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FEBRUARY 2025
IN THIS ISSUE:
A letter from Montgomery County's Climate Change Officer, Sarah Kogel-Smucker
The County has launched the Be Climate Smart Campaign—a new initiative to inspire and empower residents to make climate-friendly choices in their daily lives. Each month, we’ll highlight a simple action that helps reduce our carbon footprint, along with the latest climate news, resources, and events.
This month, we’re talking about composting food scraps—a great way to cut waste and help the planet.
At my house, composting is built into our routines. We keep a small food scrap container on our kitchen counter and scrape food scraps in while cooking and cleaning up from meals. When the container’s full we put the scraps into a compost bucket that gets picked up curbside once a week. It’s simple, keeps our garbage odor-free, and importantly, it reduces waste and carbon pollution. Plus, when food scraps are turned into compost, they enrich our soil instead of becoming garbage.
If you have municipal or County curbside food waste collection, take advantage of it! If not, there are other great options:
✅ Drop off food scraps at the Bethesda, Silver Spring, or Olney farmers markets for no charge with the County’s new drop-off composting program.
✅ Sign up for a private composting service.
✅ Try backyard composting if you have the space.
Small changes add up. Let’s be climate smart and keep food waste out of the trash—this month and beyond!
Montgomery County launched its new Climate Smart Campaign, designed to inspire and inform residents about making climate-smart choices in their daily lives. The campaign encourages individuals to take a “pledge” to be Climate Smart, with the slogan “BIG CHANGE starts small” serving as a reminder that small actions can lead to significant impact.
 By scanning a QR code displayed on local media, social media, smartphones and Ride On buses, residents can pledge to adopt climate-friendly behaviors and learn more about reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Climate Smart Campaign supports the County's broader goals of reducing GHG emissions by 80% by 2027 and 100% by 2035.
For more information and to take the pledge, visit the Montgomery County Climate Action Portal.
 Montgomery County Climate Action Plan includes strategies to advance racial equity and continues to act, including:
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M-NCPPC is using data from the 2022 Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign to assess heat distribution patterns located within or adjacent to Equity Focus Area for opportunities to plant trees to mitigate climate impacts within these communities. In addition to the Tree Montgomery Program, the County received additional grant funds to install shade tree in Equity Focus Areas and at Montgomery County Public Schools.
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The County established a new Climate Action Team to raise awareness about the intersection between climate, health, equity and populations served by the County’s Health and Human Services Department. The Team includes staff from the African American Health Program, the Asian American Health Initiative and the Latino Health Initiative.
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Nearly $1.4 million grant programs supporting low-income and minority community. The Energy Efficiency program assists low-income residents to reduce home energy use by providing energy inspections, air leak identification, insulation, and energy efficient lighting.
 Registration Now Open: The 12th Annual Montgomery County Energy Summit. The Summit is scheduled to take place Tuesday and Wednesday, April 8-9, 2025, at the Silver Spring Civic Building, 1 Veterans Place in Silver Spring. Interested participants can register and learn more about the 2025 Energy Summit by visiting the Montgomery County Energy Summit website. For more information about registration or the event, email info@mcenergysummit.org.
Local climate news and updates from Montgomery County, the State of Maryland, and around the DMV.
Video: MCDOT
Flash BRT is a high frequency, faster, premium transportation option. BRT offers state-of-the-art weather-protected bus shelters, real-time arrival screens, level boarding, and USB charging onboard. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has one Flash corridor in service (along US29/Colesville Road) and is planning for seven additional corridors. Flash BRT implementation drastically changes localities. Significant infrastructure improvements are attached to each project, transforming high-density areas into safer, walkable and bikeable communities.
Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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Maryland’s climate targets are slipping out of reach, state officials and lawmakers say. A $3 billion budget deficit, rising electricity costs, spiking electricity demand and a bottleneck in bringing new power sources online have emerged as major challenges to the state’s climate ambitions.
