Every September at my church, The Church of the Redeemer, we host an annual parish picnic out on the front lawn. About 400 parishioners get to enjoy a delicious barbecue lunch, cooked and served by Boy Scout Troop 35.
But the fun inevitably means waste–and lots of it. We’ve traditionally used plastic plates, cups and cutlery, simply because it’s tough to haul out 400 people’s ceramic plates and glasses to the lawn and back.
A pesky alien shellfish that wreaks havoc on waterways is getting closer and closer to Baltimore’s drinking water reservoirs. Zebra mussels, stowaways from Russia, were found last spring in Hyde’s Quarry in Westminster, Maryland.
“Baltimore’s Department of Public Works has been ever-vigilant about keeping these invaders out, but this was way too close for comfort,” said Clark Howells, Watershed Section manager for Baltimore DPW.
To answer that question in the headline–no. This is a taste of the new normal. Scientists answered the rain question decades ago. Now we’re living with climate change, and it’s catching a lot of us off guard. Your next step might be awareness, then action and adaptation. We have a few ideas for all three.
Are Maryland’s energy suppliers mailing and calling you advertising prices supposedly lower than BGE’s? Have you wondered if it’s worth it to switch, or if these firms are even legit?
These are good questions. Maryland’s deregulated energy market is tricky. However, there is a hassle-free way to choose renewable energy for your home, save cash and skip the hassle of third-party suppliers altogether.
While many of Baltimore’s urban spaces don’t have the proper soil conditions to support a newly planted orchard, the folks at the nonprofit Civic Works have come up with a solution: Make the orchards portable, and bring them to the communities that need them.
Crossing your fingers that lots of butterflies, birds, and bees will visit your outdoor space this summer? Integrating native plants into your backyard is the secret to building habitats for these pollinators. Plus, natives are affordable and just as beautiful as the usual garden plant suspects.
A first-of-its-kind study has revealed that the decades-long “Save the Bay” effort is working. Underwater sea grasses, vital to the bay’s ecosystem, are at their highest levels in nearly 50 years. Not only is this good news for the Chesapeake Bay, but the research provides hope for other impaired estuaries, proving that a coordinated government collaboration focused on reducing pollution can lead to real restoration.
Have you ever noticed that massive wood pile when you drive southbound on I-83, between the Northern Parkway and Cold Spring Lane exits? That “wood dump,” if you will, is actually Baltimore’s Camp Small Zero Waste Initiative, a vital supply of home-grown timber, mulch and firewood logs for the city. And what’s more, those money-making logs are sitting atop some interesting Civil War history.
Climate change was a confusing topic long before President Trump began weighing in online, so we used our phone-a-friend lifeline to ask Baltimore’s scientists to get some answers to common questions about global warming.
In one short year, Trump has reversed more than 60 federal environmental regulations. The gutting of federal green regulations makes state-level environmental legislation proposed in this year’s Maryland General Assembly session that much more critical.
