Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of February 20, 2012

News from Across the USM Campuses

Feb. 25^th - "Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?" - Film screening and discussion sponsored by the College Park Committee for a Better Environment and the Sierra Club. This 78-minute award-winning film (sometimes funny, sometimes very sobering) chronicles "everyman" Jeb Berrier, who embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world and, closer to home, pledges to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. The film examines our society's use and abuse of plastic and the harm it causes our environment-and our health. The screening will be at 1pm at the College Park City Hall, Council Chambers, 2nd floor 4500 Knox Road, College Park, MD 20740. Film is free but registration is requested: Email janiso@erols.com or leave a message at 240-888-6972. [PDF]

University of Baltimore launches recycling campaign: Initiative asks Baltimoreans to vote for favorite sports legend (By Edward Gunts, The Baltimore Sun, 2/14/12)

Recyclemania 2012 (participating USM campuses - Bowie, Frostburg, Salisbury, Towson, UMBC, UMCP, UMES)

State of Maryland News

Offshore wind exerts wide appeal in Md. (By Aaron C. Davis and Greg Masters, The Washington Post - Local, 2/19/12)

O'Malley considers gas tax increase (By Jonathan Munshaw, The Towerlight, 2/19/12) 

O'Malley Lobbies Lawmakers For Offshore Wind (CBS Baltimore, 2/15/12)

Septic limits - Bay saver or assault on property rights? O'Malley's retooled Smart Growth bill gets hearing in Annapolis (By Tim Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 2/14/12)

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

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Mexico City's Bike Revolution (By Ignacio de los Reyes, BBC News, 2/20/12)

Has the United States beaten peak oil? Not so fast. (By Brad Plumer, The Washington Post - WonkBlog, 2/17/12)

Secret papers turn up heat on global-warming deniers: Purloined, secret documents suggest the Heartland Institute could have lobbying plans, in violation of IRS rules (By Nina Burleigh, Salon.com - Global Warming, 2/17/12)

Climate science attack machine took donations from major corporations: Much of Heartland Institute's work funded by one anonymous donor, but some corporations also gave cash, documents show (By Suzanne Goldenberg and Dominic Rushe, The [UK] Guardian, 2/16/12)

Iran's saber rattling over oil shows that the energy crisis is still with us (By Steven Mufson, The Washington Post - Business, 2/15/12)

CONFIRMED: Anti-Science Blogger Admits Heartland Institute's ‘Special Project' To Distort Temperature Data (By Brad Johnson, Think Progress - Green Blog, 2/15/12)

Oil slips below $101 a barrel amid conflicting reports on Iran's crude exports to Europe (The Associated Press as reported by The Washington Post - Business, 2/15/12)

Climate sceptics - who gets paid what? Leaked documents show US thinktank the Heartland Institute has been making payments to experts and scientists to cast doubt on climate science. Here, we profile some of the figures (By Leo Hickman, The [UK] Guardian, 2/15/12)

Iran threatens to cut some oil exports to Europe, touts nuclear advances (By Thomas Erdbrink and Joby Warrick, The Washington Post - World, 2/15/12)

Oil prices jump to near $102 in Europe as Iran announces halt of oil exports to 6 EU countries (The Associated Press as reported by The Washington Post, 2/14/12)

The Tea Party's war on mass transit: House Republicans try to gut federal funds for subways as they extend the culture wars to urban policy issues (By Will Doig, Salon.com - Global Warming, 2/13/12)

Climate Change May Bring '100-Year Storms' Every 3 Years (By Stephen Messenger, Treehugger.com - Climate Change, 2/13/12)