Producer/Host: Ron Beard
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne
Issue: Community concerns and opportunities
Program Topic: Islands and Energy: Connecting Maine and Samso Island in Denmark
Key Discussion Points:
1. What is the basic approach (human ecology) by which COA frames its education… with others contributing how approach has played out in their own experience with courses and students at College of the Atlantic
2. What has fueled recent/growing interest by students in alternative energy and sustainable business? Do you see obvious and not so obvious connections between the challenge to reduce carbon inputs into the atmosphere and the desire to invent and experiment? How does COA foster exploration of those connections and applications?
3. What led to the connection between the work of the Samso Energy Academy, in Denmark and College of the Atlantic and the Island Institute? (part of the broader collaboration between COA and Island Institute)
4. Describe Samso Island, its geography, economy and energy profile, and the short version of the story that led them to become “carbon neutral”. What most surprises North American visitors to Samso, as they learn about how they have organized themselves and the results they are achieving?
5. The partnership has led you to offer a course called Islands: Energy, Economy and Community, focused on developing initiatives in the renewable energy and finance sectors on MDI and Maine Islands, and involving both COA students and members of island communities. Tell more about how the course was conceived and the short and longer term outcomes you envision.
Guests:
Darron Collins, President, College of the Atlantic
Jay Friedlander, Sharpe-McNally Chair of Green and Socially Responsible Business, College of the Atlantic
Anna Demeo, Director of Energy Operations and Management, College of the Atlantic
Heather Deese, Island Institute
Suzanne MacDonald, Island Institute