The Center for an Ecology-Based Economy: Putting Justice at the Heart of Climate Action

Addressing the climate crisis requires us to look beyond isolated issues to see the interweaving nature of complex — and often broken — systems.

That idea is at the heart of the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy (CEBE), a nonprofit on a mission to build resilient communities and expand awareness of detrimental climate-related issues.

While CEBE has taken an intersectional and holistic approach to climate action since its inception in 2013, the organization has evolved over time, shifting its philosophy and practice to meet the community’s needs. Today, it stands firm on Main Street in Norway, Maine, serving more than 20 municipalities throughout the state — and prioritizing its local roots in every program it offers.

Where It All Started

“CEBE really started in response to the fact that we just weren’t hearing any real concern or acknowledgment of the climate crisis,” says Scott Vlaun, Co-Founder and outgoing Executive Director. “Nobody was taking action.”

Vlaun and his partners came together to address this problem, sharing their individual areas of expertise — writing, photography, agriculture, graphic design, solar energy, and more — to create tangible solutions in four core areas:

• Food: Ensuring all communities have access to healthy and local food sources

• Energy: Providing affordable and renewable energy to all

• Shelter: Expanding access to safe, affordable, and net-zero housing

• Transportation: Helping develop public transportation to lower carbon emissions

Since opening its doors, CEBE has remained steadfast in its goal to create actionable change. “When we started, we were very focused on climate action,” says Vlaun. “We were using sustainable models in our four core areas to demonstrate and visualize what could be done.”

More than a decade later, CEBE has a robust roster of programs and projects designed to drive this kind of change, including:

• Local Climate Leadership Toolkit, which provides technical assistance to rural communities

• Inland Flood Project, which helps monitor flood conditions

• 2030 Vision Climate Convergence, which is a collaborative annual conference that started in 2020

• Community Solar, which uses funds from the U.S. Department of Energy to deploy community solar energy throughout western Maine

• Norway Equitable Housing Cooperative, which will provide affordable housing to the Norway community

CEBE’s work is wide-ranging, from providing workshops on renewable energy to establishing electric vehicle charging stations throughout the county. It employs a multifaceted approach to tackle climate-related issues from a number of overlapping angles.

From Climate Action to Climate Justice

When Vlaun and his team heard Ania Wright, CEBE’s incoming Executive Director, speak at a conference, they realized that CEBE needed to evolve its approach from tech-based solutions to promoting and developing equity-driven, justice-oriented systems.

“She rose the roof on the Augusta Civic Center and had half of us in tears talking about climate justice on an international scale,” says Vlaun. “That really shifted our mission.”

What is climate justice? Wright says it best:

“Climate justice means creating a just and livable future in which everyone can not only survive but thrive. It’s a movement that aims to lift all boats and create a world in which our systems work and people — no matter their background or identity — can thrive on a planet that’s also thriving.”

The shift from climate action to climate justice builds on CEBE’s ongoing focus on permaculture, a model that evaluates and addresses whole systems as an “interweaving of everything,” says Vlaun.

Connecting the Micro and the Macro

As Wright takes the reins of CEBE’s executive directorship, she and Vlaun are continuing to connect the needs of local communities with the macro systems that impact their day-to-day lives. For Wright and Vlaun, much of this work resonates with theories behind the Transition movement, in which organizations use grassroots and community action to make larger-scale change.

This approach allows nonprofits like CEBE to work within communities while acknowledging the bigger picture. “The needs of the community of Norway are different from the needs of Portland or New York or a small town in Iowa,” says Wright. “But the issues they face are all caused by broken systems. It’s hard to meet their needs without looking at state, federal, or even global legislation.”

To expand their climate justice efforts and unite hyperlocal work with broader systems, CEBE has recently added education and bioregioning to its four core service areas.

For Those Inheriting the Earth

Part of CEBE’s work involves addressing climate justice for the next generation. It’s introduced solar energy into entire school districts, for example, and has created a detailed roadmap to decarbonization for local schools.

The team enacts the mantra “nothing about us without us” by bringing young people in on the planning, decision-making, and activities that directly impact them. CEBE has one of the youngest nonprofit boards in Maine because its team feels they have a responsibility to include youth in their efforts.

“What we’re doing now will materially change their existence in the next 50 or 60 years,” says Vlaun. “Youth need to have a voice front and center about how this all rolls out.”

In fact, this belief in inclusion extends to the community as a whole: “We’re living in a time of such polarization, tension, and pain,” Wright says. “It’s our responsibility to work directly with the people to ensure we’re meeting their needs.”

A holistic, inclusive approach to climate justice isn’t easy. It takes time, energy, and a commitment to doing the right thing — even when that’s hard to do. But CEBE’s team has been meeting this challenge for more than a decade, and with Wright stepping in as the new Executive Director, the organization shows no signs of slowing down.