals for climate education as a subset of environmental education.

The MCLP is structured into two strategic goals; 1. Increase Capacity Building for Advancing Climate Literacy in Maine Schools, 2. Develop a Holistic Maine Green Schools Program. Each strategy has a subset of recommendations and corresponding action steps needed to accomplish them listed. These recommendations are non-binding suggestions for carrying out this work throughout the state. The MCLP serves as a four-year framework that will be revised and updated, as needed, and then fully updated with a taskforce after four years. The Maine DOE plans to issue semiannual updates on the progress of recommendations.

Updates on Climate Education throughout Maine

For the 2024-2025 school year, 10 climate education programs are underway in dozens of schools throughout the state. The Maine Climate Literacy Plan aims to support programs such as these in years to come. Here is a highlight from two of them.

MSAD 17 (Oxford Hills)

In the Fall of 2024, eleven fifth-grade classes from MSAD 17 learned about the ecology and cultural significance of ash trees during their STEM lessons at Roberts Farm Experiential Learning.

Students contributed 22 observations to Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s community science project, Protecting Ash for the Future. The ash trees that students observed at Roberts Farm showed a few signs of stress, but students did not find any clear evidence of the emerald ash borer.

MSAD 17 plans to continue to monitor these trees with fifth-grade classes in the future!

RSU 34 (Old Town)

The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center) at the University of Maine, along with RSU 34, is working with more than 85 teachers from around the state to develop lessons on climate science through a grant from the Maine DOE. This unique approach asks teachers to use Western science findings to inform their lesson plans and incorporate Indigenous philosophies and knowledge.

These teachers are learning from university faculty about the different ways in which climate is impacting our state, while also working with Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS), Wabanaki REACH, and/or completing the University of Maine Dawnland micro-credential to gain valuable insight into the culture of the Wabanaki and the knowledge that they have held for more than 10,000 years.

This multi-faceted approach brings teachers together to participate in professional learning online, curriculum development, in-person events, field trips, and book studies featuring books by Indigenous authors. Participants will come together this spring to present their work and share what they have learned and how they use it in their classrooms.

Eighty-five teachers from across the state are taking part in a program to develop climate science lessons using Western science findings and Indigenous knowledge.

For questions about the Maine Climate Literacy Plan or climate education in Maine, please reach out to Teddy Lyman, Maine DOE Climate Education Specialist, at Theodore.Lyman@maine.gov.

For more information about Maine DOE climate education work, and for additional resources, please use this link.