The Gulf of Maine is one of the richest bioregions on Earth. It is a source of food, water, economic stability, recreation and spiritual renewal for those who live there. Due to climate change the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than any other comparable body of water on Earth. Such drastic change impairs its ability to provide ecosystem services and maintain biodiversity, ultimately impacting the wellbeing of all of the watershed.
As a community, our health depends on the health of our surrounding ecosystem. Now is the time to work together to restore and maintain the Gulf.
The Gulf in Need
GOMI's Mission
GOMI’s mission is to educate and prepare the coming generations to steward wisely the environmental health of the Gulf of Maine bioregion through community-based stewardship.
GOMI works closely with teachers, researchers, and community organizations to empower youth and prepare them to lead as citizen stewards.
Community-based stewardship (CBS) promotes experiential learning, rooted in and with the community. CBS focuses on the uniqueness of a specific place and emphasizes civic engagement - the act(s) of doing something concrete and beneficial to understand, improve, remedy, or protect the natural and cultural environment.
CBS is at the core of how GOMI works. To achieve our mission of stewarding wisely we:
- Partner with schools to establish Gulf of Maine courses, where students work with teachers and community partners to develop hands-on projects that deepen their understanding of how climate change affects their local environment.
- Have yearly professional development conferences to discuss best practices in environmental education.
- Build a sense of collective responsibility by engaging the wider community through the GOMI Journal, social media and our website.
(Marsh aerial photo © Aber, Aber, and Valentine, 2009)
