Highlighting the Maryland Green Registry
Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Baltimore
September 30, 2009
The great writer, Paul Hawken, in his book Blessed Unrest, talks about the science of climate change, talks about the dire predictions. And he said, When you look at these challenges and you look at the speed with which the disintegration of our environment appears to be accelerating, it's hard to be anything but pessimistic.
But when you look at the way that people -- not only all over our State, all over our country, but all over the world are coming together to solve these challenges, to meet these problems, to innovate and create, it's hard not to be optimistic about the way that humanity is coalescing. Coalescing around this imperative to make a better world and a better future for our kids.
Which brings me to the Green Registry. What is the Green Registry?
It is a voluntary, but urgent, initiative, in which we ask all of our partners, all of us who bear and wear the highest of all titles in our republic and that is the title of citizen to adopt green practices, and to share the steps that you're taking in your own work place, in your own lives, to share those best practices and use our State government as a convener, if you will. That place where we can all come together through that powerful tool of the internet to share best practices, to accelerate our innovation curve and our learning curve.
Participants share information on these five environmental best practices that they're putting in place, along with at least one measurable result that they are achieving in this imperative of creating a cleaner and greener, more sustainable world.
And, in turn, our State government provides tips and resources on best practices for environmental management and leadership, waste reduction, energy and water conservation, transportation and building design.
And your corporation -- that is the State of Maryland -- has a long way to go so that we improve the things that we do. I mean, every day we're trying to figure out how we clean up our own act; how we can become more paperless, how we can recycle more, how we can reduce energy consumption on all of our buildings, so we meet that 15 percent reduction goal by 2015.
How we can convert our buses, our trains and all of our vehicles to cleaner burning vehicles, the more highly fuel efficient vehicles, hybrids, bio-diesels, and everything else that goes with that.
And we should note that this is one of those government programs where there's absolutely no cost to joining the registry. There's no cost.
We want you to join the registry, we need you to join the registry. There's so many good businesses doing so many things and they're doing them so quickly as we coalesce to transform our economy.
To join, organizations can apply on our Smart, Green and Growing website, at www.green.maryland.gov.
