Is Annapolis a Green City?

If you read my blog on a somewhat regular basis, you know by now that I usually start my day with an early morning walk down to City Dock. This time of year, my day starts very early, so I am often downtown by 6:30. This morning on my return up Main Street I passed the garbage truck as it pulled to the curb. There waiting were several very large cardboard boxes and my first thought was that they had been put there on the curb for recycling. But this was not so, as I saw the private garbage truck pick up the new stiff cardboard and mix it in with a bag of garbage and perhaps a few plastic and glass bottles for good measure. For businesses in downtown Annapolis there is no recycling pick-up offered by the city and no incentive that I know of to recycle, unless a business wants to promote their recycling activity as a marketing ploy.
So while I’ve seen a lot of marketing by the city and again today by the state in a news release I received just today, it seems as if our government agencies are only serious about conservation when it suits their purposes. I can keep adding to the compost pile in my backyard, seperate out my paper, cardboard, glass, and plastic at home but meanwhile the businesses in the city are not being urged to do the same. And just how much recycling are our schools doing? The last time I checked, they were throwing away backpacks, clothes from the lost and found, plastic containers, glass bottles and more….
Here’s part of the news release I received:
Under Governor O’Malley’s leadership, State agencies are taking action to lower their impacts on the environment and reduce their environmental footprints. Some actions are being taken through organized programs such as the Maryland Green Registry, Maryland Green Jobs and Industry Task Force, Interagency Climate Change/Sustainability committee and Maryland Green Building Council. The new Leading by Example webpage features efforts by these and other agencies to conserve natural resources and minimize Maryland’s environmental footprint.
“The State is Leading by Example by conserving substantial amounts of energy, greening its existing facilities through recycling and using less paper, and ensuring that new agency buildings are built to high-efficiency standards,” said Al Collins, Secretary of the Maryland Department of General Services. “These are just a few of the many best practices that are showcased on the Leading by Example website, which shows that Maryland truly is in the forefront of protecting its environment for generations to come.”
Sounds good, but how much is really being done? What have you seen and observed? Let me know…