Salt Lake County’s Urban Farming program has just released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to lease three parcels of County land to local farmers (3-10 acres).
All three parcels are located in the Salt Lake Valley and come with canal water access. Farmers can bid on one or all of the parcels.
Sealed proposals must be logged, stamped and received before 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at Contracts & Procurement, 2001 South State Street, Room N4-600, Salt Lake City, Utah 84190-3100.
At SLCgreen, we strive to inform residents about the actions they can take every day to reduce their impact on the environment and have a positive impact on our community.
And we absolutely love it when we get a little help!
As a project for their 7th grade ELP Utah Studies class, West High School students McKenzie Shaffer-Kay and Ella Beck have created a website that focuses on the facts of water conservation in Utah. The website also highlights the actions people can take at home to reduce their water use, save money and preserve this value resource.
Nice work, McKenzie and Ella!
Check out UtahWaterConservation.weebly.com.
Salt Lake City Public Safety Building Achieves LEED Platinum Rating
SALT LAKE CITY –Mayor Ralph Becker gathered with Sustainability Director Vicki Bennett, Garth Shaw of GSBS Architects, David Hart of MOCA Systems and representatives from Salt Lake Police and Fire to celebrate the recent LEED Platinum designation for the Public Safety Building.
Platinum is the highest LEED certification available, making the Public Safety Building only the ninth building in the state to achieve this coveted rating.
“The LEED Platinum designation is the culmination of our efforts to design and build a state-of-the-art Public Safety Building that has become a model for other cities across the country,” says Mayor Ralph Becker. “The project showcases Salt Lake City’s leadership to reduce our carbon emissions while enhancing city services.”
In addition to achieving a LEED Platinum rating, the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building was designed to be net zero, meaning it generates as much energy as it consumes. To achieve net zero, the project employed energy efficient building practices, employee engagement on energy use, and renewable energy generation through rooftop solar and an offsite solar farm.
To learn more about the Public Safety Building, click here!
We’ve had a wonderful 2015, and look forward to an eventful 2016!
Be prepared for poor air quality in Salt Lake City, create an Action Plan!
Breathe Utah has a great Emergency Air Quality Implementation Plan toolkit to help you create your own action plan for bad air days. Enacting a plan can help reduce the number of red air days and improve our community’s health. Utahns are known for emergency preparedness, so why not have an emergency air quality plan in place?
Thanks Breathe Utah! Visit their website for more details.
Here are some tips for a more sustainable holiday season.
Gifts Use recycled wrapping paper! Get creative and make your own with old maps, newspaper, photographs, or paper bags. Here are some more fun ideas!
Give experiences instead of material items. Think a visit to a museum, garden, or aviary, or a ski pass, a yoga or cooking class, a gift certificate to a spa or a ticket to a ballet or sporting event. Or consider donating to an organization on behalf of someone. Make gifts or buy gifts made of recycled materials. If you are going to buy gifts, support local businesses including our e2 businesses which are both local and green!
Food Make sustainable food choices like buying from local growers. Stock up on holiday staples at this weekend’s Winter Market Saturday from 10:00am-2:00pm at the Rio Grande Train Depot.
Incorporate vegan dishes into your holiday traditions. Be creative with leftovers and reduce food waste. Also, use reusable tableware and be sure to recycle glass and cans.
Decorations Here are some fun decorating ideas: String popcorn and cranberries together to make festive decor. Make paper chains with recycled newspapers or magazines and homemade ornaments out of recycled holiday cards. Cut bows from shrubs and trees in your yard and make a homemade wreath. After the holidays, if you have a tree, please put it in the brown compost can.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Our Melting Ice: Climate Disruption and Energy Choice
Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 7 pm
Salt Lake City Main Library Auditorium – 210 East 400 South
Free, Public Event!
Join us for a climate change speaker panel and screening on Thursday, January 7th. University of Utah Professor Summer Rupper will share experiences from traveling and researching remote, melting parts of our planet. Professor Rupper will be joined by a local organizer from Sierra Club, Lindsay Beebe, who will talk about energy choices in Utah and their connection to public health and climate change.
We’ll start the evening with a 60-minute screening of Episode 4 of the Emmy-award winning series Years of Living Dangerously. This will be followed by a 30-minute panel with our local experts. Episode 4 of the series focuses on Arctic ice melt, energy choice and the faith-climate change nexus.
