News & Opinion

At Annapolis Green we’ve discussed composting in terms of Nature’s circle of life: animals and plants begin life, they mature and flourish, they die, and the remains are returned to the Earth, starting the cycle anew. This is how things worked for eons before human hubris decided that we know better. Human population growth sparked […]

Here’s info that was too long for our most recent email blast. GreenScape The 30th Anniversary GreenScape will take place on Saturday, April 23. GreenScape is when you’ll see 300 of your neighbors – all over Annapolis – working to spruce up over 70 public areas such as parks. It’s a city/community partnership. The City […]

You know we are following electric vehicle legislation in the General Assembly. One of several bills on this topic, HB696, Public Utilities – Electric School Bus Pilot Program is coming up for a hearing before House Economic Matters on February 10. It sets up a pilot program for electric school buses. If this is important […]

How well do you think you know other species that roam this incredible globe? We realize that to fully embrace the diversity of life on this planet, both flora and fauna, we could spend some time learning about some of them. We enjoyed a lighter read this past month, The Soul of an Octopus: A […]

Our friends at Refill Goodness wrote such a great blog that we wanted to share it with you. In it you’ll find easy things you can do in your own household to live more sustainably – that is, with less consumption of our finite natural resources and less waste. Making a to-go kit to eliminate […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Consume Less Meat One of the easiest sustainable actions you can take is limiting the amount of meat you consume. Meat production, (specifically cows, sheep, pigs, and goats) has a very large carbon footprint. This is due to the fossil fuels used in from producing animal feed, transporting the animals, and the methane released by […]

And they’re back! The General Assembly opened on January 12, and many environmental bills have already been pre-filed – that is, already written and waiting for committee assignments and scheduling of hearing dates. Annapolis Green is again working with the environmental community to urge our elected officials to do good by the environment. One bill […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Composting If you are looking to become more sustainable, one action you could pursue is forming a composting system for your household. Compost not only improves soil structure by containing a large volume of water and nutrients, but it also reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. All of […]

by Lynne Forsman For those both new and old to Annapolis green, our 15 Years of Green video is chockful of memories, accomplishments, and pictures. Yet, it’s also time to think about and appreciate what we’ve accomplished and learned in just the past year. January A month of reset and examination of our programming for […]

To paraphrase Katharine Hayhoe, let’s show love for life on Earth by sharing how we care about climate change. Our book group recently met and discussed Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe. This book was universally liked and appreciated by everyone in our group. […]

Our lives are like books – preface, chapters, and epilogues. I’m about to turn a page to start a new chapter. On January 1, I’ll turn over the day-to-day reins of Annapolis Green to the capable hands of my co-founder, Lynne Forsman, and our new Executive Director, Maggie Hughes. Fifteen years ago, Lynne and I […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Stop buying from fast fashion stores. One action you could take to be more sustainable is not purchasing from fast fashion stores! Fast fashion is a highly-profitable and exploitative business in which high-fashion designs are mass produced at low costs. The ramifications of this industry are a high amount of carbon emissions, […]

According to a recent article in the Bay Journal, “The Maryland darter, one of the rarest fish in the world, has been missing in action for 33 years. Now, it is headed to the extinction list.” And what is the reason? “According to an evaluation by the [US Fish & Wildlife Service] USFWS, the largest […]

I see many messages on social media these days to leave the leaves. While we’re at it, we can also leave flowers such as the spent purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) because the Goldfinches love the seedheads. We could leave the winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) for the Eastern Bluebirds who eat the berries in the winter. […]

by Tom Guay, Executive Director Severn River Association The Severn River Association (SRA) has some really great news to report: oysters are naturally reproducing in the Severn River! It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. This is wonderful news because it means that one day, if we can maintain good water quality in the […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Driving less! One action you could take to be more sustainable is taking alternatives other than driving to get to places. If you live close to somewhere you are going, consider walking or biking. For places you visit on a routine basis that are farther away, like school or work, consider carpooling […]

