The Havre de Grace Green Team, initiated in January 2011 and incorporated in 2013, is a group of volunteers who value sustainable environmental decision-making; where decisions made in the present have a neutral or positive impact on the future, and where our environmental assets and natural beauty are valued, preserved, and enhanced for improved quality of life.
As such, the Havre de Grace Green Team Mission Areas are:
- Implementation: Act as a focal point to implement programs that support local environmental goals. Engage in projects and activities that facilitate citizen enjoyment of our natural resources. Work closely with other local organizations to promote actions and behavior among citizens that are consistent with a sustainable vision for the future
- Education: Improve community-members’ environmental awareness/understanding by identifying, developing as needed, and distributing or presenting printed and multi-media materials related to selected environmental focus areas.
- Community Building/Engagement: Provide opportunities to facilitate stronger relationships among community members in pursuit of environmental goals; enable members and citizens to engage in community service and participate in city environmental policy
- Advocacy: Identify and recommend policies or practices that address local environmental issues. Provide input and review into major projects and legislation that may potentially affect the environmental quality of our region. Facilitate communications and contribute citizen perspective to city government and related organizations to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making
The Havre de Grace Green Team is engaged in projects that address one or more concerns within the following Environmental Focus Areas:
- Food-Related: Involves lessening the environmental impacts of the production and consumption of human food. Some of the Green Team’s concerns in this focus area include local self-sufficiency, food insecurity, organic gardening techniques, food waste composting, source reduction and environmentally-friendly food options.
- Waste-Related: Involves lessening the environmental impacts of disposal of waste generated by human activity. Some of the Green Team’s concerns in this focus area include food waste composting, clothing recycling, reuse/repurpose to keep out of landfills, other source reduction, industrial waste disposal, reclamation, and toxic material spills and recovery.
- Habitat-Related: Involves protection and enhancement of physical resources that support the survival and reproduction of diverse species. Some of the Green Team’s concerns in this focus area include pollinators, tree canopy, pesticide management, native species, land use and habitat impacts from climate change.
- Water-Related: Involves protection and enhancement of water resources, especially the streams and rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. Some of the Green Team’s concerns in this focus area include fertilizer and pesticide management, leaking boats, landfills, living shorelines, and the Bay Wise Program.
- Climate Change: Involves efforts to reduce gases emitted by human activities, contributing to a warming planet. Some of the Green Team’s concerns in this focus area broadly cover the several gases and emission sources that contribute to climate change and the impact of those changes for life on earth. How can society as a whole and individuals address such issues as reduction of fossil fuels and promotion of sustainable energy sources; deforestation; emissions from agriculture and landfills, cement and refrigerant gasses, to name a few? What can we do to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate?
President: Carol Zimmerman
Vice President: Vacant
Treasurer: Joan Black
Secretary: Danielle Wolfe
Education Director: Jean Johnson
Member-at-Large: Nayeli Mowbray
City Council Liaison: Casi Boyer
Apiary: Dona Bushong
Bee City/Pollinators: Steve Wagner & John Canoles
Community Garden: Position Available
Education: Jean Johnson
Great Outdoors: Position Available
Heirloom Victory Garden: Ennise Bloom
Think Green Eat Green: Patricia McAllister-Shakeshaft
Todd Park Food Forest: Carol Zimmerman
Zero Waste: Danielle Wolfe
Read more about HdG Board Positions in this linked Google Document.