University Aims for Carbon Neutrality by 2025, All-Electric Fleet by 2035

We are excited to share this news from Maryland Today:

The University of Maryland is redoubling its efforts to fight climate change, committing to carbon neutrality by 2025 through a mix of infrastructure improvement, electric vehicle purchases, and targeted investments in sustainability.

UMD President Darryll J. Pines announced the new goal, which lops a quarter century off a previous plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, during his inauguration speech last week.

“We must continue our academic leadership in research, education, and service relative to climate science, sustainability, and environmental stewardship of our natural resources,” he said during the Earth Day address.

“I challenge our faculty to become leaders in developing solutions to one of the grand challenges of our time. We all must become climate ambassadors.”

Seeking Graduate Assistant to start Fall 2021

20 hours/week, 9.5 month paid position

The Graduate Assistant (GA) for Sustainability will develop and manage programs that engage students, faculty, and staff in sustainable behaviors and create a culture of sustainability among all sectors of the diverse campus community. The GA will support the Office of Sustainability initiatives including the management of existing programs, conduct research into new program areas, development of program proposals, and implementation of new initiatives.

Register to attend on Friday, April 30th 5-6:30 pm for fun, meeting students involved in sustainability, and learning about/planning projects, advocacy, or initiatives to help build a powerful unified movement towards a more sustainable UMD! Anyone interested in sustainability is invited, even people who are not affiliated with a group, as well as current or future group executives.

The Sustainability Collective (called SCoop) is a network to connect student orgs and interested students in sustainability goals! With their weekly newsletter and meetings, they keep students updated about campus and student-led events and opportunities around sustainability at UMD.

Weekly on Tuesdays at 5pm until May 11, 2021

May 4: The Campus Master Plan, featuring William Mallari, Assistant Director, Campus Development, Dep’t of Facilities Planning

This lecture series is offered during Spring 2021 as part of Professor Ralph Bennett’s ARCH 289i course called ‘Sustainability at the University of Maryland, College Park’ and is co-sponsored by UMD's Office of Sustainability.

Our pop-up park is located between HJ Patterson and Stamp Student Union from April 12-May 11 was created from upcycled and reclaimed materials and features an organic vegetable garden. This installation a part of DOTS Park(ing) Day.

Solar-powered LED lights symbolize energy, a birdbath symbolizes water, a bike symbolizes transportation, and planters growing kale, cabbage, chard, and leeks symbolize food. Many of the SustainableUMD partners and focus areas are featured in the installation.

The Green Terp staff team including staff, interns, and ambassadors from the Office of Sustainability as well as Resident Life and additional partners from DOTS and Facilities helped bring this work together!