President Donald Trump has promised to slash renewable energy subsidies and end offshore wind development — both of which are major elements of Maryland's plan for decarbonization. Currently the state imports about 40% of its electricity and has relatively little open space for onshore wind or utility-scale solar projects.
Read more in E&E by Politico
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National and international climate change news that affects life in the U.S. and beyond.
Here Are All of Trump’s Major Moves to Dismantle Climate Action
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During his first weeks in office, President Donald Trump implemented a slew of actions and executive orders that stand to have wide-reaching impacts on climate policies.
During Trump’s first term, the administration put climate on the back burner—rolling back more than 125 environmental rules and policies. When former-President Joe Biden took office, he led the U.S. forward on climate action, signing the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest federal climate change investment in American history.
Read more on Time.com.
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This month we are highlighting community members and students making climate smart actions a reality through their composting efforts.
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Garrett Park resident Kelly Oskvig and her family are composting in their own backyard to reduce GHG emissions. In Kelly's own words: “I’m committed to working on climate issues professionally but also believe that individual actions can make a big difference. We have been composting in the backyard for many years - in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it's one of the best things you can do at the household level. Our backyard system wasn’t ideal for us space-wise, so once Garrett Park organized a community food scraps composting service, we were in! It’s super easy for all of us to use and reduces our waste significantly.” |
 Source: Maryland Department of the Environment
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) Secretary Serena McIlwain met students working to combat climate change through food waste composting. These students, members of the Coalition to Re-imagine School Waste, spoke to Secretary McIlwain about how food waste in Maryland schools are large scale producers of greenhouse gasses and how they have been campaigning to get recycling and composting bins in school cafeterias. Some of these student leaders brought Secretary McIlwain on a tour of Rock Creek Forest Elementary School in Montgomery County, where a food composting program is going strong!
Almost 20% of all waste generated in Maryland is from food waste. Together we can bring that number down and have a significant climate impact
We are excited to share the below news and opportunities below. These important grants are offered by both local and federal funding opportunities, and are made available to local governments, universities, community organizations, businesses and individuals.
Maryland Solar Access Program Grants for Residential Solar Systems: Opening soon. There is no closing date as it will operate on a first-come, first-served basis. These grants will provide up to $7,500 (at $750/kW) for new household solar PV systems. Eligibility is limited to households with a total income that does not exceed 150% of the statewide area median income. The application requires two phases, including an initial application to reserve funds. Please read the FAQs.
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative Thriving Communities Grant-making Program: Geared toward tribal, rural, and communities disproportionately affected by environmental, climate, and human health harms and risks. Eligible projects include but are not limited to, those focused on air and water quality, stormwater treatment, food access, local cleanup projects, combatting illegal dumping activities, healthy housing, toxin remediation, and more. Applications for 2-year grants will remain open through January 31, 2025, or until all grants for Tier 2 have been awarded. The application deadline for 1-year Tier I and Tier II grants is April 30, 2025, or until all grants have been awarded. For more information, click here.
Lots of exciting opportunities available for job seekers. Check out DEP’s Green Job Portal for additional climate and sustainability jobs, including these highlighted positions:
The Chesapeake Conservation and Climate Corps - Organization: DGS Energy Division Location: Baltimore City Description: Host Organization for the 2025-26 Maryland Climate Corps through the Chesapeake Bay Trust! This is a one-year, full-time, stipend-supported program that places young professionals in environmental roles across nonprofits and government agencies. Participants gain hands-on experience, leadership training, mentorship, and a strong professional network. View Job
Program Manager I (Climate Engagement Program Manager) – Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (Wheaton, MD): This role involves leading and managing climate engagement initiatives to promote environmental awareness and sustainable practices within the community. View Job
Program Intern - Organization: Electrification Coalition Location: Remote or Washington, DC Description: The Programs Intern will provide support to the EC’s Programs team, which advances transportation electrification through technical support to fleets, the curation and presentation of informational content, and charging infrastructure planning. View Job
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