Our book group recently read the dystopian science fiction novel The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi about water rights and climate change in the western United States. Most of the readers found value in reading the violent story because of the realistic portrayal of characters and the role of institutions and corporations. Given that it’s […]

by Rick Peters, Solar Energy Services Jared Littmann was a real pioneer in 2012, when he made a substantial investment in a rooftop solar installation at his business, K&B True Value, to offset a chunk of the store’s electricity consumption. At that time, Solar Energy Services (SES) designed a 17 kilowatt (kW) solar project (72 […]

by Marguerite Duffy  There’s a wonderful vibe among people on boats, especially if it’s electric powered. You can hear each other talk and are easily mesmerized by the gentle motion of floating. There’s no yelling over combustion noise or inhaling gas fumes. Boating electric is pure, green, and chill. In May, I won a fabulous […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Recycling! Recycling correctly is a critical job that every human must do. It is important to recycle so natural resources are saved and so extra, non-compostable trash doesn’t pile up in landfills. Not only does this take up room, but it is not healthy for the soil. Things like cardboard, plastic bottles, […]

Join the Plogging movement by picking up as you Run/Walk/Exercise Imagine what we all can accomplish lending a hand together! We are excited to introduce you to Girl Scout Cadette Isabella Taylor and her Silver Award project. The Silver Award is comparable to an Eagle Scout award that only 10% of Girl Scouts achieve. Here […]

You love our Chesapeake Watershed. You love your neighborhood. Why not bring those two passions together and become an Anne Arundel County Watershed Steward. The Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy (WSA) is recruiting the next class — the 14th — right now. You can be part of it and of this amazing environmental group […]

by Tom Guay, Executive Director Severn River Association Boy, do we have some great restoration news in the Severn River! Thanks to donors who love oysters, the Severn River Association and the Oyster Recovery Partnership just planted 24 million baby oysters and created a new oyster restoration reef. The new bivalve arrivals are now ensconced […]

“We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be.” – John Holdren, a Harvard energy expert, as quoted in the book, The End of Ice. The End of Ice by Dahr Jamail was a challenging read for many […]

We all love giving appreciation and celebration toward our loved ones, but birthday cards and thank you notes are most likely to be thrown away and are wasteful. So instead of the traditional card, or gift, maybe try a more sustainable option! This could mean making a PowerPoint presentation to give thanks on Mother’s or […]

For years we’ve done our best to bring the global issue of Climate Change to you at the local level as we increasingly see the effects of what we should now call Climate Disruption right here where we live. At the global level, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its sixth report […]

If you have a yard, then this tip is perfect for you. Along with other plants, you can grow species that attract butterflies! Plants such as Black Eyed Susans, Lavender, and different variants of Milkweed are some examples. These provide habitat and food for the butterflies. Butterflies are an important pollinator, so increasing their habitat […]

Our Green Reads book group recently discussed The Monkey Wrench Gang with an equal number of people on Zoom and in person, a true hybrid experience. The Monkey Wrench Gang is a novel by Edward Abbey, who was an anarchist and environmental activist; his writing heavily influenced the environmental movement, especially out west.  Our discussion really homed […]

by Jenny Vedrani Refill Goodness Crest, Colgate, Sensadyne, Tom’s, the aisle is full of options.  Fresh mint, blue mint, yikes – more choices. What’s the right answer? If you have started your low waste or sustainable journey, you realize very quickly, it’s none of them. Not only do you question the ingredient list – fluoride […]

After over a year of seeing an avalanche of plastic, particularly single-use plastic, everywhere in the name of COVID, we are happy to see that one local company is forging ahead with plant-based alternatives. BioSafe, the local company that created the black straws with a blue stripe that you might have seen in local restaurants, […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Reusable Cleaning Supplies! This tip can be used for all sorts of supplies, but today we will be specifically focusing on cleaning supplies. Instead of buying a new bottle of soap or window cleaner every time you run out, you could buy a reusable and sustainable dispenser. This means that you will […]

