Earth Month in Action🌎🌳

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: Our staff volunteers gathered at Masonville Cove in South Baltimore for a shoreline cleanup for Earth Day.

Earth Month in Maryland is always a powerful reminder. Environmental protection is not just about policy. It is about people. And this year, people of all ages and backgrounds showed up.

Some of the most inspiring leadership comes from our youngest residents. Through the Maryland Transit Administration Earth Day Art Contest, students from across the state imagined a cleaner, more sustainable future—and then brought it to life. For the third year in a row, we unveiled a zero-emission bus wrapped in the bold, hopeful designs of six finalists, ages 5 to 17. Their creativity manifests a vision of where we are going.

We also spent time where this work matters most—on the ground, in our communities. At Masonville Cove, our staff volunteers came together for a shoreline cleanup as part of one of the nation’s first Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnerships. And at Northview Elementary School in Bowie, alongside the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland State Department of Education, we planted 30 trees through the Schoolyard Forests Program—part of Maryland’s 5 Million Trees initiative. That work has the goal to grow a canopy and also helps young people build a lasting connection to the environment around them.

That is what this month represents. It may come once a year, but the responsibility stays with us every day.

So I ask you to keep going. Take that extra step. Keep your neighborhoods clean. Respect the spaces we share. The choices we make today will define the world we leave to the next generation.