Nearly 100 people attended our "Small Town Sustainability" session on the first day of the Maryland Municipal League's Summer Convention in Ocean City last week. We heard about solar projects in Bladensburg, Poolesville and Emmitsburg; composting programs in Frostburg; corrugated plastic recycling in Cumberland; and food forests in Burkittsville, amongst other exciting projects. Here's a link to our presentation, which we will expanding into a webinar later this year.

At our exhibit booth on Main Street, we also connected with lots of folks from certified communities (like Mount Rainier, who featured us on the cool lunchbox above) and met many newly elected officials, like 19-year-old Mayor of Indian Head, Brandon Paulin, who expressed interest in seeing his town get certified. It was a pleasure to chat with so many folks who were excited about sharing their sustainability success stories, as well as big plans for the future! 

Check out this infographic for the surprisingly varied ways that a community's Public Works Department can contribute to creating a more sustainable town or city. Infographics are also a great way for Green Teams to communicate project results and achievements within a community. An easy (and free) way to get started is to use the online program Piktochart.