Affiliate Organizations

Local Organizations

A Climate to Thrive seeks to achieve energy independence for Mount Desert Island by 2030. Decentralized, local, renewable energy solutions will reduce pollution, create new businesses, generate year-round jobs that pay a living wage, and bring the community together around the shared goal of preserving our environment.

A Climate to Thrive is bringing all four MDI towns together and making the island an epicenter of citizen engagement, environmental sustainability, and economic vitality. ACTT is making MDI a model in these respects, showing other communities across Maine, New England, and nationally that these actions simultaneously enhance economic well-being and quality of life. 

You can sign up for TCTT monthly Newsletter or review their Newsletter Archives.

The Center for an Ecology-Based Economy in Norway, Maine, is committed to realizing the dream of healthy, sustainable communities based on renewable resources and resilient to the climate crisis. The CEBE mission is to engage the community in addressing the climate emergency. They organize, educate, take direct action, and implement practical, ecological solutions for a just transition to a thriving, regenerative economy. 

Subscribe to keep up to date on CEBC work, or review past issues of their Newsletter.

Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (MCCF) in Stonington uses collaborative research and education programs to engage fishermen and communities in the co-generation of knowledge through partnerships with many science institutions and other partners in the region. Information from these endeavors will help to inform collaborative approaches to the management of our natural resources at finer temporal and spatial scales than is typical.  This should allow us to observe, monitor and understand the climate change related drivers that affect the ecosystem and the fisheries that we hope to sustain.  We believe that engaged citizenry is how we will enable wiser management and stewardship that incorporates local values and shared responsibility. In the fisheries and seafood economy, change is inevitable, and there will be winners and losers as the ecosystem changes and species shift. The communities need to be paying attention to these shifts so they can adapt and survive the social challenges that will emerge.

Robert Shetterly's Americans Who Tell The Truth is a series of portraits and narratives highlighting citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental, and economic fairness. By combining art and other media, AWTT offers resources to inspire a new generation of engaged Americans who will act for the common good, our communities, and the Earth. Shetterly has painted the likes of Chief Joseph Hinmton Yalektit, Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Alice Waters, Florence Reed, Chloe Maxmin, Kelsey Juliannia, and many, many, more. His annual Samantha Smith Challenge involving hundreds of Middle-school Students annually unleashing their passion for biodiversity and a healthy Earth.

The resilience of the Bagaduce River's Reversing Falls informs the vision of the Reversing Falls Sanctuary - a sacred, welcoming space. The Sanctuary’s mission is to build community, encourage spiritual exploration, support the arts, and promote ecological consciousness. For more than 100 years, the Sanctuary served as a meetinghouse for the North Brooksville United Methodist Church. The congregation then merged with UMC in South Brooksville, resulting in the vibrant community gathering place that Reversing Falls is today – always striving to honor the yearnings of the original founding families for deep community connection. The Reversing Falls Sanctuary fosters respect for one another and all of creation, encourages the identification of individual gifts, empowering each other to use those gifts for the common good, honors all stories that inform and inspire people’s lives, and interconnects the past, present and future in fruitful ways.

National Organizations

World Ocean Observatory is the leading organization advocating for the health and sustainability of the ocean through an accessible worldwide network of communication. Through education, partnership, information exchange, public connection, and relentless communications, W2O is committed to building an expansive global community of Citizens of the Ocean to promote and conserve marine resources for the future of all mankind. Their main goal is to build an educational initiative incorporating ocean information into exhibits, educational innovations, public programs, and informational services.

Veterans For Peace is an international organization made up of military veterans, military family members, and allies. They accept veteran members from all branches of service and are dedicated to building a culture of peace, exposing the true costs of war, and healing the wounds of war. To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace. VFP networks are made up of over 140 chapters across the United States and abroad. 

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Their consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering their supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, they work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.

The Scholars Strategy Network is an organization of university-based scholars who are committed to using research to improve policy and strengthen democracy.

Across the states, the Scholars Strategy Network is working to advance the use of research wherever policy decisions are made – from city halls to state legislatures to Washington. The Scholars Strategy Network is dedicated to building a nationwide culture where research regularly informs policy at every level of government.

Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) is built around the idea that environmental devastation and rural poverty are unavoidably linked, and therefore the solution must be linked. To this end, they equip and empower low-income farmers with the resources to implement alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture, sustain the land for future generations of farmers, halt tropical deforestation, and build strong, self-supporting communities through agribusiness. SHI trains local people in Central America to teach other farmers sustainable farming practices, ensuring these practices will continue. They also offer many opportunities for support, such as donating, trips with the organization, and fundraising. The organizations focus on teaching regenerative farming practices has been responsible for the reduction in emissions of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere due to the elimination of ’slash and burn’ farming.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Their consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering their supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, they work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.