SustainableUMD News

A Sustainability Fund grant is helping to bring an innovative farming method to the University of Maryland, and nothing about it smells fishy. Students, faculty and staff will build a 1,200-square-foot aquaponics research center near the Research Greenhouse Complex during the Fall 2018 semester. Aquaponics is a form of food production that integrates hydroponics (soilless crops) with aquaculture (fish production). Jose-Luis Izursa, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology, is leading the effort.

While National Geographic magazine is renowned for its respect of world cultures and ecosystems, Hans Wegner ’70 spent his career ensuring that the company’s operations were also gentle on the planet.

Rochelle Samuel ’15 stood among the first Maryland graduates to earn a minor in sustainability studies—even though five years earlier she’d never heard the term “sustainability.”

Students at Maryland can do more than expand their horizons. They can shrink their environmental footprint.   The Office of Sustainability, in partnership with the Department of Resident Life and the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life, launched the Green Terp and Green Chapter programs to increase sustainable behaviors among students.  

If you like to eat, bees are your friends. The crops they pollinate account for 30 percent of Americans’ diets, and have an economic value of more than $20 billion.  

Although the virtual world can’t operate without the data centers that house oceans of internet information, these giant computerized hubs create problems in the real world. They consume 3 percent of the globe’s electrical power and pump as much carbon into the air as all airlines combined, contributing to climate change.

Michael Lagua ‘13 always wanted to work for a mission-driven organization, which is why he felt drawn to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. “I really like how nonprofits are mission driven organizations,” he says. “It was mostly about finding a place that aligned with my ethics. Just being around that work environment is really cool.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the University of Maryland No.

The University of Maryland has been established as a “Do Good” campus, meaning as a community we strive to take initiatives in social change. This mentality is designed to inspire students and the entire UMD community to become aware and educated about social, environmental, and policy issues.