Introduction

Maryland is a wonderfully diverse state, geographically, economically and culturally. It has been called “America in Miniature." Stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic shoreline, Maryland includes farmlands, industry, fishing, and two of the country's major urban areas.

All of these areas, industries, and land uses are interdependent; poor policies in one adversely affect all others. Poorly managed growth and urban sprawl threaten farmland economically and physically, draining human and capital resources from the state's rural areas while driving up land prices. Overuse of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides, along with pollution from power plants, create dead zones in our waterways that won’t support important coastal flora and fauna, and are nearly devoid of life. Our dependence on fossil fuels creates global warming that will raise ocean levels, damaging shore areas and increasing the salinity of the bay, further endangering marine life.

We are all affected by the actions of our neighbors. In an ever more crowded state, only a grassroots political organization can balance our various competing needs with the respect and care for the environment that we need to ensure a prosperous future.