Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of June 25, 2012

News from Across the USM Campuses

Government Should Help Colleges Invest in Sustainability, Report Says (By Michael Stratford, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/21/12)[All USM institutions are signatories to the Presidents Climate Commitment]

Record Warmth Triggers Early Algal Blooms in Chesapeake Bay (Reported by Tom Pelton, NPR/WYPR, 6/20/12) [Pelton interviews Dr. Donald F. Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

August 13-17 - Environmental Sciences Summer Academy: High Schoolers - Dig In and Get Wet (University of Baltimore summer program for high school students)

State of Maryland News

Board of Public Works Approves $37 Million in Grants for Clean Water and the Chesapeake Bay: Grants Will Reduce Nutrient Pollution, Improve Infrastructure (The Department of the Environment, Newsroom, 6/20/12)

More Trees = Less Crime in Baltimore, Study Shows (By Alex Davies, Treehugger.com, 6/19/12)

State, others offer proposals for using energy fund: Maryland wants Exelon merger payout to go to efficiency, conservation initiatives (By Daniel Leaderman, Gazette.net, 6/18/12)

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

• Practices
• Programs
• Policies

• Presentations
• Climate Change Definitions
• Facilities Master Planning
• Statewide Sustainability Efforts
• ACUPCC National Benchmarking
• Useful Links and References

Climate Change: Waiting for a Catastrophic Wake-Up Call (By Mario Osava, Inter Press Service as reported by CommonDreams.org, 6/25/12)

Sea Level Rise Accelerating in U.S. Atlantic Coast (USGS Newsroom, 6/24/12)

Should Air-Conditioning Go Global, or Be Rationed Away? (The New York Times - Room for Debate, 6/21/12)

Public transportation: 'Don't like the cuts? Take a hike' - The old consensus that mass transit drives the economy is gone: austerity-crazed Republicans aim to run it into the ground (By Daniel Denvir, The [UK] Guardian, 6/21/12)

Global carbon emissions rise is far bigger than previous estimates:  New analysis by the Guardian shows the world emitted a record 31.8bn tonnes of carbon from energy consumption in 2010 (By Simon Rogers and Fiona Harvey, The [UK] Guardian, 6/21/12)

Rio+20 Fail: Youth Lead Walkout of UN Summit - Slamming leaders' negotiating text as a failure for people and the environment, youth climate leaders stage civil disobedience (By Common Dreams staff, CommonDreams.org, 6/21/12)

The Most Anti-Environment Congress in History: Here's the Record (By Richard Schiffman, 6/20/12)