POSTPONED: Climate Resilience Fair 2025 Speakers

UPDATE 6/4: EVENT POSTPONED. UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE FAIR DUE TO THE FORECASTED RAIN. 

PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR A NEW DATE at Steamboat Landing in Belfast for the Climate Resilience Fair. 
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We have a fantastic lineup of speakers for our first annual Climate Resilience Fair - check out the schedule & speaker information below!
Please join us for powerful and inspiring presentations, vendor and organization exhibitors, family activities, food trucks and more. View more details about the Fair here. 

See All Fair Details

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Speaker Schedule

Our speakers throughout the day in the Belfast Boathouse:
10:15 - 10:45   David Gibson, Director of Energy, College of the Atlantic
11:00 - 11:30   Jack Shapiro, Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine Climate and Clean Energy Program
11:45 - 12:15    Sean Birkel, Maine State Climatologist
12:30 - 1:00    Parker Gassett, Community Climate Resilience Coordinator, Maine Sea Grant
1:15 - 1:45        Steve Ouillette, En-ROADS Global Climate Simulation
2:00 - 2:30     Nick Janzen, Policy & Partnerships Director, Maine Conservation Alliance
2:30 - 3:00     Alan Gibson, Owner & Co-founder, GO Logic

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Speaker Bios

David Gibson is the Director of Energy at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. Over the last four years, he has led projects that have cut heating oil consumption in half campus-wide, including transitioning 20 buildings entirely off of fossil fuels. He has engaged students in conducting energy audits and throughout the process of sealing and insulating buildings. David has created a community-based program to help residents transition their homes away from fossil fuels, including a ten-step process that prioritizes the most cost-effective energy improvements first. David is also a permaculture enthusiast; he and his wife have planted dozens of fruit and nut trees in their yard.

Jack Shapiro, Climate & Clean Energy Director at Natural Resources Council of MaineNRCM, brings 15 years of advocacy, policy, and organizing experience to the NRCM climate and clean energy team. Prior to joining NRCM in 2021, Jack worked at Greenpeace USA and at Organizing for Action, pushing for ambitious federal climate policies. He served for four years as an appointee in the Obama Administration working on diverse issues ranging from conservation, clean energy, and green buildings to community resilience and biodefense. Jack has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor’s degree in Ethics, History, and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Originally from the Northwest, Jack lives in Brunswick with his family.

Sean Birkel is Assistant Professor and the Maine State Climatologist with a joint appointment to the Climate Change Institute and Cooperative Extension, University of Maine, Orono. His research areas include climate variability, modeling, and data visualization. He is particularly interested in past, present, and future climate variability across the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. Since 2012 Sean has been developing the climate data visualization website ClimateReanalyzer.org. As the state climatologist, he oversees the Maine Climate Office, and provides climate and weather information to Maine stakeholders to facilitate decision-making, policy, and planning. In that regard, he is also serving on the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council.

Parker Gassett is the Marine and Coastal Community Specialist for the Maine Climate Science Information Exchange. Since 2020 he has been a member of the Marine Extension Team of the Maine Sea Grant Program at the University of Maine. Parker received the 2018 Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions Award: Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability Research by a graduate student for a regional campaign on ocean acidification. This work continued to become his doctoral research on managing ocean climate change in the Gulf of Maine. He received the 2023 Maine Fishermen’s Forum Distinguished Service Award for supporting the virtual sessions of the conference in 2021. He is the co-editor and a primary author of the 2023 Maine Community Resilience Workbook, a framework and how-to guide for climate change assessment, collective climate action, and achieving community resilience outcomes.

Nick Janzen is Policy & Partnerships Director at Maine Conservation Alliance. Nick oversees MCA’s collaborative advocacy and outreach efforts with fellow climate and democracy groups. He supports the Environmental Priorities Coalition, a partnership of environmental, conservation, and public health organizations, as well as Mainers for Modern Elections, a coalition committed to securing equitable ballot access for all eligible Maine voters.
 
Alan Gibson is the owner and co-founder of GO Logic LLC of Belfast, Maine, a 45-person design/build firm, general contractor, and panel manufacturer. He holds a BA from Brown University and is a Certified Passive House Builder and Designer. GO Logic’s first Phius-certified home was completed in 2010. He sits on of the Phius (Passive House Institute US) board of directors and is chair of the Phius Alliance, and speaks widely on sustainable design and construction. 

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Volunteer

If you are interested in volunteering to help with the event please email us: [email protected].

Banner photo: Belfast labyrinth overlooking Boathouse and Steamboat Landing. Photo: Misty Mallar.