Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of September 23, 2013

News from Across the USM Campuses  

September 25^th - UMCP's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences "Be The Solution" Competition - The Be the Solution Business Model Competition promotes innovation and entrepreneurship across the behavioral and social sciences by offering students prizes for new ventures with social value. The competition emphasizes learning and  entrepreneurship through workshops, coaching, interdisciplinary cooperation and the experience of pitching a business to an expert panel of judges. The competition includes the competition category of Global Sustainability. The official kickoff is from 6-7m in the Biology Research Building on the campus of University of Maryland, College Park.  

October 15^th - 16^th - 2013 Maryland Clean Energy Summit - Energy generation- including clean renewable power, transmission, distribution and resiliency- are all part of the puzzle of coordinating and securing power supply systems. With the application of communications technology to manage this critical infrastructure for cost savings, reliability, security, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions- the "democratization of the grid" is becoming a reality. This two-day forum, held at the University of Maryland University College's Inn and Conference Center, will address the challenges of identifying, integrating, and assembling the various pieces of the puzzle needed to advance distributed energy solutions. Conference registration.

GOP's Craig calls for environmental rollback (By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun, 9/18/13) [Article quotes University of Maryland scientist, William Dennison] 

State of Maryland News

September 24^th - ?Is Sustainability Still Possible??Lecture and discussion with Erik Assadourian, Senior Fellow, Worldwatch Institute. This event will be held from 12:00 - 1:30 pm in Feinstone Hall, Room W2030?at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, located at 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.? 

September 29^th - Baltimore's 20^th Annual "Tour du Port" Bicycle Tour - This event will take place on September 29, 2013 at Baltimore's Canton Waterfront Park at the Korean War Memorial. Travel through charming neighborhoods, historic port areas and beautiful parks throughout Baltimore City, Anne Arundel and Baltimore County. Choose between 14, 25, 40, 50, and 63 mile routes. All ages and experience levels welcome! After the ride enjoy a celebration with live music, exhibitors, free lunch, and so much more! Tour du Port is Bike Maryland's annual fundraiser. All proceeds support Bike Maryland's bike advocacy and awareness work in Maryland. Your support has helped us to ensure the passage of seven pro-bike laws. Please help us to continue providing this service to Maryland residents. Register here for Tour du Port.

Maryland Celebrates PARKing Day (By Melinda B. Peters, State Highway Administration Blog, 9/20/13)

Governor O'Malley Statement on Environmental Protection Agency's Announcement of a Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants (The Office of Governor Martin O'Malley, Press Release, 9/20/13)

National and International News 

Flooding and Fracking in Colorado: Double Disaster (By Brooke Jarvis, Rolling Stone magazine as reported by CommonDreams.org, 9/20/13)

A Devastating Before/After Comparison of the Colorado Floods, Captured by Satellite (By John Mefcalfe, The Atlantic Cities Blog, 9/20/13) 

Fukushima Operator Dumps 1,000 Tons Of Polluted Water In Sea: Polluted water poured into the sea after a typhoon raked the facility on Tuesday. (AFP as reported by Alternet.org, 9/19/13)

Stirring Immediate Fears, Earthquake Strikes Fukushima: Despite measuring as a smaller tremor, a reminder of how perilous situation remains in nuclear disaster zone (By Jon Queally, CommonDreams.org, 9/19/13) 

In The Wake Of Colorado's Devastating Floods, 5,250 Gallons Of Crude Oil Spill Into Major River (By Kiley Kroh, ThinkProgress.org - Climate Progress Blog, 9/19/13)

The Five Craziest Arguments At Yesterday's Climate Hearing (By Ryan Koronowski, ThinkProgress.org - Climate Progress Blog, 9/19/13) 

Harry Reid: Senate needs to stop fighting Obamacare and start facing climate change - Colorado's floods are the latest reason to take action, says the Senate majority leader (By Lindsay Abrams, Salon.com, 9/18/13) 

Delaying climate action will triple costs (By John Upton, Grist.org, 9/18/13)

Studying the benefits of greening a bus fleet: We know that hybrid cars save fuel and energy , but busses gobble energy in different ways (By Dan Haugen, Salon.com, 9/17/13)

Houston Keystone XL Protest: 13 Arrested Outside TransCanada Office In Texas (VIDEO) (The Associated Press as reported by The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 9/17/13) 

Colarado's Oil and Gas Infrastructure Drowning in Climate-Driven Floodwaters:

Fossil fuel industry not immune to the climate-driven disaster it helps create (By Jon Queally, CommonDreams.org, 9/17/13)

Turkey Key to Future European Energy Security (By Global Risk Insights, OilPrice.com, 9/16/13) 

Case for climate change is overwhelming, say scientists: Eleven days before the IPCC publishes its latest report, a group of eminent scientists says there is massive evidence of human responsibility (By Alex Kirby, The [UK] Guardian - Guardian Environmental Network, 9/16/13)

New York putting $1 billion towards clean energy: Initiative aims to double the amount of private capital available to grow clean energy markets (By The Climate Group as reported by Salon.com, 9/16/13) 

New bills could make California a leader in solar power: Advocates say California program will be larger than all other states' efforts combined (By Pete Danko, Salon.com, 9/16/13)

Antarctic Ice Shelves Melt From Below (By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network as reported by Truthdig.com, 9/16/13) 

New Industry-Sponsored Study on Fracking More Spin Than Science, Produces Findings Dramatically Out of Step With Other Recent Studies: Coalition Blasts Environmental Defense Fund For Conflicted Methane Study (Food and Water Watch Press Release as reported by CommonDreams.org, 9/16/13)

Frackademia: The People & Money Behind the EDF Methane Emissions Study (By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, 9/16/13) 

Colorado Flood Damage: Backed Up Sewer Systems, Leaking Oil Pipeline Cause More Problems (By Andrea Rael, The Huffington Post - Green Blog, 9/16/13 updated 9/19/13)

Human Fingerprints Visible in Atmospheric Changes (By Brian Kahn, Climate Central, 9/16/13)