USM National Green Campus
News Archive

Week of February 2, 2009

News From Across the USM Campuses

National Teach-In on Global Warming and UMD for Clean Energy Kick-Off* Monday, Feb 2, 7-9pm, Margaret Brent Room A, Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park Join student from around the country in watching the "Solutions for the First 100 Days" webcast to learn how we all can encourage the new Congress and Administration to support legislation that will reduce global warming emissions and develop a domestic clean energy economy.  Learn about ways to get active with the student group, UMD for Clean Energy.  Meet speakers from the Office of Sustainability and the National Wildlife Federation.  Free pizza and drinks will be served! 

Global Warming Teach-In, Thursday, February 5, 2009 from 10am - 2pm at Chesapeake College, Todd Performing Art Center, Wye Mills, MD. For more information, contact Greg Farley at 410-822-5400, ext. 389 [The Keynote Speaker is Louis Codispoti, of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

Several USM campuses (Bowie, Coppin, Frostburg, Salisbury, Towson, UMBC, and UMCP) are competing in the national Recyclemania competition, from January 18 - March 28, 2009. RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over a 10-week period, schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each week's reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.

Somerset hopes for well funding: Possible stimulus would help water projects (By Deborah Gates, Delmarvanow.com, 1/28/09) [Article quotes David Nemazie, of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

BBC America - Moment of Change: The Environment (Video, 1/28/09) [Video features the Maryland Chesapeake and Court Stevenson, of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, is interviewed]

Lawmakers revisit emissions (Allison Stice, The Diamondback, 1/28/09)  [Article cites the advocacy of the Maryland Student Climate Coalition]

Donald Boesch, Shari Wilson join climate change panels (By Staff, The Examiner, 1/27/09) Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, is participating in a major study on climate change by the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Boesch, of Annapolis, serves on the overall coordinating committee that will write the final report based on the work of four separate panels. He is one of seven Maryland residents selected to work on this two-year congressionally mandated study, which will investigate and make recommendations on the issues related to global climate change.

Officials want to reduce carry-out: Eat IN-itiative aims to keep students eating in the dining halls (By Michelle Cleveland, The Diamondback Online, 1/27/09)

WYPR (National Public Radio) - Maryland Morning Radio Program (1/27/09) - California, Here We Come (Audio) Scroll down Maryland Morning web page to click on audio for this specific show [show features Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

State of Maryland News

Team probes waste spills (By Laura D'Alessandro, Delmarvanow.com, 1/30/09)

State OKs $57 million to purchase 4,400 acres (By Laura Smitherman, The Baltimore Sun, 1/29/09)

Need for unrestrained growth is a myth (By Tom Horton, Delmarvanow.com, 1/29/09)

Fighting Catastrophic Climate Change (By Karyn Strickler, OpEd News.com, 1/28/09)

Maryland Board of Public Works signs off on $62M purchase of hybrid buses
(By Scott Dance, Baltimore Business Journal, 1/28/09)

Lawmakers seek answers on polluted creeks: Improvements unlikely soon, officials speculate (By Sean Patrick Norris and Liam Farrell, The Capital, 1/26/09)

Governor to back reduction of greenhouse gases (By Sean R. Sedam, The Gazette, 1/23/09)

Maryland governor to push bill cutting global warming pollution (By Sue Schultz, Baltimore Business Journal, 1/23/09)

Governor Martin O'Malley Announces Legislation to Reduce Global Warming Pollution: Legislation Commits State to Reducing Greenhouse Gases 25 Percent by 2020
(The Office of Governor Martin O'Malley - Press Release, 1/23/09)

National and International News

President Obama's Energy and Environment Agenda (1/2009)

Clean the Air With Higher Gas Prices (By Warren Brown, The Washington Post - Column, 2/1/09)

Raise the Gas Tax: A Revenue-Neutral Way to Treat Our Oil Addiction (By Senator Richard G. Lugar - R-IN, The Washington Post - Editorial, 2/1/09)

All Aboard: Public Transit Deserves a Big Chunk of Stimulus (By Roger K. Lewis, The Washington Post, 1/31/09)

Going Green to Make Green: Students Enroll in Green Jobs Training in Hopes of Capitalizing on Next Economic Boom
(By Laura Coverson, ABC News, 1/31/09)  

To Protect Public Land, Eco Protestors Get Creative
(By Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine on-line, 1/31/09)

The Washington Auto Show Goes Green (By Warren Brown, The Washington Post, 1/30/09)

Obama signals his administration may be ready to regulate greenhouse gases (By Dina Cappiello, The Associated Press as reported in The Baltimore Sun, 1/27/09)

California scores vindication, environmental win (By Samantha Young, The Associated Press as reported in The Washington Post, 1/27/09)

New Study Shows Climate Change Largely Irreversible (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration News, 1/26/09)

Obama Announces New Energy, Environmental Policies (By William Branigin, Juliet Eilperin, and Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, 1/26/09)

Letters to the Editor - Toward a More Energy-Efficient Future (They New York Times, 1/25/09)

2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure (Published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1/23/09)

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