Sustainable Maryland

ly, embrace sustainability. “We have 70 municipalities registered,” says Mike.“39 have been certified, and many have come back for re-certification.This represents about 44 percent of Maryland municipalities.Year on year,we’ve seen an expansion of the program.” The aforementioned certification is deemed a prestigious designation for municipal governments in Maryland.Municipalities that achieve the certification are considered by their peers, by state government, and by the experts and civic organizations in Maryland, to be among the lead- ing municipalities.All actions taken bymunicipalities to score points toward certificationmust be accompanied bydocumentaryevidence that is reviewed.Moreover,the certification is free and completelyvoluntary. “SustainableMaryland has become the single point of contact for any municipality in the state,”says Brandy.“If theyhave any sustainabilityques- tions,theyknowtheycan call us andwe are that gatekeeper of information for various projects and programs across the state.” As Business ViewMagazine began speaking with certified communi- ties in Maryland, one of the areas that city and communitymembers said was the easy launch point for themwas simply understanding what they needed to do, how they needed to get there, and possiblymost import- ant,what steps had they already taken (without even knowing it). So what does the not-so-blank screen of certification look like? The first step is the development of Green Teams. CONNECTING COMMUNITY WITH COMMUNITY “Our primary goal is to encourage and support municipalities to work on a sustainability project,” says Hunninghake.“One of the key things we do is identify communities and then give them the framework and iden- tify champions in these communities.One of the key drivers is fostering green teams/sustainable committees,which allows the communities to not only tap into professional expertise amongst their own residents, but also to harness their personal passions for a specific sustainability issue or project.” The importance of developing a commitment with the community whom this will affect before launching into the community goals is paramount in the success of any objective. Once the team is ready for the challenge, the gloves come off… SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND One of the most important things about the program is supporting and inspiring individuals and communities as a whole to pursue these projects because the change we need to make needs to come from the bottom up. We are the organization that’s doing that at the local level. MIKE HUNNINGHAKE