Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich will be among the featured speakers at the 2022 Montgomery County Energy Summit, which will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at the Silver Spring Civic Building, Wednesday, April 6 digitally, followed by a celebratory networking happy hour at The Pearl in Silver Spring at 5:30 pm on April 6. This year’s Summit will focus on innovation in the areas of Technology Implementation, Policy and Program Design and Creativity in Financing Projects. Read more about the event here.

County Executive Marc Elrich has presented his $6.3 billion recommended Fiscal Year 2023 Operating Budget to the County Council for its review. The budget included significant investments in efforts to combat climate change. On Thursday, April 7 at 7 pm, the County Executive will discuss those efforts and answer questions from residents in an online climate change budget forum. Join the Zoom at 7pm on April 7 or watch the DEP’s Facebook livestream of the event here.

On April 1, the nonprofit group Solar United Neighbors (SUN) launched the second Capital Area Solar Co-op to help DMV area residents go solar that will run through August 2022. In 2021, SUN hosted its first Capital Area Solar Co-op covering Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. as a result, 255 homes and businesses installed solar panels and 51 installed electric vehicle chargers. This resulted in 2,344 kW of solar capacity, $5.4 million in local solar spending, and more than 55.4 million pounds of lifetime carbon offsets. Sign up here!

The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation is offering a grant opportunity for institutions to combat climate change. Helen Frankenthaler was one of the great American artists of the 21^st century whose abstract art often displayed a deep connection between landscape and the environment. The foundation is offering scoping, technical assistance, and implementation grants to help art institutions save on energy costs and reduce emissions by improving their buildings. The proposal period is open from April 3 to April 17, 2022. Learn more about how to apply for the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s Climate Initiative Grants here.

Montgomery Parks, Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation and Pepco have combined their efforts to create additional charging opportunities for local, regional, and visiting electric vehicle (EV) owners. As part of this partnership, Pepco will install 94 EV chargers in over twenty different parks across the two counties in the next two years to support a more sustainable future and help to meet the demands of electric vehicle drivers around the area. Construction of the first EV chargers began in March 2022 and will take around eight weeks to complete. Read more about the project and partnership here.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) had its first ever Youth Climate Summit on March 5, 2022. The idea for this summit developed after MCPS recognized increased student interest in climate action. At this summit, high school students had the opportunity to learn about climate change through speakers and workshops that demonstrated actionable ways to engage in the climate movement. The Summit concluded with participants being mentored through the process of writing a climate action plan for a project they can implement in their school or community. Over 120 participants joined the event and at least 15 MCPS High Schools were represented at the Summit! Read more about the MCPS 2022 Youth Climate Summit here.

Montgomery County’s first Go Electric event took place on March 19, 2022. The event was a way for residents to learn more about electrifying everything by enabling people to recycle their gas lawn equipment and appliances, swap lightbulbs for free LEDs, enjoy plant-based food, and learn about electric vehicles and sustainable electric energy sources. In case you missed it, here are some photos highlighting the event! Read more about the successful Go Electric event here.

On March 9, Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection Acting Director Adriana Hochberg gave a presentation on the County’s climate initiatives to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors. The presentation focused on the County’s efforts to integrate racial equity and social justice into the Climate Action Plan. Read more about the presentation on the Climate Action Plan and the county’s progress and goals here.

Earth Day is almost upon us! Now more than ever it is important to realize the role you play in minimizing the effects of global warming. While putting up solar panels or buying an EV may not be the best choice for everyone, there are simpler choices you can make to reduce your carbon impact. By accounting for your individual carbon footprint—or the overall greenhouse gases you emit daily— they can be lessened drastically with little to no cost. Read here to learn more about the easy switches you can make to contribute to the global effort of combatting climate change.

If you are looking for open positions in climate and sustainability related jobs, check out DEP’s Green Jobs Portal! New listings include positions with Montgomery County DEP, Frederick County, Tesla, Island Press, National Housing Trust, Carbon180,  and many more! 

To read 

Regional Climate News 

Maryland General Assembly Passes Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, Heads to Governor’s Desk (Maryland Matters)

D.C. Passes Emergency Legislation to Stop Illegal Cutting of Heritage Trees (dcist)

City of Frederick Continues Sustainability Efforts (The Frederick News-Post)

Water pollution inspections, enforcement see ‘dramatic’ decline in Maryland, report finds (The Baltimore Sun)

Constellation Energy forms partnership with Microsoft to help companies track clean energy use (The Baltimore Sun)

National/International Climate News 

SEC plans to force public companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions (The Washington Post)

Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator (EPA)

Rich Countries Must End Oil and Gas Production by 2034, Report Says (The Washington Post)

These charts show how much it costs to charge an EV vs. refueling a gas vehicle (CNBC)

In Parched California, a Project Aims to Save Water and Produce Renewable Energy (Inside Climate News)

For the First Time, Nations Band Together in a Move Toward Ending Plastics Pollution (Inside Climate News)

Biden and Europeans to announce major plan to redirect gas to Europe (The Washington Post)

Britain’s Royal Mint to build plant that will extract gold from electronic waste (CNBC)

U.S. cities will lose over 1.4 million street trees to insects by 2050 (The Washington Post)

Will War Make Europe’s Switch to Clean Energy Even Harder? (The New York Times)

Tracking Biden’s environmental actions (The Washington Post)

As War Rages, a Struggle to Balance Energy Crunch and Climate Crisis (The New York Times)

Biden will allow California to set climate limits on cars. The move could influence the rest of the country. (The Washington Post)

US Army Climate Strategy (Smart Energy Decisions)

Climate Change Is Harming the Planet Faster Than We Can Adapt, U.N. Warns (The New York Times)

New tools and tech to prepare your electrical panel for an all-electric home (Canary Media)

To listen

Affordable Housing and Climate Change with Laurie Schoeman of Enterprise Community Partners (America Adapts)

A Philadelphia couple wrote a children’s book to help parents have ‘the climate talk’ (The Allegheny Front)

Magnetized Concrete: the Future of Electric Vehicle Charging?, with Nadia Gkritza (Resources Radio)

Inevitable food crisis due to Ukraine creates a drive for demand-side action (ClimateGenn Podcast)

Collaborating to Drive Diversity in Clean Energy (Beyond the Meter)

Playing With Fire: Russia, Ukraine And The Geopolitics Of Energy (Climate One)

Building a Carbon Trading System in New York City, with Danielle Spiegel-Feld (Resources Radio)

Tipping Point: Amazon rainforest turning to savanna (ClimateGenn Podcast)

To watch 

UN Releases Dire Climate Report Highlighting Rapid Environmental Degradation (PBS NewsHour)

What Seaweed and Cow Burps Have To Do With Climate Change (Ted Ed)

Years of Living Dangerously - EPISODE 206: Collapse of the Oceans (The YEARS Project)

The tragedy of air pollution -- and an urgent demand for clean air (Ted Ed)