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Chesapeake Bay Week

Chesapeake Bay Summit

The Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: Course Correction

More than forty years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency along with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia signed the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement – a simple one-page document acknowledging the decline of living resources in the nation’s largest estuary, and a shared responsibility to do something about it.  This document established the Chesapeake Bay Program, a state-federal partnership tasked with tackling clean-up.  Since then, efforts to clean up the Bay have centered largely on a simple premise: reduce pollution, restore the Chesapeake.  But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, one fact has become painfully clear – the path to progress will be a lot more difficult than most initially thought, especially as population growth and climate change complicate the equation.

So far, we have set and missed two restoration deadlines.  A third fast approaches in 2025.  And once again, we will fail to meet goals ranging from water quality to tree cover to the diversity of voices in the clean-up conversation.  What's more, a recent report has called both our current course – and expectations about restoration – into question. 

Why has progress been slower than expected? What new approaches and technologies are needed for better results? What does a healthier Bay of tomorrow look like? And how do we course correct? Join Maryland Public Television host Frank Sesno* and some of the world's foremost experts on the Chesapeake Bay in a provocative forum as they explore and dissect these complex questions in front of a studio audience.

The Chesapeake Bay Summit provides a deep dive into the ongoing serious issues facing the health of the Chesapeake Bay, North America’s largest and most-studied estuary.

*Frank Sesno is a former CNN correspondent, anchor and Washington bureau chief. He spent 11 years as Director of Media and  Public Affairs at the George Washington University and is currently Executive Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future and Founding Director of Planet Forward.

Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 Preview

Chesapeake Clean Up Basics

Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: A timeline of degrading & restoring the nation's largest estuary
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: Is “restoring” the Bay getting even harder?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: Why isn’t the Bay clean-up working as well as we expected?

Our 2024 Sponsors

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
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Chesapeake Bay Foundation
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Salisbury University
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Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology

Dive a Little Deeper

Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks on Farming & The Bay
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024: Tim Wheeler on Population Growth, Climate Change and the Bay
Solar Energy World
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Maryland Tourism Dorchester County
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Sun Nurseries
UMCES
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Audience Questions

Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: What is the future concerning agriculture, PFAS & road salt?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024| Q&A: Are people with disabilities included in Bay Clean Up conversation?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: How do we educate children about Chesapeake Bay restoration?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: Are Black & Brown farmers climate first-responders?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: How will warmer waters impact toxins & algae blooms in the Bay?
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: My cultural heritage is being threatened by climate change.
Chesapeake Bay Summit 2024 | Q&A: What do we about urban stormwater runoff?
Maryland Energy Administration
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Kent County Tourism
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Freedom Car
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AA Watershed
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MD Depat of Agriculture

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