Speaker Bios
Professor Summer Rupper teaches a course on Snow and Ice and performs related research for the University of Utah. Professor Rupper’s research focuses on glaciers and ice sheets as recorders and indicators of climate change, and as freshwater resources. Recent and ongoing projects include quantifying glacier contributions to water resources, quantifying glacier sensitivity to climate change, reconstructing past climate using ice core data, and more. She has published over 20 peer reviewed publications in her field.
Lindsay Beebe is the Sierra Club Organizing Representative for the Utah Beyond Coal Campaign. She works with volunteer leaders, partner organizations, and decision makers to promote a just transition away from coal-fired power and towards a clean, renewable energy future. Current campaigns include protecting Utah national parks from coal-fired pollution aka ‘regional haze’, supporting the roll-out of the Clean Power Plan in Utah, and watch-dogging anti-renewable energy policy proposals.
Posted 12/16/2015 following the record-breaking snowstorm in Salt Lake City
The heavy wet snow that fell during this week’s storm has resulted in substantial tree damage throughout the entire City. Since the storm event, City crews have been hard at work removing downed trees and tree limbs from roadways, driveways, and heavily used pedestrian areas.
At this time, Salt Lake City Urban Forestry and contracted pruning crews are transitioning into a city-wide, block by block, effort to collect the thousands of medium to large sized branches that have fallen from trees within Salt Lake City parks and in our park strips along City streets. During these branch pickup operations, these ground crews will also be identifying broken branches (which are still hanging in trees) to be removed by subsequent aerial work crews.
The City is committed to completing this cleanup effort as quickly and safely as possible. However, given the quantity and spread of tree damage, branch pick up operations will continue well into next week.
As additional tree branch breakage is always possible, the Salt Lake City Urban Forestry Program is urging City residents to exercise awareness and caution when they find themselves in close proximity to trees during their day to day activities.
Please contact the Salt Lake City Urban Forestry office at (801) 972-7818 with any questions regarding the cleanup effort, and to report tree limbs blocking roads or driveways.
For the first time ever, Salt Lake City Green has released a State of Sustainability Report. 2015: State of Sustainability in Salt Lake City is an overview of Salt Lake City’s hardworking Sustainability Division, which began in 2008.
The Sustainability Division (otherwise known as Salt Lake City Green, or SLCgreen) aims to preserve and improve our built and natural environments and provide people with information on sustainability issues affecting Salt Lake City. The Division of Sustainability develops goals and strategies to protect our natural resources, reduce pollution, slow climate change, and establish a path toward greater resiliency and vitality for all aspects of our community.
2015: State of Sustainability in Salt Lake City covers the core areas of the division, from air quality, climate change, energy and food to curbside recycling, garbage, compost and glass.
We’re excited to give you a look at what we’ve accomplished to date, and what we’re proud to be working on!
Explore the State of Sustainability. Download the report (PDF).
Feedback? Email us at SLCgreen@slcgov.com.
We’re excited for another fantastic year — see you in 2016!
Update: RadioActive producer Lara Jones visits with Mayor Becker on KRCL 90.9FM about what he saw at the COP21 climate conference, and specifically, the role American cities will play in addressing climate change. Listen here!
Mayor Becker Releases Statement following COP21 Agreement
Mayor Becker in Paris
“On Saturday, the world came together to agree on an accountable, transparent approach to address climate change. I commend President Obama and other leaders for achieving this historic, milestone accord that provides a path to success. For me, it was an honor and a privilege to be a part of this widely collaborative and inclusive process.
Cities have played a prominent role leading up to the Paris talks and will be needed even more as we implement the goals established in the COP21 agreement. U.S. communities had the largest delegation among the 400 cities participating in Paris. Through the Compact of Mayors, a growing number of mayors and our partners established goals, plans and actions in an accountable, transparent process that will allow us to show everyone how we are going to achieve success in reducing our carbon emissions.
Now, we must take the steps with our public and private partners to dramatically decrease carbon emissions through comprehensive actions. Clean, affordable energy in our community development and transportation systems are at the heart of a successful future. Cities are the key to giving our kids the safe, healthy environment they deserve.”