MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 31, 2022
Six young environmental changemakers were honored at the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s Brookie Awards for progress in securing safe drinking water, protecting amphibian species and boosting curriculum on sustainability, among other initiatives. Waynflete student Anna Siegel co-founded Maine Youth Action, which lobbied for An Act to Divest the State of Maine from Assets in the Fossil Fuel Industry. When the bill passed last summer, it was the first of its kind in the nation to become law. Greg LeClair, a doctoral student at UMaine, founded Maine Big Night, a citizen science project focused on collecting data on amphibians. This spring, over 400 volunteers recorded data on more than 8,500 amphibians statewide. Lucas Healy, a recent Maine Maritime Academy graduate, did an internship focused on offshore wind, then advocated for renewable energy courses to be taught on campus. While earning a degree in marine affairs with a minor in climate change studies, recent University of New England graduate Kiara Frischkorn led a sustainability club and organized dozens of beach cleanups in southern Maine.