Volunteer to help address food waste and hunger by volunteering with the UMD Food Recovery Network. Volunteers collect surplus food from campus dining halls and distribute it to local non-profits each week.

The UMD chapter has already donated 1,500lbs of food in the first two weeks of the Spring semester to organizations including local nonprofits, senior centers, churches, food pantries, soup kitchens, and other organizations that feed the hungry in our area. The Food Recovery Network first started as a student organization at UMD and expanded to a national nonprofit with chapters at over 200 universities. The organization has donated over 5 million meals and recovered 6.9 million pounds of food across the country.

$1 - $2,000 per award

Sustainability Mini-Grants offer up to $2,000 to encourage the development or maintenance of projects or programs that improve the sustainability of the UMD campus and/or enhance opportunities for students to learn about sustainability issues. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to apply on a rolling basis and applicants will receive funding decisions within 30 days of submitting an application.

Thursday, March 10th, 12 pm-1 pm

Lead your office in adopting sustainability through certification with the UMD Green Office Program! Join the over 140 offices across campus in achieving Green Office Certification by implementing a checklist of sustainable actions at the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels. Select one or more representatives from your office to attend a 1-hour, virtual training to gain sustainable practices and tools, tips, resources, and guidance on the steps to achieve certification!

Tuesday, March 8th, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm, The Diner

Explore environmentally friendly, plant-forward menu options at the Dining Halls and play sustainable food trivia with the SustainableUMD Ambassadors! The University of Maryland was the first university to join the Cool Food Pledge, a growing movement committed to addressing the climate impact of food by collectively slashing food-related greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030.

Tuesdays, 5-6:15pm

Room 0204, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Explore campus sustainability through our annual Spring lecture series, free and open to all (following 4Maryland guidelines). This series is offered as part of ARCH 272, “Sustainability at the University of Maryland, College Park”, organized by Professor Emeritus Ralph Bennett.

3/1: Buying Energy for a (Really) Big User, Susan Corry, Director, Engineering & Energy, UMD Facilities Management

3/8: Getting Here is All the Fun (Parking is Another Matter), Marta Woldu, Assistant Director, Sustainability, Dept. of Transportation Services

3/15: Environmental Law; UMD Study Opportunities in Sustainability: the Sustainability Minor, Joanna Goger, J.D., Environmental Science and Policy Program

3/29: Student Opportunities in Sustainability at College Park, Office of Sustainability, SGA Sustainability Chair, other student leaders

4/5: Sea Level Rise and the Chesapeake Bay, Kate McClure, Maryland Sea Grant, UMCP

4/12: Making Maryland Buildings Sustainable, Martha Shrader, Sustainability Manager, Department of Facilities Management; Sally DeLeon, Office of Sustainability

Visit the website to see the rest of the semesters’ featured speakers:

Friday, March 11, 2022, 10am - 11am

Th entire University of Maryland campus is certified as an arboretum and botanical garden. Enjoy a morning walk exploring campus gardens and sustainable landscaping with certified arborist and outreach coordinator Meg Smolinski! The route begins at the east side of the Memorial Chapel, at the main steps and involves stairs, taking around 45-60 minutes.

UMD's main campus is centrally located in the Anacostia watershed, meaning all the rain that falls on campus flows into streams that feed into the Anacostia River before flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. UMD has made progress in protecting local waterways and ecosystems. Some recent successes include:

• Over 60% of our campus is permeable rather than paved, which helps to absorb and slow rainfall, preventing erosion, flooding, and water pollution.

• The green design of the Brendan Iribe Center improved the watershed impacts of campus, replacing a paved parking lot with two green roofs, two bioretention areas, a vegetated bioswale, and permeable pavers

• In 2019, UMD restored over 3,309 feet of the Campus Creek, improving water drainage for more than 400 acres of campus.

Please complete this survey to help UMD understand your current or anticipated use of Electric Vehicle charging facilities.

Explore resources like Sample Commute Plans & Checklists and the interactive bike and e-scooter parking map. The Rainy Day Bike Rewards program continues until May 21: Bicycle commuters earn a free daily parking permit for every 10 bike commutes.

Last semester, over 500 new people joined Smart Commute, logging about 121,000 miles of bike, carpool, transit, or walking trips- the equivalent of saving over 40 tons of carbon. Register & earn a raffle entry for Veo, Dining, or Bookstore credit, or DOTS Socks, Portable Battery, or Collapsible Cup.

According to WMATA, rail transit like the metro has 46% lower emissions per mile than an average single-occupancy vehicle. Save money by opting into UMD’s pre-tax transit benefits program for employees.

Bike Week: April 4-10th

• April 5th - Bike Commuter Breakfast

• April 8th - Helmet Decorating

• April 9th & 10th - Mountain Bike and Camp

• and MORE!

Sustainable Transportation

Tanvi hopes to serve as a resource to empower and inspire faculty, staff, and students with resources, tools, information, and connections to integrate sustainability into campus culture. She develops, implements and maintains programs designed to encourage sustainable behaviors, further UMD’s leadership in sustainability including the Green Office Program, Green Terp Program, and Green Chapter Program. She also spearheads the website, social media and newsletter to maintain SustainableUMD communications.

She earned an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University in 2015 and undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from UMBC in 2009. Prior to working at UMD, Tanvi launched and ran the sustainability office at UMBC for 7 years. She has also served as a clean energy community organizer in Baltimore with the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and advocated for sustainable agriculture with positions at non-profits in DC at the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Center for Food Safety and in Delhi with Dr. Vandana Shiva's Navdanya Research Foundation. Tanvi also previously taught environmental education at Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Oregon Ridge Nature Center, the Maryland Science Center, and Fairview Lake Environmental Education Center. Outside of work Tanvi enjoys art, nature, living in her log cabin in the woods, and has served on Maryland's Environmental Justice Commission, on the board of the Baltimore Farm Alliance, and on the organizing committee for Baltimore Green Drinks.