Environmental Sustainability

Mark bike lanes more distinctively to improve safety.

Reduced Food Waste

In July, 2018, I conducted an informal survey of apartments and condos in Redmond within about a half mile of City Hall. At the time, I was considering renting an apartment in Redmond, so I asked each manager a few questions. I expressed an interest in knowing how food waste is handled in each building. I found out that most Redmond apartment and condo buildings had their tenants put food waste into the garbage that goes to the landfill, or they were told to put their food waste down the garbage disposal. Only some buildings participated in Redmond’s voluntary Food+ Compostables Program. Whether food scraps are sent to the landfill or the sewers, in both cases the food waste decomposes anaerobically, producing lots of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Also, many Eastside restaurants combine all food waste, recyclables, and garbage together in garbage bags destined for the landfill. There is no one who sorts through this garbage; it all goes to the landfill, where the food rots and produces methane. Seattle Public Utilities requires all buildings and food businesses in Seattle to have food waste collection services; the City of Redmond has no such requirement. Not wasting food and eating a plant-based diet may well be the most effective ways Redmond and its residents can combat climate change and treat the environment in a sustainable manner. I ask the City of Redmond to make it mandatory for all businesses, multifamily properties, City facilities, and schools located in Redmond to participate in the City’s commercial organics composting program or Food+ Compostables Program.

Prevent refrigerants from leaking into the air

A class of refrigerant called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) has been used for years in refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners. HFCs don’t contribute to ozone depletion. However, they are now known to be greenhouse gases that are 1,000 to 9,000 times more potent than CO2 at warming the atmosphere. For this reason, governments, businesses, car owners, and home owners need to be made aware of the importance of recycling refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners, to ensure that the refrigerant is properly reclaimed. Through such awareness, it may be possible to avoid the release of refrigerants into the atmosphere. The City of Redmond offers Recycling and Collection events at which household refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners can be dropped off for a fee of $25 per unit. This information can be disseminated on letsconnectredmond.com/green, the local TV news, Redmond Reporter, and redmondblog.org. Although the proper reclamation of HFCs is possibly the most pressing sustainability challenge for Redmond, there may not be much opportunity for Redmond to do much more for its residents than continue to offer the Recycling events. The City should take every precaution to prevent HFCs from leaking out of its own refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners.

Double the reforestation effort in City Parks, particularly the undeveloped parks.

Drive less, Drive green.

Changing your driving habits can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint. Walk, bike, carpool or use public transportation whenever possible. Combine errands to make fewer trips. Participate in, or start, car-free days in your community. Keep your car tuned up and your tires inflated. Tune-ups can increase fuel efficiency by 40%, and keeping your tires inflated decreases gas use by 2%.

Bamboo

By the process of photosynthesis, green plants sequester carbon by using atmospheric CO2 to make cellulose and other organic biomass. It makes sense then that more green plants mean more photosynthesis which means more CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. Bamboo is a rapidly growing plant that doesn’t need much encouragement, and its rapid growth makes it a prolific means to sequester carbon. But bamboo can pose ecological problems. Some varieties are invasive and can spread with detrimental effects to native ecosystems. But if care is taken to select appropriate locations and to manage its growth, it’s possible to maximize the positive impact of carbon sequestration while minimizing bamboo’s negative impacts. Bamboo could possibly provide welcome shade in some areas of Redmond for little cost of planting or maintenance, while integrating a natural and living “feel” to the areas.

Choose to have a smaller family.

With 7.8 billion people in the world, and more than 220,000 people added to this planet every day, our demands for food, water, land, and fossil fuels are pushing other species to extinction. We can achieve an ecologically sustainable population in ways that promote human rights, decrease poverty and overcrowding, raise our standard of living, and allow plants, animals and ecosystems to thrive. It’s time to talk about runaway human population growth, the species extinction crisis, and what kind of future we want for wildlife, the planet, and ourselves.

Food-Share Programs

Support food-share programs to help reduce food waste. Helps feed hungry people. Prevents the resources spent producing, packaging, and transporting the food from being wasted, and reduces the methane emissions during decomposition of unused food.

LED Lighting (Buildings and Streetlights)

An LED light uses 90% less energy for the same amount of light than an incandescent bulb, and 50% less energy than a compact fluorescent bulb, without the toxic mercury. And an LED bulb will last much longer than the other two types of bulb – 27 years if turned on for 5 hours a day. Any energy-efficient building should be lit by LED lights. Redmond has been replacing many streetlights with LED bulbs. By replacing High Pressure Sodium lights with LED bulbs, Redmond can save up to 70% of energy and significantly reduce maintenance costs. LEDs can be “tuned” by selecting the warmth or coolness of the bulbs to provide health benefits to humans (greater alertness on highways or sleep-inducement in residential areas) and to protect wildlife (preventing animals from being disoriented by artificial light).

Lawn mower and leaf blower electrification

Implement a gasoline lawn mower and leaf blower exchange program. Gas- and diesel-powered chainsaws, lawn mowers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers produce hazardous emissions, such as benzene and butadiene, that expose operators and residents to increased cancer risks, air toxics, carbon monoxide and microscopic particles that can become lodged deep in the lungs. Can an ordinance be adopted to end the use of gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers in Redmond? By 2020, smog-forming volatile organic compound emissions from lawn equipment engines are expected to exceed those from cars. Zero-emission technology will help turn the tide against air pollution and improve the quality of life for people in Redmond. Redmond could make incentive funds available to help commercial gardeners and landscapers, schools, and non-profit organizations buy new zero-emission, battery-electric commercial-grade lawn and garden equipment and scrap and replace their old, polluting gasoline- or diesel-powered equipment. Participants could receive up to 60% off the purchase price for new equipment.