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By Ian Round and Elliot Davis
Capital News Service/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
When the Maryland legislature reconvenes in January, 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.
“The phenomenon of single-use bags is very new,” Lierman said. “We have to take steps to reduce the demand for plastic.”
A generation ago, she said, people didn’t use plastic bags, but now everyone has become overly dependent on plastic. Lierman said her bill to ban plastic bags would also ask for a study on how to address and reduce plastic and single-use container waste in Maryland.
“Our behavior has changed to accommodate and to expect a plastic fork to be available wherever we are,” she said. If plastics like forks are banned, “I am confident that we will all adjust very easily.”
Lierman sponsored the polystyrene foam ban in the 2019 session, which, when it goes into effect in July, is set to make Maryland 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.
‘A solvable problem’
Some neighborhoods in Lierman’s district are urban heat islands, where the temperature can run up to 8 degrees hotter than other areas. Fewer trees and more pavement cause neighborhoods to stay hot long into the evening, and residents suffer from heat-related illnesses at higher rates.
“It’s a problem, but it’s a solvable problem,” Lierman said.
Planting trees takes money and time, but it’s worth the investment, she said. “It is such a clear and easy thing to do.”
Del. Dana Stein, a Baltimore County Democrat, is working on a plan for a coalition of states to reduce greenhouse gases. He said it’s 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’s 10th-largest incinerator is located. Lierman is one of the members of the group.
Lewis also said she’s organizing on the grassroots level for traffic-calming measures, street trees and bike lanes near her Southeast Baltimore home. She said these “livable streets” changes will benefit the environment by reducing dependency on cars
Sen. Paul Pinsky, chair of the Senate Environment Committee, also wants to reduce car use.
He has criticized Hogan’s plans to expand lanes on Interstate 495, Interstate 270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Pinsky, a Prince George’s County Democrat, said Hogan does not talk about “real solutions” to climate change.
“Clearly, he wants to put more cars on the road,” Pinsky added, while also saying that he was “ticked off” 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 News Service.
‘Growing concern’ about heat in cities
But Maryland’s 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—which he referred to as urgent several times in an interview with CNS — the administration is focused on clean and renewable energy, a “comprehensive” greenhouse gas reduction plan and clean car standards.
Grumbles, who is also the chairman of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, noted “growing concern” about the impact of extreme temperatures in cities, including Baltimore.
He also said it’s important to provide more opportunities for shelter such as cooling centers, as well as trees and greenspace.
“It’s not just the urban heat island effect. It’s also the public health issues surrounding climate change,” he said.
Grumbles listed allergies, asthma, infectious disease and stress as health issues 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.
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