Week of July 27, 2009

News from Across the USM Campuses

UMBI Seminar Series - August 12 - Emerging technologies for protecting coastal waters from pollutants delivered through storm water runoff and flux from bedded sediments, presented by Dr. Upal Ghosh?Unviersity of Maryland, Baltimore County. Event will be held at 3:00 PM in the Multipurpose Conference Room at the Center of Marine Biotechnology (University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute)

CUERE - UMBC Fall 2009 Seminar Series Schedule - Seminars are held on Fridays at 2 PM in the Technology Research Center, Room 206, and are free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Visitor parking passes for the TRC lot may be purchased for $4.00 in the CUERE office in TRC 102/105 shortly before seminar (Sponsored by the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

NewsWatch: State jobless rate hits 26-year high, University program funds energy, biotech projects (The Gazette, 7/24/09)

Smaller dead zone in bay predicted (The Capital, 7/24/09)[Article cites Integration and Application Network, working in partnership with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

Testimony warns about effects of rising sea levels (By Carol Harvat, Southern Maryland Newspapers On-line, 7/22/09) [Article quotes Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center fore Environmental Science]

NSF GRANT: Research in marine, estuarine sciences for UMES sophomores (A Daily Times Staff Report, DelMarVaNow On-line, 7/20/09)

City farming becomes a social cause:  MICA students tend crops; UM agricultural classes can't seat all comers (By Laura Vozzella, The Baltimore Sun, 7/20/09)

State of Maryland News

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Budget cuts hit clean-bay initiatives: Runoff pollution, algae bloom initiatives reduced (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 7/25/09)

 Kent pollution cleanup stalls: Genovique resists state demand for more soil, water tests (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 7/23/09)

Even the toilets are green at the aquarium (By Meredith Cohn, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 7/23/09)

Gas prices continue to fall (The Baltimore Sun - Getting There Blog, 7/21/09) [Article cites average Maryland gas prices]

National and International News

Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide - Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama White House provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating in the summer. The effects on the world's weather, environments and wildlife could be devastating (By Suzanne Goldberg and Damian Carrington, The [UK] Guardian, 7/26/09)

Justin Timberlake Opens First Eco-Friendly Golf Course (By Amanda Wills, Yahoo News, 7/24/09)

'Cash for clunkers' program takes effect: Dealers ready to hand out up to $4,500 for old cars (By Eileen Ambrose, The Baltimore Sun, 7/24/09)

Heat may have killed fish in Florida Bay: The chief of biological resources at Everglades National Park said the thousands of fish floating dead in Florida Bay this week may have died from the heat. (By Curtis Morgan, The Miami Herald, 7/23/09)

Riding bikes in the Netherlands (By Michael Rass, PRI-The World, National Public Radio, 7/23/09)

Texas cleaning up oil blobs on South Padre Island (Yahoo News, 7/23/09)

Obama's ‘green-jobs' guru: from activist to environmentalist ( By  Elaine Quijano, CNN-Politics, 7/23/09)

INTERVIEW-U.S. top greenhouse gas emitter, counting imports (By Alister Doyle, Reuters as reported by Alternet, 7/22/09)   

Massive glacier in sub-Antarctic island shrinks by a fifth (AFP as reported by Yahoo News, 7/22/09)

Chemicals That Eased One Woe Worsen Another (By David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, 7/20/09)

Nissan's plug-free electric car: The Japanese carmaker's wireless system employs the same electromagnetic field technology used to charge an electric toothbrush (Bibi van der Zee and Adam Vaughan, The [UK] Guardian, 7/20/09)

Chevron Expects to Fight Ecuador Lawsuit in US: As Largest Environmental Judgment on Record Looms, the Oil Company Reassures Shareholders It Won't Pay (By Ben Casselman, The Wall Street Journal as reported by Yahoo Finance, 7/20/09)

Exhibit - The Edible Garden. New York Botanical Garden (June 27 - September 13, 2009) The Edible Garden is a summer-long celebration of growing great food. Through delectable exhibitions and mouth-watering programs, be inspired to grow, prepare, and eat garden-fresh produce, and understand how plants provide the food and drink essential to maintaining life and enhancing wellness.