This Month's Highlights

• New Waste and Data Fellow
• HSF3 Weather Station Online
• New Sustainable School of Social Work Building
• New Sustainability Micro-course
• Meet the Founder Event

News and Upcoming Events

New Waste and Data Fellow

Meet Ben Eglash, our new Waste and Data Fellow in the Sustainability Office!

After completing his B.S. in Personal Finance from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2021, Ben worked for two food delivery companies where he became fascinated by the possibilities of a circular economy, food equity, and waste reduction. Determined to learn about and work on these issues, he completed his M.S. in Energy and Sustainability at Northwestern University this past year. Ben is proud to be a Waste and Data Fellow at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and excited to begin working! When he's not in the office, you can find him hiking with his dog, playing soccer or basketball, finding local shops and restaurants, playing board games, or binging a TV show.

HSF3 Weather Station Online

Our first campus weather station is now online! The data collected can be found on AmbientWeather.net and WeatherUnderground.com. On Ambient Weather, you can also view the camera that has 24-hour time-lapse images available.

Access Weather Station Data using this link.

Learn more about the weather station in CATALYST magazine.

New Sustainable School of Social Work Building In Design

The new School of Social Work Building has a dual commitment to environmental sustainability and cutting-edge educational technology. The building aims for net-zero emissions and the integration of green spaces for both university and public use. Read the Elm article about the planned building using this link.

New Sustainability Micro-course Open

This course, Making Sustainable Change, builds upon the Foundations of Sustainability course and is intended to provide individuals with tools to become sustainability leaders in their current or future places of work. Throughout the course, learners gain an understanding of ways to communicate sustainability, manage sustainable changes, develop sustainable teams, and utilize community-based social marketing for sustainability.

Click here to register for the newly launched "Making Sustainable Change" micro-course and click here to register for our first micro-course "Foundations of Sustainability."

Monthly Green Tip

Our March Green Tip is about different ways you can conserve water every day! If you are interested in learning more about how to save water on a personal level, go to the EPA's website on how to save water indoors and outdoors. If you are interested in learning more about World Water Day on a global level, visit WorldWaterDay.org to learn about the United Nation's focus for this year.

Get Involved in Baltimore

Tree Time: Buds & Blooms

Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 10:00am to 11:00am

Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue Baltimore, MD 21209

Join Cylburn Arboretum Friends for Tree Time! Parent/Child Nature classes at Cylburn from 10-11 a.m. (ages 2-5). We will learn about nature through stories, crafts, and exploration.

Each single child’s registration includes one adult guardian. Any additional adults/children (including siblings) should register separately under a new registration. $5.00 per person with a $2.18 fee.

American Craft Made Baltimore Marketplace

March 15-17, 2024

Baltimore Convention Center, 1 West Pratt St Baltimore, MD 21201

Our American Craft Made Baltimore Marketplace returns to the Baltimore Convention Center March 15–17, 2024. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of craft. Experience hands-on activities with local craft organizations and partners, get to know more than 350 artists from across the country, and find your next handmade treasure.

Tickets are $10 presale or $15 on the days of the event. Admission is free for ages 12 and under and all ACC members.

Sustainability Term of the Month

Ocean acidification: Ocean acidification refers to the change in oceanic pH due to the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Oceans are a natural carbon buffer because they take up about one-fourth of all atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, as atmospheric CO₂ concentrations continue to increase, additional CO₂ dissolves in water and increases the hydrogen ion concentration, thus making the water more acidic – about 30% more acidic due to human activities. 

Join a Sustainability Working Group

Looking for a way to get more involved with sustainability at UMB? Join one of our four sustainability working groups! Working groups are open to students, staff, and faculty. Working group meetings are held once every two months for a total of six meetings each year. Meetings last one hour, and some work outside of bimonthly meetings will be required.

If you are interested in joining any of the four working groups (Reduction, Resilience, Engagement & Education, and Green Labs), please fill out this form. For a brief summary of each working group, visit this page.

Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie

In Eight Bears, journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globe-trotting journey to explore each bear’s story, whisking readers from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West. She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation efforts—the head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms, a biologist known as Papa Panda, who has led China’s panda-breeding efforts for almost four decades, a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near towns—to reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations.

All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson

All We Can Save is an anthology of writings by 60 women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. Intermixing essays with poetry and art, this book is both a balm and a guide for knowing and holding what has been done to the world, while bolstering our resolve never to give up on each other or our collective future. We must summon truth, courage, and solutions, to turn away from the brink and toward life-giving possibility. Curated by two climate leaders, this book is a collection and celebration of visionaries who are leading us on a path toward all we can save.

March Environmental Dates

Find a cause in March to support!

Additional Resources

• UMB Office of Sustainability Website
• Baltimore City Office of Sustainability

Office of Sustainability

620 West Lexington Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21201

[email protected]