On July 17 we went on a field trip to Ard Brac Acres, a small regenerative farm in Pittsville, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. The inspiration for checking out a regenerative farm came from reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma where we were introduced to the methods of Joel Salatin. We were curious about how the operations […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Reusable and Washable Masks! Throughout this pandemic it was probably an easier option for most people to use disposable masks, but as the pandemic winds down please consider using washable masks. These are less harmful to the environment, for disposable ones often end up in waterways and in the ocean. They also […]

An online, collaborative initiative to raise funds for and increase awareness of 10 local, small environmental organizations… We have always said that we a tad different, “a different shade of green,” making us a unique partner in the GreenGive group. Our mission is to bring the community together, for the Greener Good, and we’ve been doing […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Washable Towels! Paper towels use lots of trees and fossil fuels to make, and they also produce a massive amount of waste. A healthy alternative for drying your hands can be reusable and washable towels! Cloth rags and hand towels are more eco-friendly and will cut down on the money you spend. […]

Today’s Sustainable Action: Using Reusable Bags! Instead of using single-use plastic bags, you can use reusable bags. These can either be reusable plastic containers or reusable sandwich bags; these can be used for lunches and other everyday things. Using these cuts down on the amount of waste you produce that ends up in the landfill. […]

Rarely does a book come around that fills me with hope and inspires me with possibilities, much less shift my perception. In the shit storm of suffering that was 2020, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer was that book for me. Kimmerer is a lovely writer […]

Founding One Hundred Spotlight Our partner in Pumpkin Spice Compost and all our composting since we started is Founding One Hundred supporter Veteran Compost – a wonderful local company owned by a Gulf War veteran. We can’t exactly remember “the when, ” but all it took was meeting owner Justen Garrity, a charismatic Army vet […]

The fun begins when you have a slew of hard cooked (not the rubbery hardboiled). Mix and match a lot of condiments as you wish for a hand at “designer,” but try to keep a theme in mind – to not get too much fusion happening (you know… culinary confusion). Go for Cowboy style… black […]

When we moved into 92 Maryland Avenue, which Lynne quickly named the Annapolis Green House, five years ago, the garden was overgrown and planted with old, withering non-native shrubs that were shaded by three beautiful and huge elm trees on the property of the next-door neighbor and the State House. Sadly, these magnificent trees fell […]

In the winter months after the flurry of holidays, the timing is perfect to delve into foods in a bowl, or yes… comforting bowl food with a sense of Hygge. That strange Danish word, Hygge, represents an ambiance or mood of coziness with feelings of wellness and contentment. Food plays an important part in the […]

Founding One Hundred Spotlight This award-winning architecture, interiors, and consulting firm is Annapolis Green’s neighbor in on Maryland Avenue. It was founded in 2004 by Melanie Hartwig-Davis. Among Melanie’s accreditations is her LEED Accredited Professional Sustainable Design Practices credentials. She and her team incorporate LEED principles (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) into all aspects […]

Founding One Hundred Spotlight As next door neighbors, RASA Juice Shop and Annapolis Green have been joining forces to keep our community (and especially Maryland Avenue) Clean, Green and Healthy. RASA is a big supporter and believer in Annapolis Green’s initiatives and has been a partner in promotion – helping sell the yoga blocks that […]

Founding One Hundred Spotlight Paradise Float Spa opened its doors in December 2016 and has been providing relaxation and serenity to Annapolis ever since. And don’t we need some of that now. Providing the highest level of customer service and a soothing atmosphere, Paradise Float Spa is making the world a better place, one float […]

You may know that we have a great relationship with the Waste Management (WM) company – the firm that runs the recycling facility that services Anne Arundel County and Annapolis. Most notably, we worked with WM during our Greening of the Brick Companies’ (a Founding One Hundred supporter) TBC Classic Golf Tournament over the years […]

