We re here. After ten days of packing, discovering the traffic patterns of a new commute, unpacking, and learning a new telephone system, we staff members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation s Headquarters and Maryland Offices are more or less settled into our new home, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, four miles east of Annapolis at the site of the former Bay Ridge Inn. The much-publicized building is remarkable, the greenest office facility of its size in the United States.
Workstations are ergonomic and flooded with natural light.
The open atmosphere encourages the collegiality for which we have starved in our rabbit warren of old offices spread in four different buildings around Annapolis. But this environmental center is more than just an efficient office building. It challenges everyone who comes here, staff and visitor alike, to see the Chesapeake as a whole, with all its problems and promise. Job number one is to follow what is happening every day. CBF s field educators get a perspective on the Bay that is unusual in today s high-tech society.