The Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland announced on Monday that the town of Berlin, Md. was one of eight Maryland municipalities honored at the Sustainable Maryland Awards Ceremony at the Maryland Municipal League’s annual Fall conference in Annapolis. Berlin previously achieved Sustainable Maryland certification in 2012 and 2015.
Highlights of Berlin’s accomplishments include:
- The Town held their fourth annual “Take Pride in Berlin” event to encourage residents to get involved in their community, beginning with a “Clean-Up Day” and other community related projects.
- The Town completed the Healthiest Maryland Business Assessment in 2017 and became recognized as a “Healthiest Maryland Business.”
- The Town adopted a Green Purchasing Policy, which involved the explicit promotion of green purchasing and environmentally preferable products whenever possible.
- In partnership with local environmental nonprofits, the Town has an ongoing watershed stewardship volunteer engagement program through which Berlin residents can become actively engaged in practical activities to keep local watersheds clean and healthy.
โThe citizens of the Town of Berlin continue to recognize the importance of environmental stewardship and want to continue to develop a sustainable quality of life for generations to come,โ said Berlin Mayor Gee Williams III. โWe continue to strive to maintain the environment and to maintain the balance of good environmental stewardship and growth. Within the Town of Berlin, we look for solid citizen involvement and we seek their support as a part of our overall collaboration of involvement between citizens and government.โ
According to Mike Hunninghake, Program Manager for Sustainable Maryland, โThis yearโs class of Sustainable Maryland Certified communities represents significant continued progress on sustainability issues, in small towns and large cities, from all across the state. The Green Teams, elected officials, and municipal staff that have accomplished so much provide both inspiration and real-world examples for their peers to follow.โ
Sustainable Maryland Certification: To achieve certification, municipalities are required to form a Green Team comprised of local residents, community leaders, municipal staff and officials; complete a variety sustainability-related Actions worth a total of at least 150 points (including two mandatory actions and two of six priority actions), and submit the appropriate documentation as evidence that the Sustainable Maryland Certified requirements have been satisfied. The Sustainable Maryland Action Menu can be seen here.
