Coverage of the decline of seagrass in Casco Bay, together with reporting on the recent U.N. findings, weaves “global and local challenges together,” a reader says.
Seagrass meadows tell a story

Congratulations for weaving global and local challenges together in your recent reporting on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings and eelgrass decline in Casco Bay. The two are certainly coupled and have devastating implications for life on Earth. The articles also offer a timely and an urgent call for local action, innovation and response.

A bioregional movement is building here in Casco Bay, and seagrass stewardship provides the ideal “superhero” to help us think and act in response to these changes. We are calling this Team Zostera.

Indeed, there is a growing list of impressive responses from the Portland Water District regarding innovations in wastewater treatment, the Portland harbormaster regarding innovations in mooring structures, the One Climate Future strategy, and of course the Friends of Casco Bay, to name a few.

Our seagrass meadows are the “canaries in our coal mine” and have a big story to tell if we are able to listen.

This includes harnessing the digital revolution that could help “gamify” stewardship-action at the community scale and wider forms of bioregional governance that appreciates the mounting responsibility of adapting to and stewarding our home.

This summer (July 17-18), Casco Bay will be on the global stage as our bioregion hosts the Transformations Conference.

Catalysts of change will come together to learn how to better see together, through Indigenous and Western perspectives, the interrelationship between our food and fiber systems, energy, water use and wastewater treatment.

Join us.

Glenn Page Portland