USM National Green Campus
News Archive

Week of November 19, 2012

News from Across the USM Campuses

Nov. 26th - Kill a Watt: An Energy Assessment How-To - Want to save energy and money at work and home? Susan Carroll, of the Baltimore Energy Challenge and the Baltimore Office of Sustainability, has a few ideas. Join us for Kill a Watt: An Energy Assessment How-To and start saving! This event will be held from 12-1pm in the SMC Campus Center Green Room, in the campus of University of Maryland, Batimore.

Nov. 28th - Seminar: The Accuracy of Self-Reported Pollution Data: Evidence from the Clean Water Act, Jay Shimshack, Tulane University. This lecture is a part of the Agricultural and Research Economics Seminar Series. It will be held from 2 - 3pm in Symons Hall, Rm. 3121, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus.

Dec. 1st - First Annual Symposium On Environmental Justice And Environmental Health Disparities In Maryland And DC. The Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) lab are pleased to announce "First Annual Symposium on Environmental Justice and Environmental Health Disparities in Maryland and Washington, DC". The Symposium will be held on Saturday December 1, 2012, 9:00am to 4:00pm; at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union Building at University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

State of Maryland News

Nov. 20th - CAMEL Climate Change Continuing Education Symposium - "Climate Change Geoengineering" -  Wil Burns, Associate Director, Master of Science, Energy Policy and Climate Program at Johns Hopkins University. Presenter will discuss a teaching resource and how to use it. The resources are designed for upper level education, but some may be modified for other levels or incorporated into hybrid teaching.  The resources are found on the CAMEL (Climate Adaptation and Mitigation E-learning) site.  There is no charge for this event. Event will be held at 3pm, eastern time. NCSE will provide a Digital Badge of participation to registered faculty members.  

Currey Named Director of MDE Science Services (Maryland Department of the Environment, Press Release, 11/14/12)

Board of Public Works Approves Grant for Clean Water and the Chesapeake Bay    Grant Will Reduce Nutrient and Sediment Pollution, Improve Wetlands (Maryland Department of the Environment, Press Release, 11/14/12)

National and International News

America's secret fracking war: It might not get as much media attention as the conflict in Afghanistan, but its stakes could be infinitely higher (By Ellen Cantarow, TomDispatch.com as reported by Salon.com, 11/19/12)

World Bank Climate Change Report Says 'Turn Down The Heat' On Warming Planet * Poorest regions hit hardest * World Bank focuses on climate change under new chief * Must balance climate change with energy needs of poor (By Anna Yukhananov, Reuters as reported by The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 11/18/12) Download complete report

Thousands Surround Obama's White House: 'Stop Keystone XL!' (By Common Dreams staff, CommonDreams.org, 11/18/12)

Why President Obama should keep his promise to tackle climate change (By Lisa Curtis, Grist.org, 11/17/12)

BP fined $4.5bn for Deepwater Horizon oil spill: US attorney general Eric Holder says BP will pay $4.5bn (£2.8bn) over the fatal explosion of its rig and the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. On Thursday the company admitted guilt on 14 criminal charges. Two BP officials will also face charges of manslaughter and of negligence in supervising the pressure tests on the well (By Reuters as reported by The [UK] Guardian, 11/16/12) [VIDEO]

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

US Military Takes Part in Reducing Ecological Footprint (By Richard Matthews, Global Warming is Real as reported by Environmental News Network, 11/16/12)

More bad news about glaciers - and therefore sea levels (By Philip Bump. Grist.org, 11/16/12)

"Writing Is on the Wall" at Upcoming Climate Summit (By Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service, 11/15/12)

Crime, No Punishment: BP Gulf Settlement Deal "Pathetic" say Groups

'Fine amounts to a rounding error for a corporation the size of BP' (By Common Dreams staff, CommonDreams.org, 11/15/12)

How Google is Helping the Gas Lobby Support Fracking (By Michael Cocoran, Truth-out.org, 11/15/12)

How Germany Is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy (By Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law as reported by TruthDig.com, 11/15/12)

Report: Wind Energy Could Provide One-Fifth of World's Electricity by 2030 (By Common Dreams Staff, CommonDreams.org, 11/15/12)

BP Oil Spill: Employees Reportedly To Face Manslaughter Charges (By Michael Kunzelman, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 11/15/12)

Exxon: Carbon Tax Would ‘Play A Significant Role In Addressing Rising Emissions' (By Stephen Lacey, ThinkProgress.org - Climate Progress Blog, 11/15/12)

BP Oil Spill Settlement: Fine For Deepwater Horizon Disaster May Be Largest Criminal Penalty In U.S. History (By Christopher Baltimore and David Ingram, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 11/15/12)

Fracking Industry Aims to Export Natural Gas While Touting False Claims of Energy Security (EcoWatch Blog - Food & Water Watch, 11/14/12)

Obama Addresses Climate Change In First Press Conference Since Reelection (By James Gerken, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 11/14/12)

Did climate change controversy cause UVA's sacking of Teresa Sullivan? The University of Virginia board that fired, then reinstated UVA's president earlier this year owes us all a full account of its actions (By Robert P. Geraci, The [UK] Guardian, 11/14/12)

Al Gore calls on Barack Obama to 'act boldly' on climate change: Former vice-president and climate champion urges re-elected president to immediately begin pushing for a carbon tax (By Suzanne Goldenberg, The [UK] Guardian, 11/13/12)

IEA Report: Fossil Fuel Boom Is A Climate Disaster In The Making (By Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International as reported by ThinkProgress.org - Climate Progress Blog, 11/13/12)

The U.S. Won't Be Energy Independent Even If We Pump More Oil Than Saudi Arabia (By Jordan Weissmann, The Atlantic, 11/13/12)

The Fight to Save the Planet from the Fossil Fuel Industry Heats Up with Divestment Campaign (By Mary Bottari and Sara Jerving, PRWatch.org, 11/13/12)  

Our dependence on oil puts a glass ceiling on economic recovery (By Victoria Johnson, New Economics Foundation, 11/12/12)

Climate change trumps terrorism as threat to national security (By Brent Blackwelder, The Daly News as reported by EnergyBulletin.net, 11/12/12)

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