The Montgomery County Council declared a Climate Emergency in December…
… but in May declined to budget a modest $70,000 toward meeting our climate commitment. That won't do. Climate change is a global challenge, and we need to get serious locally, fast. Please vote for the environment when you vote in this month's primary.
In December, the Council committed to "transform the climate by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2027 and reaching 100% elimination by 2035." It's an ambitious goal – and could generate very significant economic benefit – but we need to get moving. The nonfunded $70,000 would have paid for a Director of Climate Emergency Mobilization as a first step toward establishment of a Climate Emergency Office and steps beyond.
The Council's December resolution was prompted by local activism, by the Montgomery County chapter of The Climate Mobilization (MOCOTCM). (I'm grateful for MOCOTCM's endorsement of my campaign for Montgomery County Council, at large, recognizing my pro-environment positions and accomplishments as a Takoma Park Councilmember.)
Local advocacy matters, especially with the EPA in Scott Pruitt's thieving hands and Governor Hogan running state government. As my friend and neighbor Betsy Taylor, chair of 350 Action, puts it, "Montgomery County has a rich history of environmental activism, from those protecting our farmland and tree canopy to others promoting clean energy. Citizen engagement on these issues has been and always will be essential."
It's citizen engagement that protected the Ten Mile Creek watershed and won Montgomery County's lawncare pesticide ban and polystyrene food serviceware ban, and that will lead to our closing the Dickerson incinerator and the County's coal-fired generating station.
Which candidates do you trust to accelerate pro-environment policy-making and County investment? To enact clean-energy and zero-waste policies that respond to the climate emergency and live up to our commitment?
Burning trash is dirty. Adoption of zero-waste policies is a necessary step toward closing the Dickerson incinerator, which send 200,000 tons of ash to landfill each year. We need to reduce waste via food recovery, high recycling rates, and elimination of single-use plastic food-service materials among other steps. No need for delay: organizations such as the Food Council have been pushing forward education and action campaigns. Locally, Takoma Park pioneered curbside food-waste collection for composting. We should move quickly to a county-scale program with phase-in of a requirement that all food serviceware disposables be compostable.
Energy conservation and 100% clean energy are parts of the equation: solar and wind power, net-zero building standards and energy-efficiency retrofitting, a move to electric vehicles, and transit expansion. Smart roadways will add capacity to our existing road network and will speed trips and reduce emissions.
And let’s reintroduce pension-fund divestment from fossil fuels and work with state legislators to pass new renewable energy portfolio standards.