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Sustainable Maryland Update
February 2015
Dear Friend

 A "Green Street" Grows in Cambridge; 2015 Sustainable Maryland Certification Deadline is June 30; Municipal Composting Grants; Welcome Poolesville!

Our monthly sampling of news, resources, events and other items of interest from across the sustainability spectrum in Maryland.  
Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, outside Poolesville
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
EVENTS CALENDAR


Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Educators Annual Conference
Location: Ocean City
Dates: February 5-8

2nd Annual Montgomery County Energy Summit
Location:
Rockville
Date:
February 18
Link

The Future is Now: Dealing with Rising Seas on Maryland's Shores
Location: Chesapeake College, Wye Mills
Date: February 21
National Physical Activity Plan Congress
Location: Washington, DC
Dates: February 23-24
Link


Looking Ahead


National Bike Summit
Location:
Washington, DC
Dates:
March 10-12
Link

Maryland Bike Symposium
Location:
Annapolis
Date:
March 17
Link
 
Maryland Farmers Market Conference
Date:
March 17
Location:
Annapolis
Link
 
Frederick County Green Team Summit

Location: Frederick, City Hall Annex
Date: March 25
Details TBA, RSVP requested
***Sustainable Maryland event***

Montgomery County Green Fest
Location: Silver Spring
Date: March 28
Link

Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference
Dates: March 30-31
Location: Baltimore
Link

National Sustainable Materials Management Summit
Date: May 12-13
Location: UMD, College Park
Link


ON-LINE SUSTAINABILITY COURSE AT UMD

Check out the online class:

Sustainable Community Development

offered by UMD's Environmental Finance Center and Institute for Governmental Service and Research. The class emphasizes sustainable community development for counties and municipalities in the State of Maryland. And for municipal residents of Maryland, the class provides an introduction to the EFC's Sustainable Maryland program.
 
A "GREEN STREET" GROWS IN CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge's new Greet Street (Maryland Avenue) with pervious pavers, under construction 
The Sustainable Maryland-registered City of Cambridge has recently embarked on creating a "Green Street" along Maryland Avenue, one of the City's primary gateways. "Green Streets" combine a variety of sustainability elements, including (but not limited to) stormwater management, energy efficient lighting, and bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure. The improvements underway on Maryland Avenue include: pervious pavers on the parallel parking areas; pervious concrete sidewalks; bike lane striping and signage; rain gardens between the sidewalk and street; and narrowing of the roadway and curb extensions at the crosswalks. Cambridge's Green Street is one of the first to be installed in Maryland, with Edmonston (Prince George's County) leading the way in 2010.

For more information and photos, and to follow the progress of the Cambridge Green Street, check out (and like!) the Maryland Avenue Green Street Facebook page.

REMINDER: SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND CERTIFICATION DEADLINE IS JUNE 30, 2015
Takoma Park Green Team, accepting certification award in 2014
It's not too early to start thinking about getting your community Sustainable Maryland Certified this year! How? First, if your community is not registered yet, pass the resolution to enroll in the program. This year's deadline for certification applications is June 30. If you are registered and have a Green Team, start identifying which Actions have been completed, and others from your Action Plan that can be completed in the next 5 months. Feel free to contact Mike Hunninghake at 301-405-7956 or mikeh75@umd.edu to schedule a phone call or visit to assess where your community stands currently, and to receive guidance and technical assistance in achieving certification in 2015!

A FUNDING PROGRAM GREEN TEAMS CAN USE TO JUMP-START MUNICIPAL BACKYARD COMPOSTING PROGRAMS
A grant program that we became aware of at our Prince George's County Green Team Summit last November is something Green Teams contemplating community-wide composting programs should know about.

Composting is an easy, cost-effective way to divert residential organic waste from landfills, saving municipal tax dollars and and improving soil quality. 

According to Doug Alexander, President of the non-profit NIE Institute, who developed this backyard composting model:

"Our model for backyard composting cost municipalities $1 per year per household, less than a single residential trash pickup. Residents invest $2 per year and Backyard Composting invests $1 in grant funds per year. (Amounts are 10-year average costs). Our conservative estimate is an average of 500 pounds of organic waste - food scraps, soiled paper and other organics - will be composted per bin. At current tipping fees around $59 per ton (Prince George's County area), for each $1.00 invested, the municipality will save $14.75 each year. Resident's $2 investment will result in $20 or more of high-quality compost each year, compared with purchase at the local big box or garden store. Those are outstanding returns on investment.

We guarantee municipalities that their investment in the compost bins from their tipping fee budget will be returned in reduced tipping fees in one-year or we'll refund the difference."

Examples of Sustainable Maryland Certified municipalities with innovative community composting programs include Cheverly (where Doug piloted this program), as well as Mount Rainier, University Park and Takoma Park.

For more information, contact: Doug Alexander, 202-636-4847, dalexander@nieinstitute.org
www.backyardcomposting.org
 
WELCOME TO THE TOWN OF POOLESVILLE, OUR NEWEST SM-REGISTERED MUNICIPALITY!
Sustainable Maryland welcomes the Town of Poolesville (Montgomery County) to the program. This small town located in the heart of the 93,000-acre Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve features many green initiatives, including a 1.1 megawatt solar array (the first municipality in Montgomery County to install solar power), a community garden started by the local sustainability non-profit Poolesville Green, and pervious paving at the Town Hall parking area. We look forward to working with Poolesville and highlighting its sustainability actions!
 
EFC IS TWEETING! FOLLOW THE ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE CENTER AT UMD ON TWITTER
The Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland is now on Twitter! Follow EFC at www.twitter.com/EFCUMD.
We'll being posting on finance, climate change, sustainability, resiliency and more, with a particular focus on the Mid-Atlantic region and Maryland.


QUOTE
"Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge."

- Erico Fermi, physicist, Nobel Prize winner 

Sustainable Maryland is an initiative of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland. It is a free and voluntary program designed to help Maryland communities choose a direction for their sustainability efforts, improve access to resources needed to implement action, and recognize their accomplishments. Our sponsors include the Town Creek Foundation, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Municipal League. For more information about how your municipality can register in the Sustainable Maryland program, plus customized Green Team training and access to student resources that are available to provide consultancy services for municipal planning, please contact 301 405-7956 or mikeh75@umd.edu   

Mike Hunninghake
Program Manager 
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