The move comes as environmental issues take ever-greater prominence, in school and in society, and state education officials said that they want to give environmental topics extra attention. In addition to studying issues in the classroom, students will be expected to create and implement a local project that “protects, sustains, or enhances the natural environment.”

for more on Michael Bimbaum’s article go to: Washington Post

WHEN: 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 28th 2010

WHERE: National Aquarium, behind main building – Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

WHO: Activists and leaders from the business, faith, conservation and social justice communities (and maybe even a celebrity or two)

This fall we have an unprecedented opportunity to clean up our water and our communities, and to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for our families.

Come to the rally and help us urge the Governor of Maryland to give our children a better future – water that is safe to drink and swim in and seafood that is safe to eat throughout Maryland and the region.

This is Our Bay, Our Water, and Our Moment.  Be there!

Click here to RSVP.

via HealthNewsDigest.com.

Did you know that the state of Maryland’s standard for energy suppliers requires that 20% of their electricity be derived from renewable energy sources by the year 2022?  At this time it is estimated that land-based resources would fill only 36% of that goal.  Offshore wind farms could supply the difference.

Imagine a future with  clean, price-stable power sources where CNN could say, “A gigantic airspill occurred today at the Offshore Wind Farm. No damage was reported.  No cleanup is required”.   There would be no major rate hikes driven by wildly fluctuating oil and coal prices and instability in the Middle East, no toxic emissions to fuel climate change and no concerns about running out of wind.  With a 600 MW wind park off the Maryland coast, we could avoid dumping 2.52 billion lbs. of CO2, 14 million lbs. of SO2 and 5 million lbs. of NOx – the equivalent of taking 219,818 cars out of service or planting 6,300,000 trees!

For each MW of capacity from offshore wind more than15 full time jobs are created, or a conservative estimate: 200MW means 3,000 jobs.   Planted in relatively shallow water (< 30m), the bases of the turbines form artificial reefs, attracting shellfish, plankton, other marine life and, subsequently, the fish that feed on them.  That’s good news for the sport fishing industry.

There are some concerns about the safety of wildlife in the vicinity of wind turbines, particularly bird strikes and echo-locating marine mammals who might be affected by the loud noises generated when constructing the towers.  Further study is needed. Every effort will undoubtedly be made to minimize the impact on wildlife and to weigh it against the damage to all living things caused by the present methods of energy extraction from fossil fuels.

For more information on offshore wind generation, please visit www.bluewaterwind.com and take the virtual tour at www.dnr.state.md.us/ccp/coastalresources.

Find out how you can help repower Maryland with the power of offshore wind.

For all the details, click here: Town hall meeting: Offshore wind near Ocean City – Environment Maryland.

There is no charge to participants, but the rewards – both personal and ecological – are significant. By fostering these young oysters, our citizen partners are also generating an abundance of fish and other aquatic life and creating live bottom, populated by oysters and other creatures, on sanctuaries closed to harvesting.

An adult oyster can filter up to 2 gallons of water an hour. To watch this happen (time lapsed video) and to find out how we at Bayside can help, go to: Marylanders Grow Oysters.

Click here for full article: Chester River Association Awarded an Innovative Conservation Project Grant | Delmarva Town Crier.

Fast forward to the year 2016. Economic and environmental decisions made by farmers, watermen, developers and regulators across the seven watersheds have caused continual decline in the health of the Bay. In particular, the Eastern Shore River watershed economy is down, environmental quality is low and unemployment is up to 6.88%.

Although these futuristic “predictions” are derived from The Bay Game, a simulated game of logic developed by the University of Virginia (UVA), they are based on real stakeholder decisions, real-world impact of those decisions, and the environmental reality that nobody wins unless everybody wins.

For more: Quality Assurance & Food Safety Magazine : Current Issue Environment vs. the Economy.

Updated car stickers to include environmental info.