12 Feb Climate Change Community Forum 2025
Carrying the Climate Fight Into the Future
Global Goals and Local Actions: the Path Forward
Wed. March 12, 2025, 6:30-8
Meetinghouse Arts
40 Main St., Freeport
Speaker panel and community forum at the international, national, state and local levels.
Hear what’s going strong in the fight against climate change, where there is still action to take, and where to find hope.
On March 12 we are taking stock of where we are in the climate crisis. We are facing hard realities, especially given the latest and ever-changing political environment. Everyone aware of the climate situation recognizes that moving forward with climate action is critical and requires that we propel each other to leap forward despite potential roadblocks and oppositions. This is not a time for local, state, or federal stakeholders to give up.There is good news, and plenty of it.
On this night we will summarize some of the solutions already underway and outline paths moving forward at the local, state, federal and even international levels. Then the guest panelists will take questions from the audience for a community conversation. Our goal is that members of the audience will feel more hopeful at the end of the discussion than when they walked in, and that individuals will leave with ideas about how they can be a part of climate action in 2025.
OUR SPEAKERS
Dr. Susana Hancock, Global Mountains Director at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.
Dr. Susana Hancock is an interdisciplinary polar climate researcher with three graduate degrees from the University of Oxford whose work encompasses both social and natural sciences. A former international elite rower, she now meets her athletic cravings by skiing across polar ice sheets and glaciers during which she collects data in conjunction with global institutions. Susana was President of APECS (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) from 2022-2023, and one of the founders of the UArctic Next-Gen Science Diplomats. She further expanded her science-policy background as the Science Manager for Arctic Basecamp, where she brought climate urgency into the business community at the World Economic Forum and through UN processes, and has been involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Susana now serves as the Global Mountains Director at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, where she works to liaise between mountain communities, mountain cryosphere science, and international policymaking. Through this role, she regularly takes part in high urgency meetings and summits with global governments, advising foreign and environment ministers on climate science, mitigation and adaptation needs and pathways.
Brian Ambrette, Senior Climate Resilience Coordinator
Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future
Brian Ambrette has a decade and a half of community, conservation, and nonprofit experience in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. From 2014-2019, Brian was the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Coastal Resilience Program Manager at the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy in Maryland. He provided rural communities with adaptation and resilience planning assistance through a groundbreaking regional climate collaborative. He also served as a member of the Maryland Climate Change Commission’s Adaptation & Response Working Group. He holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale University’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Valy Steverlynck, Co-Chair Freeport Sustainability Advisory Board
Valy Steverlynck co-chairs the Freeport Sustainability Advisory Board. She is an oyster farmer and artist who cares deeply about the environmental and social health of our communities. A long-time resident of Freeport, Valy is a graduate of Brown University and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kathleen Sullivan, Coordinator Freeport Climate Action Now
Kathleen has been a resident of Freeport for almost 50 years. For much of this time she was a practicing clinical social worker but now, at the tail end of her clinical career she has turned her attention to a global problem: the catastrophic warming of the planet. She is a founder of FreeportCAN. She is also a writer and author of the weekly Substsack, Code Red.
MODERATOR
Abigail Hayne, Youth Climate Engagement Fellow
Abigail is the Youth Climate Engagement Fellow with the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. Prior to joining GOPIF, Abigail worked as a marine biologist in academia and environmental consulting, studying fish, sharks, and their environments. Now, she combines her scientific expertise with her passion for public engagement in climate action. While in graduate school, Abigail served as a project team member for Youth on Boards: Action on Climate, an initiative to place young people on Maine non-profit boards. Abigail brings experience in stakeholder engagement, education, social media content development and strategic communications. She holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Marine Science from the University of New England in Biddeford, ME.
Please join us for this important night of discussion.