AREA — A virtual workshop, ‘Climate Change and Bioregional Resilience in Western Maine’ is planned for Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. The workshop will be presented by the Androscoggin River Watershed Council, featuring staff from the Center for Ecology Based Economy.

To register, email flea.arwc@gmail.com or visit the website at www.androscogginwatershed.org. For more information, contact Fergus Lea at that email or call 207-240-3143.

Climate Change is impacting our communities, our lives, and our economy. This workshop will look at some of the data and impacts and consider what we can do to build resilience.

Center for Ecology Based Economy (CEBE) Executive Director Scott Vlaun will provide an overview of the Center’s efforts over the past decade to raise awareness of the climate crisis in our region, and most recently, working with state and federal agencies to help our communities adapt to the challenges ahead while moving towards an ecology-based economy in the Western Foothills region.

Roberta Hill, Bioregional coordinator for the organization, will explain how and why CEBE has begun the work of ‘scaling up’ its vision, finding ways to apply the lessons learned and the ecological design principles upon which CEBE was founded. One goal is to cultivate a coordinated network of regenerative practices and practitioners across the broader bioregional landscape.

CEBE was founded in 2013 upon a vision for a stable, sustainable, and just economy built on a backbone of clean renewable energy and regenerative land use practices, and in balance with our local and regional ecological ‘bank account.’ CEBE continues to work towards an economy where everyone has the chance to participate in the creation of prosperous and resilient communities while helping to restore the regenerative capacity of our life-supporting natural systems.

The work before us is formidable. CEBE strives to encourage community members working across ideological divides, to build an economy that can feed, clothe, house, and educate a growing population, while restoring and protecting ecological integrity.

We are facing a time of increasing local and global climate disruption. Meeting the challenge will demand a surge in creativity, innovation, and cooperation of unparalleled scale and scope. It will also offer unprecedented opportunity, with many potential rewards – better nutrition and health from actively participating in robust and diverse local food systems, cleaner air and water, a stronger connection with our neighbors, and a more equitable and just society.