USM National Green Campus
News Archive

Week of May 20, 2013

News from Across the USM Campuses

May 24th - 25th - Trash to Treasure Fundraiser at Towson University - Friday from 9:30am - 4:30pm and Saturday from 9:30am - 4:00pm at Burdick Gym on the Towson University campus. Each spring, students leave lots of good stuff behind and donate it for an end of the year sale. Items include furniture, electronics, appliances, lamps, household goods, mattress pads, clothes, shoes, decor, laundry detergent, toiletries, mirrors, and more! Prices will be extremely low, and all profits will go towards the Go Green Initiative at Towson. Please contact cfang@towson.edu for questions!

May 25th - Audubon's Youth Bird Watching - This event will be held from 8:00 - 9:30 am. Meet at the fountain in the northwest corner of Patterson Park. 

Coppin State breaks ground on $121M Science and Technology Center (By Sarah Gantz, Baltimore Business Journal, 5/14/13) 

State of Maryland News

Agencies aim to restore bay's depleted oysters, a creek at a time (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 5/19/13)

MDE, Petroleum Council and DNR Present 36th Annual Tawes Awards for a Clean Environment: Tawes and Coulter Awards Recognize Outstanding Environmental Achievements of Individuals, Groups, and Government Employees (Maryland Department of the Environment, Social Media News Release, 5/16/13)

Legislation could mandate bike racks for new Towson buildings (By Jon Meoli, The Baltimore Sun, 5/14/13)

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

National and International News

Climate disasters displace millions of people worldwide:  More than 32 million people fled their homes last year because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes - 98% of displacement related to climate change. Asia and west and central Africa bore the brunt. Some 1.3 million people were displaced in rich countries, with the US particularly affected. Floods in India and Nigeria accounted for 41% of displacement, according to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre and Norwegian Refugee Council?• Floods, cyclones ... business and governments must wake up to disaster?• Worst natural disasters of 2012 by numbers displaced - in pictures (The [UK] Guardian, 5/20/13)

Study: Human Disaster Looms if Global Temps Rise 4ºC: 'A calamity for large swaths of the planet' (By Jon Queally, CommonDreams.org, 5/20/13) 

Caribbean Scientist Warms of Climate Change Disaster (By Desmond Brown, Inter Press Service, 5/19/13) 

Climate Warnings, Growing Louder (By The New York Times Editorial Board, The New York Times, 5/19/13)

Oil-price manipulation: the next Libor? (By James O'Toole, CNN - Money, 5/17/13) 

Swarthmore tried to estimate the price of fossil fuel divestment (By Kevin Kiley, Inside Higher Ed, 5/17/13)

Is Climate Change Increasing Tornado Intensity? (By Marlene Cimons, Climate Nexus as reported by The Huffington Post - GreenBlog, 5/18/13)

America's Most Bikeable Neighborhoods (By Richard Florida, The Atlantic Cities Blog, 5/17/13) 

New Report: Reduction in Driving Likely to Continue (U.S. PIRG, Press Release, 5/14/13)

Kids these days just don't care about cars (By Claire Thompson, Grist.org, 5/14/13)

Faulkner County: ExxonMobil's "Sacrifice Zone" for Tar Sands Pipelines, Fracking (By Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog as reported by CommonDreams.org, 5/16/13)

New Study: Climate Scientists Overwhelmingly Agree Global Warming Is Real and Our Fault (By Phil Plait, Slate.com, 5/17/13)

Are streetcars the future of public transportation? Cities across the country are relying on the retro transit line to breathe new life into their moribund downtowns (By Jeff Turrentine, OnEarth.org as reported by Salon.com, 5/16/13)

The Inequality of Urban Tree Cover (By Emily Badger, The Atlantic Cities Blog, 5/15/13)

Climate research nearly unanimous on human causes, survey finds: Of more than 4,000 academic papers published over 20 years, 97.1% agreed that climate change is anthropogenic (By Suzanne Goldenberg, The [UK] Guardian, 5/16/13) 

Not too late to reverse dramatic declines in biodiversity (By Christine Lepisto, Treehugger.com, 5/14/13)

'Summer Heat': Our Bodies vs Industry's Money, Says Climate Movement: 'We need some of you to risk going to jail, and all of you to show up and speak out.' (By Jon Queally, CommonDreams.org, 5/15/13)

Media indifference enables global warming: Carbon dioxide levels are as high as they've been in millions of years. Why isn't this a bigger story? (By Marty Kaplan, Salon.com, 5/15/13)

400 PPM: We've Never Been Here Before - 400ppm of CO2 Measured in the Atmosphere at Mauna Loa (By Melanie Fitzpatrick, CommonDreams.org, 8/14/13)

Wrong Way Forward: Growth in Fracking, Tar Sands Sending 'Shockwaves'

New report from International Energy Agency shows surging oil production from shale oil in the U.S. and Canadian tar sands (By Andrea Germanos, CommonDreams.org, 8/14/13)

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