Many of us love soup year round and winter is the prime time. Super Bowl is even a more prime time as you can have the meal in a bowl and offer lots of goodies for topping! Folks love adding their own goodies. Francine’s Favorite Black Bean Soup with Toppings Serves 4 to 6 A […]

by Jared Littmann HB 314 (Plastic Bag Reduction Act) is the proposed Maryland legislation that would ban, after 18 months, single use carryout plastic bags. I support this legislation for the following reasons: The plastic bag ban is the right thing for the environment as we need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. It […]

The Green Reads book group discussed E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life. What a thought-provoking read from a highly respected biologist and renowned naturalist. He methodically laid out facts and observations in a way that reminded me of a spider weaving a web. Next thing I knew I was the meal at the […]

Are you doing your part to keep plastic out of the landfills? Join the more than 30 Maryland marinas recycling their shrinkwrap a message from We understand that your busiest time of year is when the wrap comes off. We know it can be a real pain to deal with piles and piles of plastic […]

Do you ever find yourself envying the koala for its singular diet of eucalyptus or the monarch caterpillar for its love of milkweed? At the extreme end, maybe you envy the flora that, with photosynthesis and good soil, just needs to reach to the sun to grow and flourish. To be human takes those food […]

Rather than put your natural Christmas tree on the curb for collection, put it in your garden as a bit of habitat for birds to help them survive the winter. Our little feathered buddies take protection from cold and wind in evergreens. Your holiday tree, wreaths and garlands can provide that protection too. Just take […]

We gave your Halloween jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins a dignified demise, back to the Earth. We’re turning them into Pumpkin Spice Compost that you can order now for delivery in a couple of months! NBC4 Washington featured our pumpkin collection during Meteorologist Amelia Draper’s climate segment on food waste. Five tons of pumpkins are now “cooking” […]

Visit Annapolis launched a new podcast in late December, “Destination Annapolis.” The inaugural podcast featured Annapolis Green. Have a listen as Susan Siefried interviews Elvia Thompson.

by Karen Grumbles I am looking out the window into my backyard at the marcescent light brown beech leaves all uniformly fluttering in the rain. The view comforts and entrances me. ‘Marcescence’ became one of my favorite words in the last few years when we planted a young beech sapling in our yard and I […]

Annapolis Maritime Museum (AMM) is running a full-time School in Nature program at its Park Campus located at Ellen O. Moyer Nature Park. This program is designed to serve as support for students as they work through their virtual learning curriculum and is supplemented with AMM-led enrichment activities that focus on environmental stewardship and maritime education, including lots […]

Apples, Apples and Applesauce Right about now you are spying apples everywhere and nothing could be cozier for kids and adults alike than some simple homemade applesauce. But don’t stop there! Apples work in so many ways… adding nutritious sweetness to baked goods, roasted as a versatile side dish, or enlivening a roasted vegetable combo. […]

On Halloween morning, members of the Parole Rotary Club waved in people who arrived at the Books for International Goodwill (BIG) warehouse in Annapolis to: Have sensitive documents shredded Donate books to BIG Donate sweaters and other winter clothing Donate diapers Wonder Woman (Parole Rotary President Kristi Niedhardt, a former Annapolis Green Board member and […]

News from Plastic Free QAC (Queen Anne’s County) Maryland’s Foam Ban Goes into Effect As the first state in the country, October 1 marked the date Maryland’s ban on Styrofoam (polystyrene), went into effect. This means that restaurants, schools, and other foodservice outlets are prohibited from using foam containers for take-out food and foam cups for […]

by Karen Grumbles You know the experiences where you are walking through a nature area and you hear the sounds of many birds, see all the different bugs skittering around on the ground and the strikingly beautiful butterflies fluttering around above the shrubs? We all tend to gravitate to places like Quiet Waters Park and […]

