Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of July 1, 2013

News from Across the USM Campuses

Summer 2013 Programs at the Horn Point Laboratory Environmental Science Education Center in Cambridge, MD (University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Horn Point Laboratory, June - July 2013)

Farmers' Market at Maryland - The market is located in front of Cole Field House, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus, and is open on Wednesdays from 11am - 3pm.

Horn Point Laboratory JellyCam - How many jellyfish are in the Chesapeake Bay this year? The JellyCam, located on the Horn Point Laboratory pier on the Choptank River in Cambridge, Maryland, provides a view of the water surface in order to show local jellyfish conditions.  Researchers are currently assessing the usefulness of cameras like this one for monitoring sea nettle populations in Chesapeake Bay.  Visual counting has been used to monitor the sea nettle population in Chesapeake Bay for decades, but automating the process by using cameras like this one may allow for more frequent, simultaneous sampling of multiple locations in order to understand new aspects of the sea nettle population. (Horn Point Laboratory - JellyCam, July 2013)

State of Maryland News

July 20^th - 28^th - 2013 Buy Local Challenge - In addition to providing food that's fresh and nutritional, buying from local farms promotes cleaner air and water and reduces our carbon footprint on the planet. In Maryland, if every household purchased just $12 worth of farm products for eight weeks (basically the summer season), over $200 million would be put back into the pockets of our farmers.  Where to Buy Local  

Towson leaders peddle law mandating bike parking at new development: Transportation alternatives necessary with massive growth planned for downtown, they say (By Jon Meoli, The Baltimore Sun, 6/26/13)

Newbies, skilled growers discover Perry Hall's new community garden (By David Strum, The Baltimore Sun, 6/26/13)

National and International News

Energy Chief Confirms Critics' Fears: Obama Still Loves Coal - Secretary Ernest Moniz continues to tout myth of 'clean coal' as foremost in energy strategy (By Lauren McCauley, CommonDreams.org, 7/1/13)

Western US Swelters Under Blistering, Record-Breaking Heat - National Weather Service's Stuart Seto: the current heatwave is "a huge one" (By Andrea Germanos, CommonDreams.org, 6/29/13)

Senators' Positions on Climate Change Reflect Their Donors' Wishes (By R. P Siegel, TriplePundit.com, 6/28/13)

The biggest oversight in Obama's climate plan is a doozy (By David Roberts, Grist.org, 6/28/13)

Angela Merkel 'blocks' EU plan on limiting emissions from new cars: EC abandons vote on making cars more fuel efficient after intervention of German chancellor, supported by David Cameron (By Damian Carrington, The [UK] Guardian - Environment Blog, 6/28/13)

A Small Number of People Are Causing a Huge Share of Our Greenhouse Emissions (By Emily Badger, The Atlantic Cities, 6/27/13)

Obama climate change speech rejected key arguments made by critics of fracking (By The Associated Press as reported by The Washington Post, 6/27/13)

10 Brilliant Pieces of Bike Infrastructure (By Sarah Goodyear, The Atlantic Cities, 6/26/13)