By Tom Ventsias University of Maryland Campus News What’s driving environmentally friendly legislation and “green” activism in the United States? Nobel prizewinner Al Gore and senior members of Congress, or your neighbor digging dirt in a community garden? A University of Maryland sociologist is conducting research in the hallways of Congress, the offices of top [...]

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Strolling back to our bed and breakfast through dark streets of Buenos Aires, the container lid suddenly moves.  Food scraps, cardboard, and plastic soar through the air and land with a thud at the paws of an eagerly waiting, well-nourished, black “designer dog” a.k.a. mutt. The head of a young man appears over the edge of [...]

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Endangered Species Day, May 20th, is devoted to acknowledging the multitude of endangered species globally, and to highlight and support the conservation efforts being made to save them, and their natural habitats. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) became law in the US in 1973. While as of May 2011, there are 1177 endangered and threatened [...]

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New York University’s Studio 20 is a master’s level, project based journalism course which integrates investigative reporting with new media. In collaboration with the independent, non-profit newsroom, ProPublica, a group of these NYU Studio students recently created a catchy music video to support ProPublica’s three-year investigation on hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – and its potential [...]

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College and university campuses are unique environments, ideal for a bicycle culture, due to their density, defined boundaries and the need for frequent transportation between venues. More and more colleges and universities are embracing bicycle transportation by introducing bike co-ops and bike share programs, as well as developing bike routes, other infrastructure and policies to [...]

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Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation The National Parks Service We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished [...]

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With the goal of improving public understanding of environmental law and policy issues, Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Center has launched its first annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List. These pivotal issues were chosen by environmental faculty and students from the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law who researched over 75 judicial, regulatory and legislative actions. [...]

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Penn State University joins a growing list of US campuses taking steps to move off coal. This outcome was a victory for students involved in a year-long campaign urging the university to stop burning coal at the on-campus steam plant. The Sierra Student Coalition, Campuses Beyond Coal campaign supported the student’s effort. A strong new [...]

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Description: Three cheers for California voters protecting their Global Warming Solutions Act by voting down Proposition 23. Still, the British students who phone-banked against Prop 23 with me in the United Kingdom were flabbergasted that the Proposition even had a shot. Here, the scientific consensus is also the political consensus. If only the same were [...]

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From OR to AND Propositions This past week I witnessed a couple of events that raised some insights, thoughts, and questions that I would like to share in the lines below. The first event was watching the documentary The 11th Hour, which even though it is not the newest one, I definitely recommend it. The [...]

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