GiveBIG 2013 x Sustainable Seattle

Picking a non-profit to donate to is tough, there are so many great organizations out there!  There are national groups, local, large, small...when you've finally narrowed it down to the group (or groups) that match your own values you feel happy to have made an impact.  But your giving heart always wants to give more--if only you could save the world! 

Well, you're in luck. This Wednesday, May 15th, your charitable donation to a single charity, like Sustainable Seattle, will give in a bigger way.  How? Gifting on May 15th during GiveBIG, The Seattle Foundation's one-day online giving event will help over 1,400 Seattle area non-profits!

RainWise: How Seattle Homes are Managing Rain Water

Are you interested in beautifying your yard this Spring?  In areas throughout Seattle (designated as drainage basins), property owners can get up to a 100% reimbursement for beautiful and functional landscaping and rain water cisterns through the Seattle Public Utilities’ and King County’s RainWise program!

This rain garden in Beacon Hill was installed
with the help of Sustainable Seattle in 2010.

If you live in the neighborhoods of Ravenna, Bryant, View Ridge, Laurelhurst, Wedgwood, or Windermere, you may be eligible for these rebates – which average $4000!  When you install a rain garden or rain cistern through RainWise, you will be helping prevent pollution from entering Lake Washington and Puget Sound.  You can check out your eligibility now at www.rainwise.seattle.gov.

Sustainable Seattle’s Green Blocks Blue Sound (GBBS) program is excited to partner with Seattle Public Utilities to bring RainWise to you.  As a non-profit partner, Sustainable Seattle wants to help you access this great opportunity.  

Join us for a RainWise Open House on May 13, 6:30pm (doors open at 6pm) at the Center for Spiritual Living, 5801 Sand Point Way NE.

RECAP- Good Business Workshop: Leveraging Your Sustainability Report to Drive Performance and Increase Brand Value

Author: Candice Goldsmith

The reasons behind continued adoption of GRI and CDP are clear- 95% of the Global 250 companies report that sustainability and carbon disclosure (through the CDP) is viewed by over 650 institutional investors as an indicator of business health. Cynthia Figge, Partner and Cofounder of EKOS International and COO and Cofounder of CSRHUB, and Russell S. Barton, Ph.D., Partner and Cofounder of EKOS International, highlighted the importance of these emerging standards during the Tools for Tomorrow event on March 21, 2013 by discussing that today’s business environment is driven by customer’s expectations, stakeholder interest, as well as ratings, requirements, and standards.

The ultimate goal is to use sustainability reporting as a framework to drive continuous improvement; enrich the brand; deepen relationships with suppliers, employees, community, and customers; and increase value for the triple top line including less waste, improving employee relations, and increasing profits.

Benefits

There are two primary categories that explain why companies are starting and continuing to report: external and internal benefits. 

Come Support Seattle Magazine's Earth Day 5K with Sustainable Seattle

When we heard there would be an Earth Day race at the beautiful Myrtle Edwards Park, we just knew we had to get involved.  After learning the proceeds go to restoring our local urban parks and forests, we laced up our Brooks sneakers and ran to help faster than good 'ol Speedy Gonzalez!

Saturday, April 20 the downtown Seattle waterfront park will turn into a big, sweaty green gathering for Seattle Magazine's first ever Earth Day 5K. Sustainable Seattle will be there, in full force, with a passionate group of volunteers that we hope includes Y-O-U!

To support this event, whose proceeds go to Green Seattle Partnership, we're gathering volunteers to take on various tasks during race day.  You can sign up here and view the full list of volunteer positions.

Our Intern Visits Plastics Unwrapped at Burke Museum

As we can see, plastics are everywhere in our lives. Plastic products have made our lives more convenient, colorful, and some would argue even safer. Could you imagine life before plastics? In the "Plastics Unwrapped" at Burke Museum I found out just that. I also learned how they are made, why they’re so convenient, and what happens once we throw them away.

When plastics first debuted, they were marketed as the “material of the future”. Now they are used in science, health, and everyday life. With so much being used, a global problem has emerged: plastics pollution. In order to counter the impact of plastic wastes, we need to rethink our relationship with this material. 

Here are several shocking facts about plastics from the exhibit:

• 3,000 plastic shopping bags are used every quarter of a second in the United States. Hooray Seattle for our recent bag ban!
• 650 lbs. of the long-lasting goods are used in less than a second. 
• Almost 14 million tons of packaging is generated in the U.S. each year! This including plastic bags, bottles, lids, wrappers and containers. Out of this, only a fraction of those are recycled- about 12% of bags and 29% of bottles.
• 170 lbs. of e-waste is produced per second. (In 2005, about 304 million electronics were disposed from U.S households- two thirds of them still worded.) Check out this King Country e-waste recycling site for your stuff!

• Over 9 million pounds of waste was removed by volunteers from beaches all over the world last year- which most of, we're--you guessed it--plastics.

A few photos from my trip:

Check out the "Plastics Unwrapped" exhibit yourself, they are open until May 27, 2013. The Burke Museum is open from 10-5pm and is free for UW students as well as to the public on First Thursdays. More information is available on their site.
 

Dissecting HJR 4200 the Future of Hydro on World Water Day 2013

Grand Coulee Dam
Photo Credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation via Creative Commons 3.0

Author: ChunHo Chen

Many in Seattle probably know that our state is the leading hydroelectric power producer in the nation. However, many would be surprised to learn that hydroelectric power, also known as hydropower or hydro, is not considered a renewable resource under the state’s Energy Independence Act. A few Republican State Senators and House Representatives would like to amend the state’s constitution, arguing that the exclusion is driving up energy prices. This in turn makes Washington State less attractive to business owners and potential investors.

Launch a Personal Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign

Author: Tom Nowak

The case for not investing in the stocks of fossil fuel companies could not be clearer. The growing consensus is that fossil fuel corporations have 5 times more known reserves than scientists have calculated to be safe for use. In other words, 80% of these fuels need to remain untapped to avoid accelerating the rate of environmental damage. Why would a long term-investor want to own a company that is spending a lot of money looking for more product sources that can never be used? Would a pharmaceutical company invest in developing a drug that has no chance of ever being approved for use? 

Environmental organizations such as 350.org, the Sierra Club,