The Sustainability Solutions Initiative will facilitate the connection between research and action in order to strengthen Maine’s economic, social and ecological future. Funded by a $20 million National Science Foundation EPSCoR grant, the initiative is characterized by close collaboration between research faculty, partners, stakeholders and students from across the state. The grant will bring Maine to the forefront of sustainability science and will provide the framework for between 200 and 300 jobs during the five-year initiative. Recognizing Maine’s commitment to sustainable development, the UMaine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research is the initiative’s headquarters.

David Hart, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center and leader of the initiative, introduced King. UMaine President Robert Kennedy took the stage and said the initiative “has the potential to dramatically affect the way we do things in Maine.” Kennedy expressed the need for “creating a sustainable future. … It’s clear to us at the University of Maine every day.”

“[The initiative] is going to help us solve some real world problems,” Hart said. “and will improve the scientific practice of sustainable development. We can’t afford one goal to the exclusion of others.”

Hart recalled a conversation in which King once said, “I just wish we had a program like this when I was governor.”

King continued this sentiment after taking the stage and mapping out his ten-fold plan for the involvement of higher education in the initiative. From offering graduate students who have completed their undergraduate degree in Maine in-state tuition, to providing a data-driven public policy process, King highlighted the need for fresh, forward thinking and urged universities to be “knowledge factories.”

King referenced the Morrill Act of 1862 as a blueprint for the intellectual change Maine needs. The Morrill Act revolutionized 19th century higher education by incorporating “trade colleges” like medicine, agriculture and engineering into the curricula of many U.S. universities, including UMaine.

“I would suggest a similar period,” King said. He cited the need of a “wholesale effort to grab education by the throat and pull it in a relevant direction. … We need to do the intellectual equivalent of the Morrill Act for 2010.”

King also spoke of a university’s cultural duty to its region.

“Cultural amenities turn out to be powerful economic tools,” he said.

Using Rockland’s Farnsworth Museum as an example, King spoke of the fundamental changes a region can undergo due to cultural attractions, like the Collins Center for the Arts, and how cultural amenities play an important role in a region’s allure.

The need for fresh, forward thinking in King’s version of the role universities play in sustainability was emphasized by the rapid nature of modern life. As proof, King reminded the audience that in 1850, approximately 90 percent of American people engaged in agriculture and now that has fallen to approximately 3 percent. He spoke of the economic, geographical, ecological and social changes that have taken place since then.

“The next transition will be 10 to 20 years. We don’t have 150 years,” King said. “The era we live in is so fast.”

King’s political character and message rang true in the ears of audience member and student senator Nate Wildes.

“I think [King’s] always been a great independent, proactive voice in the state,” Wildes said. “Getting everybody to work together [is what’s important]. If you leave anybody behind, there’s no guarantee for success.”