Higher Education Climate Action Plan

The Higher Ed Climate Action Plan Launch by the Aspen Institute took place on August 1st at Thurgood Marshall Hall, College Park. Dr. Bill Dennison, Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen, and Veronica Malabanan Lucchese from the IAN team attended. Dr. Vargas-Nguyen presented on the 2023/2024 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card's new findings and narratives. Veronica, a 3rd-year PhD student and NOAA-LMRCSC Fellow II, presented on her Baltimore angling community research. Her work with the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative (EJJI) and the Reel Rewards Invasive Fish Bounty Program, pays anglers $30 for each invasive fish they remove from Baltimore's Middle Branch Harbor. Additionally, anglers are compensated $10 for completing surveys that help EJJI researchers better understand community needs in the face of invasive species take-over and climate change.

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