New research will assess how corporate-cleantech start-up partnerships can catalyze climate and energy innovation This new research, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, aims to explore how the growing interactions between corporations and cleantech start-ups are shaping climate and energy innovation outcomes.

“Policy change not climate change” is a slogan that climate activist Greta Thunberg and environmental justice advocates have echoed to policymakers. Amid the environmental health issues that routinely disproportionately affect low-income populations and communities of color, there has been an ongoing impasse in environmental policymaking that further impacts vulnerable communities, according to a new publication.

An international group of scientists is calling for a “paradigm shift” in how we combat airborne pathogens such as COVID-19. The 40 researchers from 14 countries, including Dr. Donald K. Milton from the University of Maryland School of Public Health, are demanding universal recognition that infections can be prevented by improving indoor ventilation systems.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, the first Black man and the second person of color to lead the agency, delivered a special video message to symposium attendees. Regan highlighted the work he and the Biden administration are doing to advance environmental justice, including President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to devote at least 40% of the federal investments in addressing climate change to underserved communities.

Up to one-third of the Earth's food is never eaten, but two new projects by a University of Maryland environmental science and technology researcher (below) seek to turn this waste into marketable biofuel and bioplastic projects. From leftovers neglected in the fridge until they go bad to crops that spoil because of faulty storage, a shocking one-third of the world’s food—nearly 1.5 billion tons yearly, according to a United Nations estimate—goes uneaten.

College Park, MD -- While the White House and the United Nations are prioritizing the sustainable development of urban green space with the introduction of goals and target timelines, adoption in areas such as Green Infrastructure (GI) at the local level has been challenging and inconsistent. GI occurs at many scales, but it is most often associated with stormwater management, response to climate change, reduction of heat stress, and sustainable energy production.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) launched a new look and feel to some of their long-range U.S. temperature and precipitation forecast maps on September 15, 2021. As part of the National Weather Service’s suite of official forecast products, these maps are widely used by weather forecasters, media outlets and decision-makers whose industries rely on accurate weather information. The redesign provides higher image quality and presents weather and climate outlooks in a less confusing, more user-friendly format.

While a criminologist might analyze broad patterns of carjackings or corporate crime, a new, related research field pioneered by a UMD scientist has her tracking the fate of a sluglike animal swimming off Mexico’s coast. Meredith Gore, an assistant professor of geographical sciences who in 2009 created the concept of “conservation criminology,” worked this summer on the Yucatan Peninsula for her latest study, spurred by concerned local fishing communities and funded by the U.S.