Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of May 21, 2012

News from Across the USM Campuses

May 23^rd - "Bay Restoration: A Perspective from the Golden Gate" - Dr. Jim Cleorn is the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory's Ian Morris Scholar in Residence. Dr. Cleorn is a renown expert on the San Francisco Bay. He is with USGS Menlo Park. Come and hear his lecture, and learn what is known about coastal bays in San Francisco and how that can be applied to Chesapeake Bay. The lecture is at 4:00pm in the AREL auditorium at the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory.

Through June 10^th - Maryland Masters - Edwin Remsberg's Portraits of Maryland Traditions Art, Children's Literature, and the Environment: Art and Photography from Green Earth Book Awards. This exhibit will be held at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Arts located on Schumaker Pond in Salisbury, MD.

Coastal Bays: Tap into your inner scientist to help ecosystem (By Carrie Samis, DelMarVaNow.com, 5/15/12) [Article cites upcoming "Lost Ladybug Project" at Salisbury University]

State of Maryland News

Take Action: Protect Federal Funding, Support the Cardin-Cochran Agreement (By Mary Lauran Hall, America Bikes as reported by the League of American Bicyclists, 5/15/12) [Ben Cardin is a United States Senator from Maryland. The Cardin-Cochran agreement ensures that local governments and school systems are able to access much-needed funds to make bicycling and walking safer and more accessible]

Rocky Mountains Soar with Bicycle Friendly Communities: Colorado and Montana shine with new gold and silver in largest round of awards yet (League of American Bicyclists Press Release, 5/14/12) [In Maryland, the cities of Baltimore and Frederick were recognized as 2012 "Bicycle Friendly" communities]

Weed whackers: The city of Gaithersburg will use grazing goats to eradicate invasive plant species on a seven-acre parcel of land (The Washington Post - Local, 5/14/12)

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

Worse than Keystone: Environmentalists are focused oil and gas, but a bigger carbon disaster may be brewing in the Pacific Northwest (By Alyssa Battistoni, Salon.com, 5/18/12)

Asthma, Baby, Asthma: House Energy Committee Eliminates Protection From Smog (By Jackie Weidman and Daniel J. Weiss, ClimateProgress.org, 5/18/12)

The Organic Watergate: Alarming Report Reveals USDA's Cozy Relationship with Corporate Agribusinesses in 'Organics' (By Common Dreams Staff, CommonDreams.org, 5/18/12)

Bike lover, bike hater: Depends on whether you're on four wheels or two (By Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post, 5/18/12)

Navigating Europe's Most Congested City By Bike (By Tyler Falk, The Atlantic Cities, 5/17/12)

Vermont Fracking Ban: Green Mountain State Is First In U.S. To Restrict Gas Drilling Technique (The Associated Press as reported by The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 5/16/12 updated 5/18/12)

Bee Kills in the Corn Belt: What's GE Got to Do With It? (By Heather Pilatic, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 5/16/12)

As Austerity Falters, European Economists Say "Price Carbon!" (By Tim McDonnell, Mother Jones Magazine - Blue Marble Blog, 5/16/12)

'Fracking' risks found to have been diminished: UB study cites oversight, methods in Shale region (By David Robinson, Buffalo News, 5/15/12 updated 5/16/12)

Report: 'Over-Consumption' Threatening Earth: If rampant misuse of resources continues, even two planets would not sustain us (By Common Dreams staff, CommonDreams.org, 5/15/12)

It really is hot in here: U.S. has warmest 12 months on record (By Matt Pearce, The Los Angeles Times - National, 5/15/12)

Time Ignores Climate Change to Paint a 'Golden Age' of Fracking (By Jim Naureckas, FAIR.org, 5/15/12)

Total's Elgin Platform Gas Leak: Well Pumped With Mud In North Sea (By Reuters as reported by The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 5/15/12)

Here comes everybody: Number of bicycle-friendly cities soars (By Andrew Zaleski, Grist.org, 5/14/12)

Climate Crisis: The Silence is Deafening (By Brian Moench, CommonDreams.org, 5/14/12)