It has been an exciting year marked by big accomplishments for Maine’s environment at the State House and beyond. Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim joins the podcast to highlight 10 areas of progress from 2022 that inspired and energized us. We hope our listeners enjoy these good news stories and it leaves you rejuvenated heading into the new year as we continue our collective work to protect what we love.

NRCM Rising guest host Kate Shambaugh interviews 2020 Brookie Award winner Gabby Hillyer about her experience as part of the University of Maine delegation to the COP27 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Egypt that was help in mid-November 2022.

On Tuesday November 8th, Maine voters delivered another bipartisan, pro-environment majority to the State House. What do those election results mean for our collective work to protect the nature of Maine? NRCM’s Interim CEO and Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim joins the podcast to provide our initial analysis of what the results of this year’s state and federal election means for Maine’s environment. For a more in-depth review of the election’s impact on our environment, join Pete for a Zoom webinar on November 15th by RSVP’ing at nrcm.org.

Every year, NRCM honors environmental leaders in Maine with our Conservation Leadership Awards. The speeches recipients give at our annual event are full of heart, passion, and commitment. In this episode, you’ll hear the inspirational stories of this year's five CLA recipients: Project Puffin's Dr. Steve Kress, Portland & So. Portland sustainability leads Troy Moon and Julie Rosenbach, aquafarm activists Frenchman Bay United, rockweed advocate Dr. Robin Hadlock Seeley, and Juniper Hill "close the loophole" coalition Don’t Waste ME.

Maine’s spectacular outdoors are central to our way of life, and nowhere is that more evident than in the state’s booming outdoor recreation industry. Outdoor recreation contributes $3 billion to Maine’s economy, making up 3.3%—more than double the national average in 2020. In this episode, Colin speaks with Jenny Kordick, the Executive Director of Maine Outdoor Brands, about what makes Maine’s outdoor industry unique, and what we learned from the inaugural Maine Outdoor Economy Summit held in mid-October.

On September 29th, hundreds of Mainers gathered on the banks of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston to honor some of Maine’s 100 Clean Water Champions and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. We spoke with a few of the Champions for this podcast episode and asked them to share their unique connection to clean water in Maine. Together, these interviews provide a snapshot into the passion and dedication of everyday Mainers to protect the clean water that makes our state so special.

In this episode, Colin speaks with two Maine residents who live in completely different parts of the state but share a common threat facing the clean water where they live. Robin Hadlock Seeley worked to share information with residents in Pembroke to pass an ordinance banning Wolfden’s mining activities, and MaryAlice Mowry has been shining a light on Wolfden’s sketchy activities in the Patten area near Pickett Mountain where Wolfden has proposed a mining operation.

More Mainers than ever are driving electric vehicles, and more models are coming to market every year. In this episode, we speak with NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator Josh Caldwell to discuss what we learned from NRCM’s 2022 survey of every electric vehicle owner in Maine. This was our third and most popular survey—with a record-breaking 1,230 responses from all 16 counties!

This month, we’ll be joining many others in celebrating the sixth anniversary of the creation of the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument. In this episode, we speak with Sam Deeran, Acting Executive Director of the Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters, about the enormous success of the Monument, what’s changed in those six years, and what visitors can expect in the coming years.

Hope was renewed again in Washington D.C., when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin announced a new deal to invest billions of dollars in clean energy and climate action. In this episode, we speak with experts at the Environmental Defense Fund and National Wildlife Federation to find out how the Inflation Reduction Act would lower energy costs for Mainers and help us meet the goals laid out in Maine’s Climate Action Plan.