Antioch Advocacy Grad Leads Gulf of Maine Restoration Coalition

A Report From Peter Alexander:

I have good news to share about the new US Gulf of Maine Habitat Restoration and Conservation Plan. The Plan was officially released at a press conference in Portland, Maine last week and received a great deal of media coverage. The Associated Press article was most widely distributed, and a front page article in the Portland Daily Sun provided some great in-depth coverage. Maine Public Radio also ran a really excellent in-depth report. If you would like to read or listen, you can find the coverage here:

Maine Public Broadcasting Network

The Boston Globe

Portland Daily Sun

Now that the plan has been finalized and published it is going to take a lot of work to get Congress to implement it, and we are going to need all the help we can get to accomplish this. The National Wildlife Federation has taken on the leading role and has contracted with me to create a regional coalition of conservation and advocacy groups that will be working together to convince Congress to take action. We are not expecting instant results: it took five years before Congress finally started implementing a similar plan for the Great Lakes. Yet, with your help, we can move this plan forward.

Here are some of the ways you can help:

1) Be part of the advocacy team, ready to call or write Members of
Congress or other elected officials at key times during the campaign
(for example, when a relevant bill is being considered).

2) Tell your friends about the plan and ask them to be part of the
campaign to get it implemented (we will keep the survey page open and
they can sign up there at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XZWD7VK). Use your social networking sites (Facebook, etc.) to talk about the Plan and the need to get it implemented.

3) Send a tax-deductible donation to support the campaign to: Gulf of Maine Restoration • National Wildlife Federation Northeast Regional Center • 149 State Street, Suite 1 • Montpelier, Vermont 05602

4) Send me your ideas for events and activities that can advance the cause.

Please let me know how you would like to help, and feel free to send any other ideas or suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you and to working with you to restore and conserve our beloved Gulf of Maine!

All the best,

Peter

Peter Alexander
Director, Gulf of Maine Restoration Coalition
Member of Steering Committee, America's Great Waters Coalition
peter@peteralexander.us

Here are some useful links:
Download the Plan.
Download just the Executive Summary.
Download the Expanded Spreadsheet detailing the Plan's cost estimates.

Our 10/10/10 Service Learning Project

At the beginning of this Fall semester, a Transition Keene Task Force organizer asked the Environmental Studies class on "Organizing for Social Change" to help with local organizing for 10/10/10, a Global Work Party for Climate Protection sponsored internationally by 350.org that utlimtatly included over 7,300 different work parties in 188 countries. The class agreed to work on this project as part of the course's service learning project. They planned and carried out several 10/10/10 related activities:

Assisting with the filming and editing of a 30 minute documentary on all the Keene 10/10/10 work parties including Antioch's (see YouTube clips below);

Raising over $1,010.10 for Antioch's Green Bikes Initiative;

Organizing three bike related on-campus workshops for 10/10/10;

Inspiring other campus groups to host additional Antioch workparties (like the AUNE Community Garden and AUNE Library workparty events); and

Encouraging Antioch alumni, student, faculty, and staff turn out for the Keene-wide evening 10/10/10 celebration downtown.

It Takes A Village To Save A Planet: Green in Keene on 10/10/10

Part I



Part II



Part III