Maryland's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan and climate change website
"Climate change is real. Scientists agree. It's happening now. It's harmful and human-caused. We can make a difference through our actions." This executive summary, produced by IAN, provides an overview of Maryland's plan, describing its vulnerability to climate change and summarizing the 150-plus Greenhouse Gas Reduction programs and initiatives and their associated benefits. IAN helped to develop the new Climate Change Maryland website to disseminate the plan and provide information for the public on what they can do to reduce their contribution to climate change.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan, Chapter 8: Adaptation
Climate change will affect Maryland in a variety of ways. More obvious impacts could include an increased risk for extreme events such as drought, storms, flooding, and forest fires; more heat-related stress; the spread of existing or new vector-born disease; and increased erosion and inundation of low-lying areas along the State's shoreline and coast. Adaptation, together with mitigation, is necessary to address climate change. Climate change adaptation is an extremely complex process and there is no single means of response. This report details the many adaptation strategies taken by the State of Maryland.
Climate Change Best Management Practices newsletters
IAN and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources published these newsletters on the ways to best preserve Maryland's water supply and aquatic ecosystems with the increasingly variable weather patterns associated with climate change. Issues discussed include uncertain access to drinking water, salt water intrusion, flooding, property damage, changes in precipitation, temperature, tropical storms, and human activity. Human development and pollution have degraded the natural resilience of aquatic systems, leaving them more vulnerable to climate change and extreme events. Best Management Practices (BMPs) should be sited and designed with climate change impacts in mind.
Climate change education resources website
The Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education Assessment and Research (MADECLEAR) program has a new website, developed by IAN and the University of Delaware. The site provides a variety of climate science education resources, research results and publications, a database of experts in the field, and a portal for teachers participating in the Climate Academies program. This portal allows the teachers to develop, distribute, and discuss climate change learning segments. An "Ask a Scientist" feature allows the public to ask questions about climate change and receive answers from a scientist who is an expert in climate change.