Charging Ahead to Lead by Example
Harford County government is implementing projects to reduce operating costs and
increase efficiency through environmental initiatives. For example, an employee
recognition project called Green Stars highlights and promotes new or existing
environmental projects. County employees are encouraged to nominate co-workers
for innovative and successful efforts relating to projects and facility
management.
A quarterly award program recognizes employee’s efforts and the best ideas move
forward for annual recognition. The top projects become the showcase for an
annual award ceremony on Earth Day. The list of projects started from the Green
Stars award is available at
www.harfordcountymd.gov/Green/.
The
recognition program along with other environmental stewardship awareness
programs not only help find out what is going on in the field from employees,
but creates a testing ground for ideas to pursue on a larger scale. One of the
findings highlighted the lack of signs at facilities to promote positive
changes, such as turning off lights after hours and recycling. As a result,
Harford County Government partnered with Harford County schools to address the
issue and developed a poster contest. Over 500 posters were submitted for the
contest.
Students
from the
winning classes receive recognition from the County Executive as well as the
Superintendent of Schools and their posters are printed and used in facilities.
Specific categories allowed students to focus on the needs of employees and
citizens.
Among many other projects, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the HCPS
partnered to facilitate recycling opportunities at high school athletic
stadiums. It is one thing to tell people to recycle, but to provide them the
opportunity and understanding of why it is important helps spread the message.
When recycling was first marketed, students learned about the benefits of
recycling in the school systems and they in turn educated their parents.
The Environmental Stewardship website also contains great tips for businesses as
well as citizens. Efforts are underway to assess the needs of businesses in the
county with the new Harford County Green Business Network. After the needs and
desires of the business community are gathered, tools and information will be
organized and promoted around the County. The ultimate goal is for businesses
and citizens to become advocates of projects and policies to promote their
effectiveness amongst their peers.
Another environmental stewardship tool is the County Executive Challenge. The
County Executive
Challenge launched a new effort to reduce energy usage five percent across
county government. Employees commit by filling out a pledge on their website and
ideas are listed on how to achieve the goal. Similar to the Green Stars award
program, new projects and policies will emerge from this challenge. All of these
small changes implemented from the bottom up lead to incremental and measurable
change at the top. The changes if reached will eliminate the use of 1.6 million
kilowatt hours of energy usage and save $155,000. Reducing energy usage by 1.6
million kilowatt hours is the equivalent of saving the CO2 emissions from the
average electricity usage by 139 single-family homes in one year or removing 220
passenger vehicles from the road according to the
EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator (2010).
If individuals and businesses can see for themselves that certain projects work,
more people are likely to make changes if they do not have to start from the
beginning, and make mistakes as an early adopter. Harford County is well on
their way to improving and expanding environmental awareness by listening to the
needs of their employees and community.
Sustainability Tip
Next Time, Take the Stairs:Fulfill your healthy living resolutions by taking the stairs and avoiding the elevator. The average office elevator consumes 350 watts of electricity traveling to each floor. By taking the stairs, you could save enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 3.5 hours.
Join the Sustainability Network
The Sustainability Network is a place where interested citizens, businesses and organizations can share ideas on projects and make connections between others who share their interest.