Week of July 25, 2011

News from Across the USM Campuses

Alarming ‘dead zone' grows in the Chesapeake (By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post - National, 7/24/11) [Article quotes Dr. Donald F. Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

UM in Baltimore asked to curtail power consumption (By Frank Roylance, The Baltimore Sun - Maryland Weather, 7/22/11)

College Park students compete to build green house: Solar Decathlon houses can be viewed in September (By Julie Baughman, The Baltimore Sun, 7/21/11)

O'Malley announces 14-member Marcellus Shale panel (The Associated Press as reported by The Daily Record, 7/19/11) [David Vanko, geologist and dean of the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University, is chair of the panel.]

Lack of money doesn't stop Purple Line station development plans (By Katherine Shaver and Lori Aratani, The Washington Post, 7/18/11)

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Energy-saving plan angers BGE customers as AC goes out: Participants left without air conditioning for hours as temperatures soared (By Tricia Bishop and Steve Kilar, The Baltimore Sun - Maryland News, 7/23/11)

Md. Ranks 5th Worst In Power Plant Pollution - MDE Rep: Results Are Misleading (Reported on WBAL-TV News, 7/21/11)

Constellation marks launch of Maryland wind farm: 28 turbines rise atop Garrett County's Backbone Mountain (By Scott Calvert, The Baltimore Sun - Green Living, 7/19/11)

A Bold Renewables Policy Lures Leading Solar Leasers to Maryland: The state's 20% renewable portfolio standard and various tax incentives have attracted three of the country's top solar leasing firms this year (By Maria Gallucci, SolveClimate News, 7/18/11)

National and International News

Peak oil - are we sleepwalking into disaster? (By Dean Carroll, Public Service Europe, 7/22/11)

Heat, Drought, Famine All Part of Coming 'Exponential' Increase Of Climate-Related Disasters: Climate change will "exponentially" increase the scale of natural disasters -- so when are we going to take this threat seriously? (By Matthew McDermott, Treehugger.com as reported by AlterNet.org, 7/22/11)

Oil Hits $100 a Barrel Again (The Associated Press as reported by The New York Times, 7/21/11)

UN countries divided over security council climate role: Western nations clash with Russia and developing countries over whether climate change is a security matter (By Reuters as reported by the [UK] Guardian, 7/21/11)

Analysis: Russia's biggest contingent liability: oil (By Douglas Busvine, Reuters - UK, 7/20/11)

Longest Polar Bear Swim Recorded - 426 Miles Straight: Study predicts more long-distance swims due to shrinking sea ice (By Anne Casselman, National Geographic News, 7/20/11)

Saudi oil exports set to fall in long term (UPI - Energy Resources, 7/20/11)

Montana Judge Blocks Equipment Bound For Canada's Oil Sands (By Tom Zeller, Jr., The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 7/20/11)

Climate Change Brings More Deadly Heat Waves (By Sarah Lovinger, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 7/20/11)

UN security council to consider climate change peacekeeping: Special meeting to discuss 'green helmets' force to intervene in conflicts caused by rising seas levels and shrinking resources (By Suzanne Goldenberg, The [UK] Guardian - Environment, 7/20/11)

Nearly half of U.S. population facing extreme heat (By The CNN Wire Staff, CNN.com, 7/20/11)

Undercover police officer unlawfully spied on climate activists, judges rule: Mark Kennedy was arguably an agent provocateur, says appeal verdict quashing Ratcliffe-on-Soar conspiracy convictions (By Rob Evans and Paul Lewis, The [UK] Guardian, 7/20/11)

Libya crisis could see Brent hit $175/b in 2012: BofA Merrill Lynch (Platts News, 7/20/11)

What Makes a Campus or College Town Bike Friendly? (By Scott Carlson, The Chronicle of Higher Education - Buildings and Grounds Blog, 7/19/11)

Early sea ice melt onset, snow cover retreat presage rapid 2011 summer decline (National Snow and Ice Data Center, 7/18/11)