Bowie Green Team Launches Survey

What do Bowie residents think about composting and eating locally grown food?

That’s what the Bowie Green Team wants to know.

The Bowie Green Team, an all-volunteer committee made up of city residents working to make Bowie sustainable, has launched a survey seeking resident feedback.

Specifically, the Green Team subcommittee on community based food and wellness wants to know what residents think of some of its goals.

"We are pursuing projects in Bowie that will develop community based food, such as establishing multiple community gardens,” said Green Team member Rhea Pechter, who added these gardens also foster a sense of cohesion and allows gardeners to share ideas.

“They are also a great way to promote people eating local foods,” she said.

Pechter’s subcommittee is also really focused on home composting, because it greatly reduces waste in landfills and the burden on public works. Eventually, the committee hopes that compost scraps will be picked up in a bin along the curb, like recycling, although this is a longer term goal that requires infrastructure development and funding.

Another goal of the community based food and wellness committee is to open a second farmers market based in south Bowie.

“We want to do this for Bowie and to make sure people are on board with our ideas,” Pechter said.

Pechter said the group got a lot of feedback at the plant sale hosted at city hall back in September, and hope to do more in person interviews.

“The Green Team is really just a group of concerned citizens who are volunteering their time to make Bowie a more sustainable community,” she said

The survey should be up for the next three months.

Green Team membership is currently full, but Pechter said they would welcome volunteers on the subcommittees. Team meetings are held monthly and are open to the public.