USM National Green Campus
News Archive

Week of October 19, 2009

News from Across the USM Campuses

10/20 (Tuesday) - Green Buildings and LEED Certifications - Join representatives from Whiting-Turner, Leach Wallace Associates, Inc. and United States Green Building Council for a panel discussion on green buildings and LEED certifications. The panel will be Tuesday, October 20, 6 p.m., in the University Center, Room 312, on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus. For more information, contact Alison Jones at ajones9@umbc.edu.

10/21 (Wednesday) - Sustainabilty Speaker Series - State of the (Green) Union, Noon-1:00pm, meet in Pyon Su, Stamp Student Union, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. The Adele H. Stamp Student Union has implemented numerous green features throughout the building, including two new green roofs, water conserving bathroom fixtures, eco-friendly carpeting, and green cleaning practices. Join us on a walking tour of the Union with Associate Director, Steve Gnadt, to see the features yourself! Steve will do an short presentation in the Pyon Su room starting at noon before he takes the group on a tour of the green features of the Union.

10/21 (Wednesday) 7pm, Hoff Theatre, Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park campus - "Flow" is Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. 

10/22 (Thursday) Global and Regional Aerosol Variations During the EOS Satellite Era: An Analysis Using Data From Multiple Satellite Sensors and a Global Model - Dr. Mian Chin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center?Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch - Abstract. Seminars is on Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Auditorium (Rm. 2400) on the second floor of the New Wing of the Computer and Space Science Building, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Coffee, tea and cookies will be served in the adjoining Atrium at 3:00 p.m. For more information, contact Rachel Pinker.

Algae Blooms Destroying the Bay (By Catherine Krikstan, University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism/ Capital News Service Wire Feed,10/16/09) [Article quotes staff of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory]

University gets $856K for green research facility - Frostburg State University's Renewable Energy Center has won an $856,350 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to finish its Sustainable Energy Research Facility, a green, self-sufficient, off-the-grid building designed for educational research on renewable energy in the Appalachian region. The money will help buy research equipment and hire researchers and student assistants. (The Gazette, 10/16/09)

University of Maryland Wins Green Award (By Meredith Cohn, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 10/16/09)

New Report Focuses on Technology Research Needs for U.S. Marine Aquaculture (The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute Report, 10/16/09) [PDF]

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

Planet Peril: Doubts about us, Not Warming (By Donald F. Boesch, The Washington Post, 10/15/09) [Article is by Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

Shore communities are 'in danger': UMCES president: Social, economic, environmental factors threaten region (By Kristyn Ecohard, The Star-Democrat, 10/15/09) [Article quotes Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

Environmentalists call for action at annual summit (By Jeff Newman, Southern Maryland Newspapers Online, 10/14/09) [Article quotes Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

University of Maryland, College Park Wins America's Greenest Campus Contest - The University of Maryland shares the honors with Rio Salado College for winning the America's Greenest Campus Contest -- a six month contest encouraging students, faculty, and staff to calculate their personal carbon footprints and pledge to reduce their impacts.  UM had more participants (2,257 students, faculty, and staff) pledge to carbon reductions than any other college or university.  The Student Sustainability Committee (a committee of the SGA) will receive $5,000 for coordinating the campus' effort. [Climate Culture, 10/14/09]

Maryland Named Top Green Campus (UM Newsdesk, 10/14/09)

University of Maryland, College Park Wins Greenest College Campus Award (Reuters, 10/14/08)

Green Lecture Series Kicks off with Panel on Electric Vehicles (Universities at Shady Grove Newsroom, 10/13/09)

Frostburg State gets $850,000 from DOE (The Associated Press as reported by The Daily Record, 10/13/09)

FSU Sustainable Energy Research Facility Receives $856,000 Federal Grant (FSU News Release, 10/13/09)

St. Martin Hall Renovations Increase Building's Sustainability (Salisbury University Press Release, 10/13/09)

State sets new record for oyster restoration: 750 million spat placed in rivers that feed the bay (By Pamela Wood, The Capital, 10/12/09) [Article quotes the staff of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Horn Point Laboratory]

Public Announcement: New Parking Structure - Please address questions and comments to the Office of Capital Planning, Construction and Contracts by email or call (410) 951-3780 not later than October 23rd, 2009. (Coppin State University, Capital Planning, Construction and Contracts)

State of Maryland News

10/25 (Sunday) - Potomac River Jam?- 8 am - 4 pm?- River Center at Lockhouse 8, C&O Canal National Historical Park, Cabin John, MD.?Join Potomac Conservancy for our first annual Potomac River Jam - a day-long celebration of the river and canal.

