By Ian Round and Elliott Davis
Capital 草莓传媒 Service/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
When the Maryland legislature reconvenes Jan. 8, legislators of both parties say they will continue the battle against climate change.
Some of their plans are much more aggressive than others.
Del. Brooke Lierman, a Baltimore Democrat, said she will sponsor a plastic bag ban in the next session and ask for a study of other single-use plastics, such as food utensils and water bottles.
Lierman said Marylanders can unlearn their dependence on plastic. 鈥淭he phenomenon of single-use bags is very new,鈥� Lierman said. 鈥淲e have to take steps to reduce the demand for plastic.鈥�
A generation ago, she said, people didn鈥檛 use plastic bags, but now, people have become dependent. And it鈥檚 not just bags. 鈥淥ur behavior has changed to accommodate and to expect a plastic fork to be available wherever we are,鈥� she said. If plastic utensils such as forks are banned, 鈥淚 am confident that we will all adjust very easily.鈥�
Lierman sponsored the polystyrene foam ban in the 2019 session. When it goes into effect in July, Maryland will be the first state to ban the substance known as Styrofoam.
The new law will ban food and beverage containers made from expanded polystyrene foam, she said. And Lierman would like to see the legislature push to stop the state from spending money on polluting industries.
鈥楢 solvable problem鈥�
Some neighborhoods in Lierman鈥檚 district are urban heat islands, where the temperature can run up to 8 degrees hotter than other areas. Neighborhoods with fewer trees and more pavement stay hot long into the evening, and residents suffer from heat-related illnesses at higher rates.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem, but it鈥檚 a solvable problem,鈥� Lierman said.
Planting trees takes money and time, but it鈥檚 worth the investment, she said. 鈥淚t is such a clear and easy thing to do.鈥�
Del. Dana Stein, a Baltimore County Democrat, is working on a plan for a coalition of states to reduce greenhouse gases. He said it鈥檚 an aspirational idea that would use the framework of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which created a regional cap for greenhouse gas emissions.
He wants to use that model to reverse pollution by taking carbon out of the atmosphere, not just reducing emissions.
He said he would aim to do that through planting trees and subsidizing cover crops and other agricultural practices in order to absorb and store carbon.
Meanwhile, the Maryland Green Party is organizing around a Green New Deal for the state, the primary goal of which is to power the state with 100% renewable energy by 2032.
The party says its clean energy plan must be accompanied by reparations to people who have suffered because of climate change, such as those living in heat islands.
Reducing dependency on cars
Baltimore Del. Robbyn Lewis, a Democrat, said lawmakers will seek to take incinerators off the list of facilities that benefit from green energy credits.
In early October, she created an informal group of legislators focused on reducing trash and improving air quality in South Baltimore, where the country鈥檚 10th-largest incinerator is located. Lierman is one of the members of the group.
Lewis also said she鈥檚 organizing on the grassroots level for traffic-calming measures, street trees and bike lanes near her Southeast Baltimore home. She said these 鈥渓ivable streets鈥� changes will benefit the environment by reducing dependency on cars.
鈥淲e have to speak in the language of everyday life,鈥� said Lewis, who represents the same district as Lierman. 鈥淚 think in the environmental movement we fail when we speak in technical jargon.鈥�
When you use the wrong language, she said, residents get lost. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 go over there and talk about urban heat islands,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淏ut I can go over there and say two girls got hit by a car.鈥�
Legislators beyond greater Baltimore are working on measures aimed at helping the environment.
Former Del. Andrew Cassilly, a Republican from the northeast corner of the state, left the legislature in December to take a job as an adviser to Gov. Larry Hogan. But he said he will continue to work on environmental issues 鈥� and many initiatives, he added, make economic sense.
鈥淗ow does this legislation impact our environment, our economy and our society in a balanced way?鈥� he said.
Cassilly said that management of poultry manure is a problem in his district. He sponsored a bill this year that allows poultry manure that has undergone anaerobic digestion to be used as a fertilizer.
鈥淥ften, the challenge is getting the manure to a location where it can be of benefit,鈥� Cassilly said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e taken a liability and turned it into a commodity.鈥�
He sponsored another bill this year that prohibits landfills from accepting separated organic waste if they can鈥檛 compost it themselves.
In October, Cassilly said he would seek to create greater incentives to compost in the next session. He said he鈥檚 working with other legislators to take over his bills now that he鈥檚 joining the governor鈥檚 team.
Sen. Paul Pinsky, chair of the Senate Environment Committee, also wants to reduce car use. He has criticized Hogan鈥檚 plans to expand lanes on Interstate 495, I-270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Pinsky, a Prince George鈥檚 County Democrat, said Hogan does not talk about 鈥渞eal solutions鈥� to climate change.
鈥淐learly, he wants to put more cars on the road,鈥� Pinsky added, also saying that he was 鈥渢icked off鈥� that he had yet to see a detailed plan for cutting greenhouse gases from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
The department released its plan in October, after Pinsky spoke with Capital 草莓传媒 Service.
鈥楪rowing concern鈥� about heat in cities
But Maryland鈥檚 environment secretary said the administration is taking climate change seriously and making a variety of efforts to combat it.
Secretary Ben Grumbles said that to address the crisis 鈥� which he called urgent several times in an interview with CNS 鈥� the administration is focused on clean and renewable energy, a 鈥渃omprehensive鈥� greenhouse gas reduction plan and clean car standards.
Grumbles, who is also the chairman of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, noted 鈥済rowing concern鈥� about the impact of extreme temperatures in cities, including Baltimore.
He also said it鈥檚 important to provide more opportunities for shelter, such as cooling centers, as well as trees and green space.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the urban heat island effect. It鈥檚 also the public health issues surrounding climate change,鈥� he said.
Grumbles listed allergies, asthma, infectious disease and stress as health problems affected by increasing temperatures. He also highlighted research on climate and public health by local universities.
The United Nations warns that the world can only avoid the worst effects of climate change if people act in the next decade. But some state officials are frustrated by the fact that there鈥檚 just so much a state legislature can do.
In the mid-2000s, frustrated by what he saw as the George W. Bush administration’s federal inaction toward climate change, Stein, who represents Baltimore County, turned to literature.
He started writing a short dystopian novel set in a 鈥渇uture in which climate change has set in.鈥�
He published 鈥淔ire in the Wind鈥� in 2010; he said it sold about 500 copies.
鈥淚t just bothered me that nothing was happening in the U.S.,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 try not to get too upset about the condition of the environment that we鈥檙e transferring to our kids.
鈥淚 worry by the time that we really, really mobilize, it may be too late.鈥�
