Tag Archives: salt lake city

World Water Day 2013

Today is World Water Day, a day to reflect on the importance of water in our daily lives. This year’s theme is Water Cooperation, in honor of the declaration of 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

Did you know?

85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet.
783 million people do not have access to clean water, and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.
6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related disease.

Today, take a moment to appreciate how fresh, clean water impacts our lives. And although we can count ourselves lucky to live in a society that has easy access to safe, clean water, it is important that we do not take this resource for granted. In the arid West, and as climate change’s impacts are felt, water scarcity may become a more pressing issue.

Learn more about what Salt Lake City is doing to adapt to predicted earlier snowmelt along the Wasatch Front. And stop by Salt Lake City Green’s Water Resources page to learn more about our commitment to water quality and conservation.

City Releases Sustainability Roadmap for 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 18, 2013
Contact: Kate Lohnes
801-535-7755

City Releases Sustainability Roadmap for 2015

SALT LAKE CITY – In a continued effort to enhance the long-term vitality of the City, Salt Lake City Green, the outreach arm of Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Division, has made strides to enhance community engagement by offering new resources and services to residents.

With the release of the Sustainable Salt Lake City – Plan 2015, Salt Lake City has created a living document that serves as a roadmap for how to enhance the sustainability, livability and resilience of the community.

The comprehensive plan outlines goals and strategies to achieve increased community sustainability, social justice and neighborhood and downtown vitality by the end of Mayor Ralph Becker’s second term in 2015. City departments will track appropriate metrics to show progress towards accomplishing their goals.

“As we look ahead toward 2015, we envision continued progress to a new kind of urbanism that embraces accessibility, sustainability, diversity and culture,” said Mayor Ralph Becker. “Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015 reflects a broad and ambitious agenda to protect our resources, enhance our assets and establish a path toward greater resiliency and vitality for every aspect of our community.”

In addition to the release of the sustainability plan, Salt Lake City Green has updgraded several of its outreach tools, including a re-launch of a comprehensive sustainability website (www.slcgreen.com), an active social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, and a new blog that highlights information about living sustainably in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City continues to attract national attention for its sustainability efforts. The most recent accolade was delivered in Bill Moyers’ “Top 12 Cities Leading the Way in Sustainability” list. The ranking listed the top 12 American cities with innovative sustainability initiatives. Salt Lake City was awarded the eighth spot on the list.

Salt Lake City Green website:www.slcgreen.com; Blog:www.slcgreen.wordpress.com

Facebook:www.facebook.com/saltlakecitygreen; Twitter: www.twitter.com/slcgreen;

Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015:www.slcgov.com/slcgreen/sustainableslc2015

Salt Lake City Publishes GPS Online

Salt Lake City Green and it’s parent, the Salt Lake City Public Services Department, are taking another important step towards increased city transparency by publishing fleet GPS data online.

Sanitation Services (Waste, Recycling and Yard Waste Haulers)

Salt Lake City uses GPS technology to track the location and activity of its Sanitation Fleet. There are a total of 33 fleet vehicles, with up to 26 running routes on any given day. 19 fleet vehicles run on compressed natural gas (CNG), with an additional 14 that use diesel fuel.

Check out the real-time map.

Where are those snow plows?

Salt Lake City also uses GPS technology to track the location and activity of its Snow Fleet. There are a total of 45 plows available during major storms. During an active storm, you can view real-time map to locate and track plows in your area.

GPS Map Key

GPS information updates every two minutes.
Color coded system indicates activity level:
- Green – Moving
- Yellow – Stopped for less than an hour
- Red – Stopped for more than an hour
- Blue – Idling *

* Salt Lake City has an strict internal idling policy, in addition to the Idle Free Ordinance. There are a few situations where Sanitation vehicles need to idle. For example, in areas with limited space where bins must be brought to a stationary vehicle for service (like a cul-de-sac).

Report: Intermountain Sustainability Summit

Last week Sara Rose Tannenbaum with SLCGreen headed up to the Intermountain Sustainability Summit. Here is her first-hand account of her experience there:

At the Intermountain Sustainability Summit there were four session tracks to sample from or follow throughout the day. The one geared towards students engaged with the emerging Fossil Free Campus Divestment campaigns and explored how to pursue sustainability as a profession.

The other three session themes highlighted current issues and innovation within water, energy and recycling sustainability.

The Intermountain Sustainability Summit theme of recycling began even before setting foot into Weber State University’s Shepherd Union Building. Lining the pedestrian entrance to the conference was a veritable display of recyclables: not bins of beer cans or a cluttered collection of office papers, but huge blocks— bigger than 90 gallon recycle bins—of compressed cardboard, deflated plastic and squashed metal.This nonverbal presentation made transparent the usually unnoticed side of recycling. Just like we break down our cardboard, it’s important to dissect and try on the many dimensions and disciplines of sustainability.

Keynote speaker L. Hunter Lovins (pictured above) made the case for innovation and sustainability from a business perspective. Lisa Skumatz, an economist, used statistical analysis to highlight efficiency of cost-effective approaches to recycling. It was the variety of perspectives present at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit that made it a valuable learning and networking experience. We’re lucky to have so many exciting initiatives, businesses and leaders fighting on the green front.

Check out some great photos from last week’s event.

The Code Revision Project

Several years ago, Salt Lake City embarked on a ground-breaking initiative to incorporate sustainability provisions into zoning and subdivision ordinances. The project set out to revise and expand upon existing ordinances that were out of date and/or put up barriers to sustainable city practices.

