GrowSmart News and Updates
GrowSmart Maine is actively involved in advocacy and initiatives that directly impact the quality of life of all Mainers. We’ll share our news here frequently. As a GrowSmart Maine member, you’ll get updates via email, directly to your inbox. Consider joining today!
GrowSmart News and Updates
Remote Working and Air Quality: One Part of the Solution?
Author, Jeff Levine, GrowSmart Board Member, Levine Planning Strategies, LLC As the country wrestles with COVID-19, the air is getting cleaner. That makes sense, because travel is down, and transportation is a major contributor to poor air quality. Some commentators...
Upping our Broadband Game
I’m participating in my first Zoom meeting of the week and getting more comfortable with it, given the half dozen or so I’ve participated in over the past two weeks. This one is with the Maine Broadband Coalition as we discuss immediate needs for Mainers adapting to...
Ask Kids – Good Things Might Happen!
What if…..we ask kids what they want from their community? What if…..we ask kids what they think their community should offer in the future? What if.….we listen, really listen, to what they say? What if….we give them a seat at the table when we are meeting to talk...
GrowSmart Maine is Designated as Maine’s State Rural Development Council by USDA: Rural Development
GrowSmart Maine is proud to serve as Maine's Rural Development Council for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Rural Development is committed to helping to improve the economy and quality of life in rural America. This designation makes GrowSmart the go-to...
GrowSmart Maine Annual Summit 2019- Smart Growth Builds Wellness
Pepperell Mill “The power of a community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital”,says Mark Hyman of the Cleveland Clinic. Those who provide health care can encourage preventive medicine, but the bulk of comprehensive health work...
Equal Exchange- International Visitor Leadership Program
GrowSmart Maine recently spent time with two mayors from Germany through the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. We shared best practices and lessons learned from our work in community revitalization and economic development for towns and...
Conserving Open Space Promotes Community Connection and Health
The first warm (over 40 degrees) spring night in April, I don a raincoat, rain pants, and a warm wool hat, and head out onto the dark wet road outside my door to help wood frogs, peepers, and spotted salamanders safely cross the road that runs between the Rines...
Smart Growth so 90s?
Author, Bryce Hach, Board Member and co-founder of Maine Food for Thought I joined the GrowSmart Maine Board of Directors in 2018. I remember telling friends and family at that time from outside of the state of my new role, and a frequent response I heard was “cool,...
The Triple Bottom Line – Carbon Edition
GreenBiz Guest Author & Board Member David Webster In all the years I have been involved in sustainability and climate change I have never used the term “triple bottom line.” That will change. Wikipedia describes it as: “The triple bottom line (or otherwise noted...
What the Top Ten “Hottest” Towns in Maine Say About Maine’s Future
MaineBiz recently ran two articles on a real estate broker who tracks the “hottest” towns in Maine. And no, he is not talking about recent weather patterns. He’s calculating which communities have the highest percentage increase in real estate sales each year. This is...