Seasoned gardeners break into a smile when they talk about planting edibles in the fall By Rita Calvert For your second harvest: Start late summer and fall months and you can double your yield this year and enjoy homegrown flavor into fall and winter. When I tracked down Homestead Gardens’ expert Gene Sumi to ask […]

by Elvia Thompson (October 19, 2020) – The Severn River Association has been monitoring water quality in the creeks and main stem of our capital river for several years. This year it’s been doing this since early spring – even with the pandemic. Yesterday I joined in so see how it’s done. SRA executive director […]

Fig Talk on the World’s Most Ancient Fruit Figs are my passion – the fruit and the tree. Figs just have a certain cachet! Maybe it’s the ancient history, or the Mediterranean origin which makes them so alluring, or possibly the exotic ingredients which complement them in pairings. Different varieties of figs can be paired […]

Founding One Hundred Spotlight The History of Mid Atlantic GEM By Russell Rankin In October of 2007 I dropped in on Annapolis with my business, eCruisers, and worked the Annapolis Boat Show that year. I started out just giving free rides about town to huge success. Then I had a real estate agent approach us […]

by Rob Savidge The Tesla website allows you to put in the exact features you want and it searches its inventory across the entire country. You can do the same thing for used Teslas. That’s what I did and I bought a 2018 Model 3. I submitted my payment online and after that, the worst […]

Stone fruits—peaches, apricots, cherries, nectarines, and plums—are some of the great mouth-watering joys of summer. They are packed with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals plus they are low in calories. Stone fruits are super fruits, with plums as emerging stars. One of the benefits found is that plums inhibit breast cancer growth in lab cells. Now […]

Get outside and help clean up your local waterway or community! by Jocelyn Fillius Coastal Conservation Association Maryland (CCAMD) Seasonal Assistant & Lead of Chesapeake Clean-Up Week In partnership with the iAngler Tournament cellphone app, anglers (and all others) are being encouraged to photograph and track litter picked up shoreside or aboard a boat. Normally the […]

Garden Leadership/Garden Eating with Rita Calvert Before we get to recipes, look at this gardening inspiration on showing the way to be a creative leader. To those of us who garden, the lessons are rewarding and incomparable. “There is a lot that gardening, design, and creative leadership have in common,” states Tim Brown, Executive Chair […]

Join fellow gardeners, butterfly watchers and native plant enthusiasts in the butterfly garden. Volunteers weed, water, prune and otherwise maintain the Butterfly Garden at the Glendening Preserve’s Plummer House at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary. Volunteers learn all about which plants support our native pollinators and how to take care of a vibrant and healthy garden. […]

Local & Seasonal Cooking with Rita Calvert from The Grassfed Gourmet Fires It Up! We’re well into grilling season, so here is one of my favorite recipes from The Grassfed Gourmet Fires It Up!, which you can find at Annapolis Green on Maryland Avenue in Annapolis. First comes a Grilling 101 section, a primer actually, […]

On Sunday, June  14, GreenGive organization members and volunteers, including Annapolis Green, followed the “Wade In” tradition started by State Senator Bernie Fowler 33 years ago in the Patuxent River by wading into Annapolis’ four creeks to assess water clarity. The waders move into the water until they can no longer see their feet or […]

by Cory Bonney When Consumer Reports gave Tesla Model S its highest car rating ever… at 100%, and designated it the safest automobile ever made, I was completely hooked. All I needed to do was to figure out a way to own one. I started driving during the gas crisis of the 1970s, taking my […]

50th Earth Day calls for a new, better normal by Elvia Thompson and Suzanne Kilby Etgen As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, it’s clear that the struggle to restore our environment — to heal the Chesapeake Bay — is not unlike the struggle we have faced for the last six weeks. The […]

The Earth is drowning in plastic, especially the disposable, single-use kind—bags, bottles, cutlery and straws.