Climate
Climate Change is a global emergency that is already upon us, and will only get worse if we don’t take urgent and immediate action. The IPCC said that climate change is unprecedented, inevitable and irreversible. Only “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in greenhouse gases can prevent further temperature rise exceeding 1.5 or even 2C, which will have catastrophic consequences.
We must act on many fronts to achieve the necessary greenhouse gas reductions:
- Continuing to move the electric grid to clean, renewable sources. Among other things we need to remove dirty sources like incineration from Maryland’s renewable portfolio standard;
- Enact standards for new buildings and major renovations to decarbonize and electrify buildings and move to net zero or net positive;
- Require new and renovated schools and state government funded buildings to use passive house design and build to net zero standards;
- Increase availability and quality of zero emission transit;
- Transition government fleets to zero emission vehicles;
- Continue to expand the use of electric and ZE vehicles through a combination of requirements and incentives, including increasing availability of vehicle charging stations;
- Charge businesses a fee on fossil fuel use in the state to be used for climate resilience and environmental justice. If businesses insist on using fossil fuels, they should have to pay for the consequences.
Waste Crisis
Our reliance on disposable products has created a waste crisis. Landfills are filling up and microplastics are found everywhere on earth, including in animals and humans. Decomposition of food waste releases methane. We need to increase composting and move towards zero waste. We cannot recycle our way out of the waste crisis: some materials can’t be recycled, and recycling processes can also generate emissions. We need to reduce the waste generated in the first place and reuse what we can.
- Prohibit most single use plastics;
- Develop greater composting capability and encourage food diversion to composting or programs addressing food insecurity.
- Enact extended producer responsibility programs;
- Enact Right to Repair.
Toxic Chemicals
From pesticides to PFAS “forever chemicals,” we must stop contaminating our environment with toxic chemicals which have a devastating impact on the environment, human health, and animal species, including pollinators.
Environmental Justice
Due to a history of redlining and race-based land use policies, communities of color are more likely to be impacted by the climate crisis. Highways, incinerators, and power plants are often located in or near communities of color, creating higher levels of air pollution. Often urban communities of color are subject to the heat island effect due to a lack of green space and trees, and communities of color are often on land that is more vulnerable to flooding. Research from Neighborspace of Baltimore County shows that many areas inside Baltimore County’s Urban-Rural Demarcation Line (URLD), including large sections of District 44B, have a deficit of greenspace.
We must be intentional about ensuring that our policies to combat the climate crisis center these vulnerable communities.
- Amend the Maryland Constitution to guarantee environmental rights to all Marylanders;
- Create pocket parks and other green space, and planting trees in urban areas to reduce heat islands and reduce stormwater runoff.
- Fund programs or grants for renovating housing in vulnerable communities to increase energy efficiency and build in resilience to the effects of climate change.
- Increase the availability of zero emissions mass transit in those communities.
- Ensure that climate programs in vulnerable communities pay prevailing wages and hire local. Set requirements on any grants that they also pay prevailing wages and hire local.
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is our treasure and we must do everything we can to protect it, and all of Maryland’s waters. Industrial agricultural practices cause nutrient pollution runoff into the Bay, creating algal blooms leading to dead zones. Pesticide runoff into Maryland’s water system is a threat to the environment and human health. Stormwater runoff from development and impervious surfaces causes an increased risk of flooding and carries toxic substances into the watersheds and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Steps that can be taken to alleviate these issues:
- Promote sustainable and regenerative agriculture by funding initiatives to support farmers in making the transition and in being able to sell their products
- Better regulate CAFOs and limit further expansion
- Better regulate pesticides by creating a systematic, science-based approach to pesticide regulation under the jurisdiction of MDE or MDH
- Better regulate septic systems to protect Maryland’s waters from nutrient and other pollution as a result of poor installation or maintenance
Transit & Land Use
Replacing gasoline powered vehicles with EV’s without changing our car-centric culture only solves part of the problem. EV’s still have an environmental cost, from manufacturing to the need for roads and parking spaces. We must build reliable, equitable, multi-modal, effective, and clean energy transit systems statewide. We also need to be smarter about land use policies to discourage suburban sprawl and encourage carefully planned, mixed-use, transit-oriented development, so that people can live, work, play, and shop without needing to rely on cars.