 SEPTEMBER 2025
IN THIS ISSUE:
A letter from Montgomery County Climate Change Officer Sarah Kogel-Smucker
Climate Smart Meal Planning
Back to school is the perfect time to kick-off new routines so let's try meal planning each week. We’ve all had that moment: rushing home from work, opening the fridge, and realizing that the food inside doesn’t quite come together as a meal. Or worse, discovering that the delectable veggies you bought have already gone bad.
This waste is more than frustrating, it’s costly and harms the climate. In 2021, over 93,000 tons of food scraps were thrown out and processed as garbage by Montgomery County. Worldwide, households wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022. Food waste causes an estimated 8-10% of worldwide climate change pollution each year. Here in Montgomery County, we’ve set a goal of zero waste and meal planning is one of the simplest, most effective ways to help.
Tips for meal planning:
- Write out the meals you plan to eat at home and the meals you plan to eat for the next week or two.
- Look at the ingredients you already have and list out the ones you need before you go grocery shopping.
- Grocery shop with a plan, a list, and amounts.
- Be realistic – while I’d love to cook an elaborate new recipe on a weeknight, that’s not going to happen, so we plan a lot of crock pot meals and quick stir fries.
- Love your leftovers. Leftovers are easy, waste-free, money-saving meals so plan for leftover lunches or dinners.
With a little planning, we can all save money, cut food waste, and make this school year more climate smart.
Tax Breaks Ending: Get Them Now
With passage of the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," President Trump and Congress eliminated the clean energy tax breaks powering the clean energy transition. It's heartbreaking - but these tax breaks are not gone yet! You can take advantage of the $7,500 tax break for new Electric Vehicles (EV) and $4,000 tax break for used EVs until September 30, 2025. DEP has more info on these tax breaks here. Federal tax breaks for home clean energy projects including solar panels and heat pumps are available for projects completed by the end of 2025. Learn more about the tax breaks here and take advantage of the County's Switch Together program to help you go solar.
Clean energy is facing federal hurdles, but here in Montgomery County we continue to embrace powering the future without climate pollution.
Warmly,
Full calendar details of upcoming events can be found here.
9/2: 10:30am - 2:30pm Illumination Station
9/3: 7:30pm - 8:30pm Ask an EV Owner Register here, EVADC - Are you considering getting an electric vehicle? With federal EV tax credits ending after September 30th, now is a great time to learn more. Join DEP and EVADC for “Ask an EV Owner.” This monthly series will connect you directly with current EV owners and experts from our area to answer all your questions about different EV models, tax incentives, and EV charging.
9/8: 7:00pm - 9:00pm Go Electric DMV:Coaching Learn to Electrify Your Home
9/9: 10:30am - 2:30pm Illumination Station
9/13: 10:00am - 12:00pm Back to School Block Party John F. Kennedy High School
9/13: 11:00am - 3:00pm Touch-A-Truck Westfield Montgomery
9/17: 12:00pm - 1:30pm Why Electrify? Rewiring America - A 101 course that breaks down what “electrify everything” means in plain English. In a unique and interactive online course, learn how electrification helps people save money, builds stronger communities, improves our health, and allows people to take steps to meet our climate goals.
9/17: 12:30am - 1:30pm Go Solar Coffee Chat Solar United Neighbors
9/25: 10:30am - 2:30pm Illumination Station
9/30: 10:30am - 2:30pm Illumination Station
Local climate news and updates from Montgomery County, the State of Maryland, and around the DMV.
ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Wes Moore announced that X-energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and fuel company, is reinvesting in its Maryland workforce with expansions in two counties. The company, which currently operates from two spaces in Rockville, is consolidating its headquarters to a 125,000 square-foot facility at 9801 Washingtonian Boulevard in Gaithersburg. X-energy will retain its 260 full-time employees at this new site, with plans to create at least 525 new jobs over the next six years. Read more
|
National and international climate change news that affects life in the U.S. and beyond.
|
Has this summer been muggier than usual? For nearly two-thirds of the country, the answer is yes.
Tens of millions of Americans in the central and eastern United States have suffered from an extraordinary bout of high humidity, pushing heat indexes into the triple digits and making it harder for people to cool off, especially at night.
The nation's capital and states including Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio recorded some of their highest dew points on record, experts said. Read More from USA TODAY
|
|
 |
We've had some fantastic student interns help us out this summer. Read what they've learned and have to share with us.
Climate Smart Meal Planning
Hi! My name is Sydney Rorke, and I am a Junior at the University of Maryland majoring in Environmental Science and Policy with a minor in Classical Mythology. I am a Climate Action Intern at The Montgomery County Executive Office and I am excited to share how I am Climate Smart by meal planning.
