Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of October 21, 2013

News from Across the USM Campuses

Oct. 22^nd - Gasland (2010) - The Towson University Office of Sustainability presents Gasland as a part of the Sustainability Film Series featuring thought-provoking documentaries on the most important issue facing this generation. In May 2008 Josh Fox received a letter from a natural gas company offering to lease his family's land in Milanville, Pennsylvania for $100,000 to drill for gas. Fox set out to see how communities are being affected in the west where a natural gas drilling boom has been underway for the last decade. Throughout the documentary, Fox reaches out to scientists, politicians and gas industry executives and ultimately finds himself in the halls of Congress. Gasland was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2011. The film begins at 7pm in CLA 2110, on the Towson University campus.

Bringing Back Oysters To Chesapeake Bay (Reported by Tom Hall, National Public Radio - WYPR, 10/16/13) [Interview with Dr. Donald F. Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

UMD Researchers Address Economic Dangers of 'Peak Oil' (UMD Right Now, University of Maryland College Park, 10/16/13)

State of Maryland News

Governor O'Malley Celebrates the Completion of the State's First Commercial Solar Microgrid at a Mixed Use Development (Office of Governor Martin O'Malley, Governor's Blog, 10/15/13)

Push urged for more cool roofs in Baltimore: White or light coatings reduce energy costs, last longer (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 10/15/13)

Scientific Discovery, Environmental Awareness Promoted in New Program (By Alyssa Morones, Ed Week Blog, 10/15/13)

National and International News

'War On Coal' Good For Natural Gas Industry As U.S. Prepares To Expand Power Plant Network (By Reuters as reported by The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 10/21/13)

"Smog emergency" shuts down an entire city: The Chinese city of Harbin cancelled school due to hazardously high levels of air pollution (By Lindsay Abrams, Salon.com - Sustainability Blog, 10/21/13)

Waterworld USA: Climate Is Adversely Impacting Regional Water Resources

Population is rapidly rising and agricultural, energy, and industrial demands for water are growing. Those needs are now colliding dangerously with climate change, destabilizing water resources with very different and serious repercussions across the U.S. (By Sharon Guynup, CommonDreams.org, 10/20/13)

Worldwide Actions Call for Clean Energy in 'Global Frackdown': "All over the world people are rising up to say, ‘Instead of fracking for ever dirtier fuel, it's time to tap the endless energy of the wind and sun,'" said Bill McKibben (By Andrea Germanos, CommonDreams.org, 10/19/13)

The World's Oceans Will Be Drastically Different by 2100 (By Terrell Johnson, Weather.com, 10/18/13)

For oil companies, drilling on an acre of taxpayer-owned land is cheaper than a Starbucks coffee (By Chris Tackett, Treehugger.com - Energy/Fossil Fuels Blog, 10/17/13)

One Man's Bid to Be Recognized as World's First Official Climate Refugee: New Zealand case comes as tens of millions across the world are forced to flee their homes because of global warming (By Sarah Lazare, CommonDreams.org, 10/17/13)

Post Shutdown, U.S. Tries to Salvage Antarctic Research (By Andrew Freedman, Climate Central Blog, 10/17/13)

11 Nobel Laureates Call On Putin To Drop Piracy Charges Against Greenpeace Activists In Russia (By Reuters as reported by Huffington Post - Green Blog, 10/17/13)

Climate Scientist Campaigns Against Ken Cuccinelli In Virginia Governor's Race (By Kate Sheppard, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 10/17/13)

Two Views of Our Current Economic and Energy Crisis (By Gail Tverberg, PeakOil.com, 10/17/13)

US power plants 'vulnerable to hacking': Researchers have identified 25 vulnerabilities that can be used to crash or seize control of facilities' servers (By Alex Hern, The [UK] Guardian - Technology Blog, 10/17/13)

UK could face power blackouts in winter 2014/15 - engineers: Power system under strain especially in winter 2014/15 - Government should speed up power market reform - Report (By Reuters, 10/17/13)

Colorado Oil and Gas Association spends $604,583 to defend fracking (By Alison Noon, The Denver Post, 10/16/13, updated 10/17/13)

Budapest Water Summit ‘Mirage' of Participation Hides Same Corporate Interests That Deny Water to Millions (By Satoko Kishimoto, CommonDreams.org, 10/16/13)

France Upholds Nationwide Ban on Fracking (By Jeremy Hance, Mongabay.com as reported by Environmental News Network, 10/16/13)

Pittsburgh bike campaign is a lycra-free zone, showing cyclists as people (By Lloyd Alter, Treehugger.com - Transportation/Bikes Blog, 10/16/13)

How Much Oil Spilled on North Dakota? No One Knows (By Scott Martelle, Truthdig.com - Ear to the Ground Blog, 10/16/13)

No Safe Havens in Increasingly Acid Oceans (By Stephen Leahy, CommonDrems.org, 10/16/13)

Supreme Court allows EPA to keep regulating carbon - but will review a few details (By Brad Plumer, The Washington Post - Wonk Blog, 10/15/13)

After Sparking Outrage In Detroit, Koch Brothers' Tar Sands Waste Now Piling Up In Chicago (By Kiley Kroh, ThinkProgress.org - Climate Progress Blog, 10/15/13)

Readers to papers: Stop publishing letters that deny climate reality (By John Upton, Grist.org, 10/15/13)

Once-A-Decade Typhoon Threatens Already-Leaking Fukushima Nuclear Plant (By Andrew Breimer, ThinkProgress.org, Climate Progress Blog, 10/15/13)