Those attending Charles County’s Green Symposium Thursday, April 14 received warnings about rescuing the world’s quality of life from a bleak future. The grim messages came from familiar faces.
“Gas will be $7 a gallon by the end of the decade, as a constant, not a spike,” former Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening predicted.
“I’m worried about climate change,” said WRC-TV news anchor Wendy Rieger. “We’re seeing it already. I believe we are causing it. We need to live cleaner and we have to consume less.”
While Glendening was the keynote speaker, it was Rieger who got the attention of the attendees at the symposium, which was held at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata campus. The event was organized by the Charles County Government,
Glendening, who is currently the president of the Washington, DC-based Smart Growth Leadership Institute, expressed delight that so many jurisdictions, especially Charles County have hopped aboard the bandwagon he launched back in 1995 when he became governor,
“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress on Smart Growth,” he said. “I had no idea it was going to catch on across the country.”
The green movement, said Glendening, “is not just about changing light bulbs and driving hybrids.”
Even the construction of buildings that earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is not enough, Glendening said. The building will be less efficient aqnd sustainable if it isn’t located in a accessible neighborhood.
By 2030, Glendening predicted, the U.S. will need “more compact places with transportation options. Walkable, mixed-use development is economical and good for business.”
The former governor commended the Charles County Commissioners for their support for extending the Washington, DC light rail network to the Waldorf area.
Charles County Planning Director Steven Ball noted that Charles County had several Smart Growth projects in the pipeline, including the Waldorf Urban Design Master Plan, which includes a light rail access component.
Additionally, the county plans to erect a wind turbine at the Crain Memorial Welcome Center in Newburg, install electric charging stations for hybrid vehicles at several county-owned facilities and is studying the use of geothermal energy for future construction.
Ball said the county’s newest library and high school, both planned for an expanded area of St. Charles, would be LEED-certified buildings.
Rieger, who received an award from Washingtonian Magazine in 2008 for a weekly series called “Going Green,” told the audience the reports have been discontinued by Channel 4 since station management felt the viewers “had had enough about green. I think that’s crap! I think we can lead the public to the next level of green. We need communities like Charles County to lead the way.”
“I’m actually learning something,” said CSM student Sherman Williams, who indicated he was encourged by several symposium speakers who theorized that going green would create better jobs in the future,
“We have a long way to go and I think we need to get moving,” said Linda Redding of Nanjemoy.
“I still don’t see us taking leaps and bounds,” said Kevin Grimes, another Nanjemoy resident who added people shouldn’t think that recycling alone is going to save the planet from an unsustainable future. “I don’t think they see the trouble we’re in. Getting people to change is the greatest challenge we face today.”
The Charles County Commissioners will be hosting a “Green Expo” Saturday, June 18 at North Point High. learn more about the event at www.CharlesCounty.org/GREEN.