The topic areas considered include:

Transit-Oriented and Mixed Use Development (Ordinance adopted)
Urban Agriculture (Ordinances adopted)
Renewable Energy (Ordinances adopted)
Accessory Dwelling Units (Ordinance adopted)
Street, Pedestrian and Bicycle Connectivity
Water Efficient Landscape
Tree Protection
Recycling and Waste Reduction
Transportation Demand Management
Outdoor Lighting

Several ordinances have already been adopted by the Salt Lake City Council, with a the rest making progress along the approval process. Get a complete update on the project on the SLCGreen website.

Questions? Let us know!

Volunteer with GREENbike

SLCGreen received this notice from our good friends at GREENbike, the bike share system opening this April in Downtown SLC! Read on for a great opportunity to get involved, and also check out their Facebook page. They are revealing the locations of each bike share station via social media!

Learn more about bike share.

GREENbike, SLC Bike Share is looking for bike build volunteers

The bikes for GREENbike, SLC Bike Share will be arriving in Utah shortly and we need some volunteers to help get them up and running. There will be a week-long bike build and we need quite a few volunteers to help with different tasks. We are in need of bicycle mechanics, people to help unpack the bikes, people to apply bike decals, and general volunteers to keep things moving.

The build shifts start on Tuesday, March 12^th and will run until all of the bikes are built (Ideally, we want to be done by the end of Saturday, March 16^th, but we would love to finish earlier in the week). There are three shifts available each day (8 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.) and there will be a mandatory training on Monday, March 11^th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for all interested Bicycle mechanics. The necessary tools will be provided for all of the volunteer responsibilities. In order to maximize our build time, please only sign up if you will for sure be able to make the shift(s).

The build will take place in a warehouse so please wear clothing that can get dirty and a layer to keep you warm. All volunteers should be at least 18 years of age. Sorry, but given the setting and the nature of the work, children are not allowed.

If you are interested in volunteering e-mail info@greenbikeslc.org and put the phrase “Bike Build Volunteer” as the subject line. Let us know which day(s) and shift(s) you would like as well as with which task you can help. We will send out location information once you are confirmed on our schedule.

Before “Recycle” Comes…

Reduce and Reuse!

Did you know that over 1,300 tons of garbage is buried in the Salt Lake Valley Landfill every day?

Salt Lake City residents already have access to no less than four waste bins (garbage, mixed recycling, compost/yard waste and glass). Proper use of these bins is crucial to waste diversion, which is a technical term that basically means that the more waste we recycle in one form or another, the less garbage fills up the landfill.

But before recycling comes reduce and reuse. Everyone can reduce waste by incorporating some simple choices in their everyday shopping patterns.

Strategies include:

Reusing items more frequently
Buying items that last longer (skip the disposables)
Not buying items you don’t need (save waste AND money)
Paying attention to excessive packaging on items

We have some great tips on reusable products like water bottles and tote bags, reducing junk mail and environmentally preferable purchasing on our SLCGreen website.

Do you have any questions? Let us know!

2013: The Year of the Bike

Salt Lake City has declared 2013 the “Year of the Bike” to recognize and promote the many bicycle events, programs, and infrastructure projects happening in the Salt Lake region in the coming year.

We caught up with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold, UTA General Manager Mike Allegra, UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras and several other community leaders at the Year of the Bike kick-off event to hear about what’s in store.

At the event, UTA shared two exciting announcements – buses will now have bike racks that accept three bikes at a time (expanded from two) and bike hooks will be added to TRAX trains across the valley!

So what else is on the schedule?

The launch of the GREENbike, SLC Bike Share program in April,
Utah Bike Summit at the University of Utah,
Open Streets Salt Lake City event in May,
UTA Bike Bonanza in May,
The Road Respect Bicycle Tour in June,
5th Annual Clear the Air Challenge,
And many more events to come!

More information is available at BikeSLC.com.

Think spring!

Intermountain Sustainability Summit

Next Thursday, February 28^th, hundreds of Utahns will flock to Ogden to take part in the 4^th Annual Intermountain Sustainability Summit.

The Intermountain Sustainability Summit 2013 is a premier event providing exceptional educational programs, networking, and trade show opportunities for government representatives, sustainability, energy, and solid waste professionals, students, politicians and interested public.

Sessions will be broken out into three topic areas:

Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Achieving Carbon Neutrality
Water Conservation, Quality and Management
Recycling and Waste Reduction and Elimination

Keynote speaker is L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS). NCS educates senior decision makers in business, government and civil society about the principles of sustainability, and shows how to restore and further enhance natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life.

Registration is still open for this fantastic local sustainability event. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to learn, share and network with other Utahns working towards a more sustainable future.

Be social: RSVP to the Facebook event.

We ♥ Compost

Seriously. We do.

The ability to take a large segment of Salt Lake City’s waste, prevent it from filling up our landfill, and then use it to make gardens thrive, is a miraculous thing in our eyes.

Composting is nature’s way of recycling. You can turn fruit, veggies, grass, branches and leaves into dark, crumbly and sweet-smelling soil amendment. It saves you money by lowering your garbage bill (switch to a smaller waste bin and save) and helps you avoid purchasing expensive commercial fertilizers.

Salt Lake City residents have two great options – curbside compost or home composting.

Curbside Compost: Also known as the yard waste program, or the tan can, curbside composting is made easy with a 90 gallon bin picked up weekly. Currently the tan can is “vegan” – meaning it only accepts green waste. The wheels are in motion to expand curbside composting to accept more forms of food waste, so stay tuned! In the meantime, maximize your curbside bin with tea bags and coffee grounds.

Home Compost: Enjoy the spoils of your composting efforts at home! Build your own composting bin and watch your garden thrive. More home composting tips.

With two easy ways to get the job done, we bet you will ♥ compost too!