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South Campus Commons 7
"In January 2010, the university opened the doors to its first LEED Gold Certified student housing facility. Building 7 of the South Campus Commons is a 370 bed, apartment-style residential building that is home to upper-division, undergraduate students".Commons 7 features high-efficiency heat pumps, as well as Energy Star appliances to increase performance. The building's while roof also helps to negate heat increases during the summer. -
Knight Hall
"Knight Hall, the home of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, opened its doors in the winter of 2010. Certified as LEED Gold by the US Green Building Council". The building features solar shading and glare, landscape irrigation through a 10,000-gallon rainwater harvesting device, and a large portion of building materials were either recycled, or diverted from landfills after construction -
First LEED Certified Building on Campus
In 2010, Knight Hall was established as the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building on UMD's campus. Since then, over 20 buildings have achieved this certification, with many more following in the coming years. Even without this certification, multiple structures on campus are focused on producing more than they consume, whether it be from solar panels, to rooftop gardens, or even simple natural lighting solutions in large common areas. -
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Green Buildings on Campus
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Oakland Hall
"Oakland Hall opened in the fall of 2011 as the campus's second LEED Gold Certified residential facility. This nine-story building will house more and 700 students in the North Campus Community, making it the largest residential facility on campus". The green features of this building include Energy-SAR appliances, a solar reflective roof, low-flow showerheads, and an abundance of recycled construction materials and resources. -
Creation of Green Office Program
According to the UMD sustainability website, the Green Office Program was created to "support and promote faculty and staff who take steps toward reducing their environmental footprint at work". -
First GND
Established in 2011, Good Neighbor Day was an initiative created by the University to foster fundamental ideas about conservation, charity, and community. -
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Good Neighbor Day
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Forward on Climate
In February of 2013, between 10,000 and 50,000 people marched on the DC mall to raise awareness for multiple climate issues including, but not limited to: the Keystone XL Pipeline, rising sea levels, and global warming. Michael Brune, a representative of the sierra club, stated that "Today, we are asking [President Obama] to use [his] pen to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and ensure that this dirty, dangerous, export pipeline will never be built." [350.org] -
Prince Frederick Hall
"Prince Frederick Hall is a LEED Gold certified building that opened in fall 2014. Housing nearly 500 students, it has lower operating costs, higher water efficiency, optimized energy performance, and lower greenhouse gas emissions". Compared to baseline buildings, Prince Frederick Hall has a 43% reduced water consumption, a more efficient envelope infrastructure, and more than 44,000 square feet for stormwater recreation and management. -
Physical Sciences Complex
"The Physical Sciences Complex (PSC) opened in spring 2014 and earned LEED Gold Certification. This Complex includes a remarkable array of high-tech laboratories with equipment unsurpassed by any university facility in the country". The PSC features reused groundwater for non-potable fixtures, a large green roof, as well as smart lighting controls to optimize energy use. -
2020 Environmental Goals Established
During the 2014 school year, former UMD President Wallace Loh set three goals for the University to meet before 2020: "purchasing only renewable power by 2020, reducing energy consumption in existing buildings 20 percent by 2020 and eliminating the carbon footprint associated with new buildings" [https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1W03RWX4iSKOS8nUPqqDmBbRbpmvksVwDpDUIjFA06KI&%3Bfont=Default&%3Blang=en&%3Binitial_zoom=2&=] -
A. James Clark Hall
"A. James Clark Hall is an iconic LEED gold building. Clark Hall supports the Clark School of Engineering's rapidly growing programs while bringing together disciplines under one roof, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and growth". According to the sustainability at UMD website, Clark Hall features run-off reducing surfaces, reduced potable water consumption for domestic water and irrigation, and net-reduced energy costs. -
People's Climate March 2017
"On April 29, 2017—the 100th day of the Trump administration—Climate Generation staff joined over 200,000 people who turned out in the streets of D.C. for the People’s Climate March, and the tens of thousands who took part in over 370 sister marches around the country". [https://www.climategen.org/climate-change-resources/climate-rallies-marches/] -
Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center
"The Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center is a 187,000-square-foot space, which includes 12 classrooms and nine teaching labs with a total of 1,500 seats. It is LEED Gold certified". The green features of the ESJ Learning and Teaching Center include energy-efficient fixtures, green roofs, composting available on-site, and reduced-use water features and systems. -
Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering
"Through manipulation of paths, grades, alignments, and paving materials the design facilitates the movements of students coming from off-campus on foot and bicycle, as well as improves the circulation of the engineering district of campus." The Iribe Center features rooftop gardens, large naturally-lit areas, as well as solar shading bands across its outwards facing windows. -
HJ Patterson Hall (Wing 1)
"HJ Patterson Hall (Wing 1) is LEED silver certified. Wing 1 includes units from the Office of International Affairs and College of Arts and Humanities". After its remodel in 2019, this building features reduced lighting power demand, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, water-efficient toilets, and automatically regulated low-flow faucets. -
College Park Demographics
As reported from the US Census Bureau, College Park is 54.9% White, 19.3% Black, 14.4% Asian, 15.8% Hispanic, and 0.1% American Indian and Native Hawaiian. [https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/collegeparkcitymaryland] -
Most Recent LEED Certification
After its construction in 2019, the Iribe Center became the most recent UMD building to have an official LEED certification. -
Climate Legislation Rally
This past September, approximately 50 UMD students held a climate protest on the steps of McKeldin Library. According to the Diamondback, "The protest was one of many strikes around the world Friday, part of a global initiative called Fridays For Future that climate activist Greta Thunberg started in 2018." [https://dbknews.com/2021/09/25/umd-climate-strike-fridays-for-future/] -
Guilford Woods Protests
During October of this year, hundreds of student activists rallied on campus to protect Guilford Woods, an area of campus that was a target for a new graduate housing development. President Pines remarked that the response from activists was "more of an “emotional” or “political” issue, rather than a scientific one." [https://dbknews.com/2021/10/07/umd-pines-guilford-woods-college-park-western-gateway/]. -
2021 DC Climate Protests
This past October, upwards of 600 protesters were arrested on the streets of Washington D.C. According to Grist.com, these protests included "people resisting oil and gas projects all over the country, from Alaska to Appalachia. They were protesting not just climate change, but also water contamination and sexual assaults against Indigenous women associated with oil and gas projects." [https://grist.org/protest/indigenous-climate-protests-against-fossil-fuels-biden-pandemic/] -
Most recent GND
The University reports that, since 2012, Good Neighbor Day has had over 3000 volunteers, completed more than 70 service projects, planted 1,270+ plants, and collected nearly 14,000 pounds of food for donation and other purposes. [https://oce.umd.edu/good-neighbor-day]