Maryland Environmental Law Society
The University of Maryland School of Law's student environmental organization is the Maryland Environmental Law Society (MELS).
MELS Board
Co-Executive: Julie GruffermanCo-Executive: Debbi Scop
Events Coordinator : Limor Weizmann
Grassroots/ Legislative Chair:
Lisetta Silvestri
Secretary: Elaine Lutz
Treasurer: Kim Stefanski
Recycling & Institutional
Eco-Development Co-Chair:
Jen Dickman
Recycling & Institutional
Eco-Development Co-Chair:
Jesse Iliff
Technology Chair: Sylvia Chi
NAELS Representative:
Kristen Weiss
April 2: Focus the Nation! Join MELS for a one-panel symposium discussing how local, state, and federal officials are utilizing the law to address the climate change challenge, featuring a keynote address by Shari T. Wilson (Secretary, Maryland Department of Environment). Panelists include Baltimore City Councilman Jim Kraft, Diana Dascalu-Joffe (Staff Attorney, Chesapeake Climate Action Network), Vernice Miller-Travis (Vice-Chair, Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities), and Adjunct Environmental Law Professor Robert Means.
EPA Petition
Chesapeake Bay Foundation has started a petition urging the new EPA administrator to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. You can sign a petition in support of this effort at Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s website: http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=state_sub_federal_c2k_petition
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE ELECTRONIC PETITION
The Maryland Environmental Law Society endorses the Maryland Student Climate Coalition's campaign effort to make the University System of Maryland (USM) more sustainable. The Climate Campaign aims to unite each of the USM campus communities in support of the Board of Regents mandating a carbon neutrality policy as a goal for higher education campuses.
The term carbon neutral signifies a balance between the amount of carbon released and the amount sequestered. This balance is achieved by reducing overall energy usage, purchasing renewable, clean energy, and offsetting carbon emissions by investing in carbon projects.
The Climate Campaign ultimately seeks to implement the guidelines of the American College & University President's Climate Commitment within each USM campus community. To that end, the Campaign is focused on three primary goals: (1) reducing each institution's carbon footprint, (2) purchasing clean energy for each institution, and (3) promoting education and awareness about climate change and sustainability.
These goals are to be achieved through the following proposed initiatives:
Carbon footprint
- Assess USM's comprehensive carbon footprint and reduce CO2 emissions to 1990 levels
- Ensure efficient electrical use by:
-
o establishing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) silver certification as a minimum
standard for all new USM buildings
and retro fitting all existing structures to try
to achieve LEED certification for existing buildings
-
o implementing basic energy efficient technologies
- Adopt a policy to encourage USM employees to telecommute
- Purchase hybrid vehicles and encourage the use of mass transportation and carpooling
Clean energy
- Implement a policy to require the purchase of bulk clean energy for all USM institutions
Education and awareness
- Offer an academic course at every school of each USM institution to educate students about climate change and sustainability
- Distinguish USM as a major enterprise for research on climate change, including: clean technology breakthroughs, climate adaptation, urban sprawl, and carbon sequestration
Join the campaign today and become an advocate for reducing our campus' contribution to global warming. To view a complete list of signatories to the American College & University President's Climate Commitment, click here.
For more information on MELS, contact Jackie McNamara at .