Leaders addressing climate change in Maryland

MARYLAND – Maryland state and local legislators are buckling down and getting serious about climate change.

After a state ‘town’ hall virtual discussion, officials are making concrete efforts to do something about the environment.

“The role of cities and municipalities and counties is really setting up those net 0 omission goals,” says Chair of the Salisbury Green Team committee, Elise Trelegan.

On a path to a more sustainable future, state and local leaders are working to create a better plan to get there. Trelegan tells us, stepping up to lead Delmarva to decrease our carbon footprint, is essential. “We need to be advocating for and increasing renewable energy here on the shore.”

Trelegan tells 47 ABC, these next few years will show some hotter and wetter weather. Which could affect our agriculture and fishing industry, and have serious implications on a health crisis. That’s why cities like Salisbury, must think critically about what can be done.

“We need to have this de-carbonized economy focus if that’s really what we’re looking to move towards and I think all of those pieces are really important to the puzzle,” says Trelegan.

During the virtual discussion, leaders like Senator Ben Cardin explained some of the financial infrastructure that’s already in place or on the way to fund some of these environmental projects. The Reconciliation budget and Infrastructure package, we’re told are both meant to be used to fund sustainable projects to address coastal flooding or even pre-weather disaster efforts.

Mayor Jake Day was also a part of the virtual discussion and spoke on some of the work being done in Salisbury. He says flooding is a major concern, especially on the Eastern Shore. The city is creating a five year plan to reduce our carbon footprint, and better lead Delmarva in the right direction.

Trelegan also tells us, we can’t just recycle our way out of this. Acting sooner rather than later, will only benefit us all in the long run .

“Are we going to grab onto those goals and seize the day or are we going to sit back and wait until the last minute and then find ourselves in a predicament that we’re going to be actually probably spending a lot more money then what we would do if we started now,” says Trelegan.

We’re also told, education on environmentally friendly alternatives is also an important component in this fight to combat climate change.

Not just education, but also thinking outside of the box such as moving housing projects inside the city to decrease fossil fuels for those traveling in the city, or making the use of wind powers on shorelines.

Officials say the list is endless on what can be done, we just have to sit down and create a concrete plan to execute it.

If you want to take a look at some of the environmental bills Maryland is taking part in, just click here.