The University of Maine hosted the 11th annual ESTIA conference on Friday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 25 in the Wells Conference Room. The conference promoted local, national and international sustainability education.
The conference included special guests such as Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, MIT Distinguished Professor Jan Wampler and Dr. Habib Dagher, director of the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
ESTIA President Emily Markides was on-hand Friday night to introduce the conference and the organization’s goals and values.
“I hope ESTIA brings confidence to UMaine’s already substantial sustainability efforts,” said Markides, who is also a UMaine Peace and Reconciliations department professor. “This conference is a tool for healing, and it allows friends to celebrate and reconstitute the world. I’m so glad to see so many students here taking advantage of this conference. My work, and the work of those in ESTIA, is dedicated to the youth.”
The 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Friday portion of the conference included presentations about an eco-friendly project conducted in Cyprus, called the Famagusta Eco-city Project, where ESTIA members envision an eco-friendly culture in the titular city.
The 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Saturday portion included more locally focused environmental presentations. The University of Colorado’s Bernard Amadei, Founder of Engineers Without Borders, spoke about community development; Soren Hermansen and Malene Annikki Lunden, co-directors of the Samso Energy Academy in Denmark, spoke about the role of islands in sustainability practices; Pingree spoke specifically about creating a strong economy for Maine; and Dagher and Ivan Fernandez, UMaine Distinguished Professor in the School of Forest Resources co-presented about Maine’s Climate and Energy Future.
The conference concluding panel, focusing on how local actions can benefit Maine’s resiliency, was hosted by David Kelly, Bangor EcoHomes designer, Joline Blais, Associate Professor of New Media from the Belfast Ecovillage, Lisa Fernandes of the Resilience Hub and Portland Maine Permaculture, and Eileen Hagerman of the UMaine Terrell House Permaculture Living and Learning Center.
ESTIA, the International EcoPeace Community, is a Maine-based non-profit organization established in 2004. According to their mission statement, the organization is centered around four values: respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace. Previous ESTIA conferences have focused on water ethics and natural rights, spirituality, ecological design techniques and earth education, among other topics.
The conference was sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance, Auxiliary Services, the Office of Sustainability, the College of Engineering, the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solution, the School of Policy and International Affairs, the Climate Change Institute, the Honors College, the Peace of Reconciliations Program, the Sociology Department, the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, the College of Liberal Arts and the Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
“Our long list of conference sponsors exemplifies UMaine’s values and goals toward sustainability practices,” said Monique LaRocque, Associate Provost for the Division of Lifelong Learning. “It is an honor for UMaine to host ESTIA.”