How do we document the changing coastline of Mount Desert Island? How can history, science, and art come together to help us understand and prepare for the future?

Coast Lines is a public science-history-art project, part of the Landscape of Change initiative, to document past, present, and future storm surges and sea levels on Mount Desert Island. In 2024, this work took on new and greater relevance as multiple record-setting winter storms impacted waterfronts and ecosystems all around the island.

Join panelists Raney Bench, Executive Director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society; Jennifer Steen Booher, artist; and Catherine Schmitt, Science Communication Specialist at the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, for an update on installations of the “Coast Lines” stencil that involved community partners, teachers, and students, as well as how sea level observations contributed by volunteers have informed scientific models of future sea levels and storms.

The panel will also share some lessons learned from engaging the community in thinking about the coastal landscape and how it is changing, both subtly and dramatically, and where we’d like to go from here

What Are Science Cafes?

MDI Bio Lab’s Science Cafes provide an informal introduction to ground-breaking biomedical research by its scientists, scholars from near and far and from local experts in other fields as well. Each Cafe lasts about one hour; the floor is open for questions and discussion. It can get lively and it’s always engaging. MDI Science Cafes are open to the public and free of charge.