September's theme is Reducing Food Waste, and meal planning helps me stay environmentally conscious. My climate journey started early--at just 8 years old, I became a vegetarian after rescuing a turkey named Tina. While my initial motivation was for animal welfare purposes, I later discovered that a vegetarian diet significantly reduces your carbon footprint. Referencing the graph below, meat products such as beef, lamb, and shrimp result in a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
As a college student, meal planning became both a climate-smart and budget-friendly strategy. Each week, I map out what I would have for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, while including the nights I would eat out. Since fresh produce is a staple in my diet, I always make sure to purchase them in smaller quantities to ensure nothing goes to waste.
When I am home from school at our small farm in Barnesville, my family takes an unconventional approach to reducing food waste. Our farm has a quirky assortment of rescued animals--including potbelly pigs. Any leftover or nearly expired (but pig-friendly) food becomes a treat for them.
Food waste is a serious issue, with over 97,000 tons of food scraps thrown out annually in Montgomery County. Meal planning is a simple yet powerful way to make a difference by helping ensure you don’t waste food. Whether you’re a student, a family, or even a pig, eating low-carbon food and not wasting it leads to big change.
|
Learn about climate champions in our community.
Climate Diet: Offers Flexible Program for Schools: “The Power of Food: did you KNOW what you eat affects the climate?"
Climate Diet is an educational science-based nonprofit located in Montgomery County. Climate Diet’s goal is to educate students and communities about the big impacts of our food choices. The organization has participated in events such as the Youth Climate Summit at Julius West H.S., STEAM nights at Farquhar M.S., and outdoor festivals at Planet Maryland, where it offered free nutritional counseling.
Climate Diet’s mission: to educate and encourage changes for more sustainable eating that benefits individual health while reducing global warming.
Climate Diet reaches half a million people yearly via four key areas:
- Educational outreach to consumers, schools and environmental media (Food is Climate newsletters, info promos)
- Weekly Podcasts/You Tube with global climate and food experts (Climate & Cuisine)
- Weekly plant-based recipes: Erin & Jane’s Kitchen (sent free each Friday) and cooking videos on our social media: climate_diet (Instagram)
- Celebrity vegans---and what they say about their diets
This fall, Climate Diet is seeking new school partnerships to provide teachers with helpful science-based materials or experts to assist with a class. We also offer plant-based food sampling–a big hit with students! If your school would like to participate in toolkits, workshops, or climate events this fall, please contact Jane DeMarines at demarines@climatediet.org and check out climatediet.org.
|
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.
Rumphius Foundation Grants: Applications due September 1st, or until 75 applications are received. 501(c)3 nonprofits may request support to strengthen communities and protect the environment in small but meaningful ways, for projects that reach a diverse range of people in need while simultaneously educating young people about sustainability and healthy living. The maximum grant is $6,000.
MacFarlane Foundation FY26 Grants: Letters of Inquiry accepted starting January 2026. The Foundation is interested in supporting nonprofit organizations addressing a range of issues, including but not limited to: education, economic empowerment, climate change and the environment, health, human services, and the well-being of women and girls, and is particularly interested in catalyzing organizations into their next phase of growth or impact. Category One grants range from $10,000-$75,000 and Category Two grants range from $200,000-$250,000.
Waste Management (WM) Charitable Contributions Program: Applications accepted year-round. 501(c)3 or public organizations may apply for a charitable contribution to make communities safer, stronger, and more sustainable. WM funds environmental stewardship, environmental justice, sustainability education, workforce and skills development, community vitality, and supplier diversity. No maximum is specified.
Can'd Aid: Crush It Crusade - FY 2025: Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Government and nongovernment organizations may apply to support the launch or improvement of local recycling programs and education on the importance of infinitely recyclable aluminum. Grants range in size from $5,000 to $10,000.
Exciting opportunities available for job seekers. Check out DEP’s Green Job Portal for additional climate and sustainability jobs, including these highlighted positions:
Loan Servicing Officer – The Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) (Wheaton, MD): Seeking a Loan Servicing Officer to support our clean energy finance programs, which provide debt financing to commercial and residential customers. The Loan Servicing Officer will manage all loan documentation and servicing tasks from the time of closing through the entire loan lifecycle. More information here.
Associate I, Public Policy Support, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals – PEW (Washington, DC): This new project aims to measurably reduce Americans’ exposure to harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The project will focus on reducing exposure to the most harmful EDCs in use in the near-term, while laying the foundation for longer-term policy reform to prevent additional harmful EDCs from being introduced. The Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals project is a collaboration between Pew’s Environment and Government Performance portfolios. More information here.
Assistant Director for Advancement (Grade 28) – Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission (Wheaton, MD): Brookside Gardens, a 50-acre horticulture display garden in Wheaton, Maryland, is hiring an Assistant Director for Advancement to join our leadership team. We are looking for someone who shares our passion for connecting people and plants with the goal of creating a healthy environment for all. This position reports to the Director of Brookside Gardens.
The Assistant Director for Advancement will play a key role in implementing our strategic plan, which envisions Brookside Gardens as a cherished community partner deeply rooted in community, cultural connections, inclusivity and environmental stewardship. More information here.
|
