November 22, 2023

To celebrate Campus Sustainability Month in October, the Office of Sustainability hosted a series of events that engaged and educated the UMB community about the many ways the University is striving to protect the environment. Last spring, a beehive was installed on the seventh-floor green roof of Health Sciences Research Facility III (HSRF III). Part of efforts to make UMB's campus more hospitable to a variety of pollinators, the project complements ongoing work with ecological landscaping — and brings more bees to the downtown area. Bill Castro, owner of Bee Friendly Apiary, maintains the hive at HSRF III as well as those on the rooftops of the University of Maryland Medical Center and the nearby Royal Sonesta Hotel. For Sustainability Month, he led “What’s the Buzz,” a standing room-only educational session that allowed members of the UMB community to learn about urban beekeeping before getting a closeup look at the hive on the roof. He also explained how bees are able to survive — and even thrive — in Baltimore.

Learn more about this and other exciting UMB sustainability ventures.

Depicted: Beekeeper Bill Castro attends to the hive on the seventh-floor green roof of Health Sciences Research Facility III.