Rachel is the Assistant Editor for Change Magazine in Washington DC. Her interests are self-analysis, C.S. Lewis, tea, educational pursuits, poetry experiments, primary colors, and legwear. A personal goal of hers is to to think effectively and write affectingly.
“The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.” They seek to educate and mobilize local citizens in a way that encourages a swift societal switch to clean energy and energy-efficient products.
The Sierra Club – Greater Baltimore Group, the local branch of the well-respected national organization, includes Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Harford County. The group spreads its conservation message via hiking outings, lectures, and seasonal events of both the urban and rural variety. Volunteers are consistently sought to lead outdoor programs, assist in fundraising campaigns, petition lawmakers to enact eco-friendly policies, and, on a microcosmic level, make conscious, environmentally aware changes in their own home- and work-spaces.
Headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, GreenLine employs eco-sensitive policies in its paper-producing business – selling only recycled or tree-free paper, paper whitened without chlorine, and products with only trace amounts of post-consumer waste; reusing shipping cartons; and packing cartons without Styrofoam "peanuts" or excess packaging-materials. In addition to office paper, tissues, and towels, GreenLine also sells select organic food items, cleaning products, and recycled kitchen and restaurant ware.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, the Alliance for Community Trees has planted more than 7.8 million trees in urban landscapes nationwide, with assistance from 450,000 volunteers, since its inception in 1993. The group, which is composed of more than 100 sub-organizations, strives to support local grassroots organizations dedicated to tree-planting and tree-conservation. In Maryland, they work with the Center for Chesapeake Communities, Tree-Mendous Maryland, Herring Run Watershed Association, Parks & People Foundation, and the Beltsville-based Communities Committee.
The Hughes Center, part of the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, works to protect the state’s agricultural landscapes while maintaining the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Employing a three-tiered approach – scientific research, policy analysis, and outreach – the center promotes alternative agricultural processes, sensible land usage, and eco-friendly forestry, through a variety of policy-based and science-based perspectives.
An offshoot of the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Izaak Walton League of America, renowned as one of the country’s oldest conservation organizations, Save Our Streams (SOS) works nationally to clean stream beds, restore deficient stream banks, and monitoring stream health. Largely a volunteer-supported group, SOS urges citizens to involve themselves in self-directed projects that will assist America’s many at-risk waterways.
Future Harvest is comprised of Chesapeake Bay-area farmers, landowners and agricultural specialists. The group supports locally-grown food markets, sustainable farming practices such as limited pesticide use and sensitive land-cultivation, and environmental stewardship. Of note are Future Harvest’s specifically farmer-targeted programs — email alerts, newsletters, and study circles.
View the dynamic, moving GOforChange: Greening Baltimore video