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Way Downstream

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In Washington, D.C., global-warming activist Ted Glick, coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council, enters a second month of his hunger strike for climate change action. Glick stopped eating — surviving only on water — when Congress returned from summer recess, September 4. Fasting with him in hopes of spurring Congress to pass strong global-warming legislation are 1,200 other activists representing every state in the U.S. “It is outrageous that nothing — nothing! — has been done by the 110th Congress,” said Glick, who’s lost 30 pounds so far and counting…

In Anne Arundel County, Executive John Leopold does the Calvert Commissioners [Way Downstream: Vol. xv, No 40: Oct. 4] one better in regulating roadside advertising signs. Leopold plans to uproot illegally placed signs not only on the county’s 6,000 roads but also along highways within Anne Arundel County. The nuisance signs are distractions to motorists and live on as unsightly litter, says Leopold. Public Works will enlist supervised inmate labor to remove the offending signs…

In Anne Arundel County parks, recycling has gotten easier. New recycling bins at seven parks give park-goers a greener option for their paper, cans, bottles and jars. With the new recycling bins — which will be emptied at the county’s single-stream recycling plant — comes $124,000 to hire two additional recycling workers. It’s part of County Executive John Leopold’s plan for recycling half of Anne Arundel’s waste, a goal that will earn the county more than $1.8 million for its recycling materials…

In Central and Eastern Maryland, a drought-watch advisory has been issued by Maryland Department of Environment. The advisory means stream flow and groundwater levels are officially below normal, though rainfall over the last year is still — believe it or not — considered normal…

Throughout Maryland, we’re each asked to light one small candle to brighten our way away from global warming. If each of us 300 million Americans pledged to change one incandescent light bulb in our home or business to an energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent light bulb, the result would be brilliant. We’d save enough energy to light more than three million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equal to emissions from 800,000 cars. The Maryland Energy Administration challenges Marylanders to step up that national goal a notch. Change at least four lights to fluorescents, and you’d save $60 in electricity costs a year…

This week’s creature feature comes to us from Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, where over 450 species of native plants and wildlife were tallied by some 100 volunteers in the mid-September Bio Blitz. Armed with nets, binoculars and magnifying glasses, volunteers joined over 20 scientists to scout every living thing from earthworms to owls to mushrooms to trees. The 24-hour identification frenzy brought in a few surprises: Sam Droege, native bee expert from the U.S. Geological Survey, discovered Maryland’s first reported metallic solitary bee. Dr. Kathy Szlavecz of Johns Hopkins University spotted Diplocardia patuxensis, the new native earthworm species she and her colleagues discovered five years ago …