U.S. Senate candidate Kevin B. Zeese has begun what he calls a ‘‘Solutions Tour,” a campaign tactic he said will emphasize his devotion to the environment and highlight issues the major parties avoid.

‘‘It’s not the campaign of usual,” the Green Party candidate said. ‘‘I want my campaign to have a positive message. As much criticism that I have towards the current approach of the government, I want to put forward a positive vision.”

Zeese said he will highlight 10 to 20 Maryland businesses that provide job opportunities, promote natural resources or encourage economic growth and present them with an award commending them on their community contributions. Examples include banks providing micro-credit loans, flower farms blooming from former tobacco fields and companies involved with biodiesel fuel.

‘‘You don’t have to dig out of the earth to create stuff and you don’t have to make a landfill,” he said. ‘‘By learning about it, by talking about it, these businesses can expand and succeed.”

Zeese is part of a crowded field vying for the open seat held by retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D). Leading the pack in polls are Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele for the Republicans and U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Dist. 3) of Baltimore and former congressman and ex-NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume for the Democrats.

Campaign ‘‘tours” are not a unique strategy. U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) went on a ‘‘listening tour” during her campaign in 1999, and Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine launched a post-election ‘‘transportation tour.” Last summer, Cardin held a four-stop ‘‘Fair Shake Tour,” in which he visited fairs offering handshakes.

Cardin spokesman Oren Shur declined to comment.

Last week, Zeese visited Community Forklift, a nonprofit company in Edmonston that sells used housing materials. Its stock — including cabinets, lumber and appliances — comes from both deconstruction companies and donations and is stored in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse. Community Forklift, in operation since November, typically sells $4,000 of materials a week and saves customers 70 percent, said President Jim Schulman.

‘‘We are running out of resources to dig and mine, and there’s no rebirth going on,” he said. ‘‘I’ve always said that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”

Zeese said he is tired of how Democrats and Republicans rely on what he calls ‘‘negative campaigning” and strategies that ‘‘lack substance.”

Some observers dismiss the tour as just an example of a third-party candidate trying to get attention. Zeese’s fund-raising — last week he said he had raised about $30,000 — is dwarfed by Cardin’s, who has $2.2 million on hand.

The Solutions Tour is not to raise money. Fund-raising ‘‘never crossed my mind,” said Zeese, a Takoma Park resident. His point is to commend the unsung heroes of communities.

‘‘I’m trying to campaign by doing good work for Marylanders that even when I’m not their senator, I’m trying to represent their interest,” he said.

Throughout his campaign, Zeese, 50, an attorney and longtime political activist running on behalf of the Green, Populist and Libertarian parties, has stressed environment-friendly business and a uniform health-care system. He is an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq and works frequently with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.

Zeese has two more campaign tactics to unveil: a month of midnight campaigning, in which he will visit late-night workers, and working an employee’s job for several hours.

Only former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader has conducted a similar campaign tour, said Zeese, who once worked for Nader as press secretary.

‘‘I think it’s a new idea,” he said. ‘‘It’s trying to get across a positive image that there is a better alternative in what we have to do to campaign.”