Trying to get kids to walk to school: Advocates for fitness, environmentalism say they're having some successes, but it's not easy (By Joe Burris, The Baltimore Sun, 10/15/09)

Vegetarian Birds (By Susan Reimer, The Baltimore Sun, 10/12/09)

Wind farm proposal draws criticism from residents (By Timothy B. Wheler, The Baltimore Sun, 10/15/09)

National and International News

Energy Firms Find No Unity on Climate Bill (By John Broder, The New York Times, 10/18/09)

Climate concerns turn city's smell into cash cow (By Dina Cappiello, The Associated Press as reported on Yahoo News, 10/18/09)

World's Biggest Economies Hold Talks To Reach Climate Deal (By Robert Barr, The Huffington Post, 10/18/09)

Republican senator says open to U.S. climate bill (By Richard Cowan, Reuters, 10/17/09)

After year without, family finds middle ground: No TV? Toilet paper? Perceived sacrifices end up being nothing of the sort (The Associated Press as reported on MSNBC.com, 10/17/09)

Climate concerns turn city's smell into cash cow: Renewable natural gas source - methane from manure - lures businesses  (The Associated Press as reported on MSNBC.com, 10/17/09)

The Hydrogen Car Gets Its Fuel Back: Congress Restores Research Funding That Administration Wanted to Cut (By Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post, 10/17/09)

U.S. Chamber Fires Back at Critics (By David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, 10/16/09)

Germany Takes Top Honors in Solar Decathlon (By Elizabeth Razzi, The Washington Post, 10/16/09)

Ireland Says Not In This Country - Bans Genetically Modified Crops (Treehugger.com, 10/16/09)

Bringing Low-Cost Solar to the World's Poor (By Jeffrey Marlow, The New York Times - Green, Inc., 10/16/09)

Huge MTR news: EPA moves to veto Spruce Mine permit (By Ken Ward, Jr., The Charleston Gazette, 10/16/09)

Carbon emissions must peak by 2015: UN climate scientist (AFP, 10/16/09)

Hybrid cars dominate EPA list of top 10 fuel sippers: More automakers are joining the trend. Nine of the top 10 vehicles in the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel economy rankings for the 2010 model year are hybrids, made by six companies. (By Martin Zimmerman, The Baltimore Sun, 10/16/09)

An Isolated Village Finds the Energy to Keep Going (By Simon Romero, The New York Times, 10/15/09)

Solar Decathlon Daily Journals for September 30 - October 16, 2009 (U.S. Department of Energy, 10/15/09)

More homeowners looking to stoves for heat (By Caryn Rousseau, The Associated Press as reported in The Baltimore Sun, 10/15/09)

Arctic to be 'ice-free in summer' (By David Shukman, BBC News, 10/14/09)

Farm Bureau Aims to Kill Climate Bill (By Kate Galbraith, The New York Times - Green, Inc., 10/14/09)

Arizona wineries rise above desert climate: Boutique, family-run businesses are a oenophile's treasure map (The Associated Press as reported on MSNBC.com, 10/14/09)

Bush-era EPA document on climate change released: The 2007 draft suppressed until now calls for regulation of greenhouse gases, citing global warming as a serious risk to the U.S. A finding by the Obama administration is nearly identical. (By Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart, The Los Angeles Times as reported in The Baltimore Sun, 10/14/09)

Another Company May Leave Chamber of Commerce Over Extreme Position On Climate Change (By Shahien Nasiripour, The Huffington Post, 10/13/09)

Team California Wins the Communications Contest at U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon (U.S. Department of Energy Press Release, 10/13/09)

City prepares for green-building conference in 2012 (By Diane Mastrull, The
Philadelphia Enquirer, 10/13/09)

Gas prices fall below $2.50 a gallon: Demand expected to drop when daylight saving time ends. (By Elizabeth Strott, MSNBC.com Money Central, 10/12/09)

Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry: But alternative energy still produces only fraction of needed electricity (The Associated Press as reported on MSNBC.com, 10/12/09)

Soros to Invest $1 Billion in Clean Energy, Form Advisory Group (By Katherine Burton and Jim Efstathiou Jr., Bloomberg.com, 10/12/09)

Obama Urged to Intensify Push for Climate Measure: Backers Fear Administration Is Giving Issue Short Shrift (By Juliet Eilperin and Michael D. Shear, The Washington Post, 10/12/09)

Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways  (By Charles Duhigg, The New York Times, 10/12/09)

Please send your ideas and comments regarding campus sustainability to green@usmd.edu