USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

Policies

University System of Maryland institutions are directing their expertise to contribute to the development and implementation of effective public policies that improve environmental sustainability at local, state and national levels, with a focus the following three areas:

Climate Change

• Chancellor Kirwan is a member of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change and USM experts participate in several of its working groups, including the Scientific and Technical Working Group
• Several research institutes actively apply knowledge they generate to advance the understanding of the causes of climate change and the development of appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; the Earth System Interdisciplinary Center at University of Maryland, College Park; and the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology and the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
• The Joint Global Change Research Institute and the Center for Integrative Environmenal Research, both at University of Maryland, College Park, are at the forefront of global change policy studies.
• UMCES President Boesch recently presented testimony to the U.S. Senate hearings on Impacts of Global Warming on the Chesapeake Bay and Improving the U.S. Climate Change Research Program

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

• Practices
• Programs
• Policies

• Presentations
• Climate Change Definitions
• Facilities Master Planning
• Statewide Sustainability Efforts
• ACUPCC National Benchmarking
• Useful Links and References

Chesapeake Bay Restoration

• USM experts play a key role in the multi-state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program and several are members of its Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee
• The Maryland Sea Grant College, the UMCES Integration and Applicaton Network, Maryland Cooperative Extension, the Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, and cultural anthroplogy and fish health studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, are among the many programs contributing to Chesapeake Bay restoration
• USM experts and leaders are playing a key role in the development and implementation of Governor Martin O"Malley's BayStat Chesapeake program

Smart Growth

• The State of Maryland has been a national leader and innovator in the smart growth movement to reduce urban sprawl and support existing communities, save valuable resources, reduce the need for costly new infrastructure and provide a high quality of life
• The University of Maryland, College Park, hosts the National Center for Smart Growth
• Other USM programs also contribute to smart growth including the Center for GIS at Towson University and the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education at the University of Maryland Baltimore County

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