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E-News: Green Star's Electronic, Environmental Newsletter!
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TEN YEARS AND STILL GROWING GREEN STAR TAKES ON AIR! What do recycling, avoiding disposable items, riding the bus, and plugging in your car have in common? They're all activities that can earn you a Green Star Award! That's right, Green Star is growing and "taking on air" with the new Green Star Air Quality Award. Since its inception in 1990, the Green Star program has expanded to include over 400 Alaskan business firms, government agencies, schools, and non-profit organizations employing over 60,000 people in Alaska. Now there are Green Star chapters in seven other states, too. It all began right here in Anchorage as a cooperative agreement between the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Alaska Center for the Environment, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. At the heart of the Green Star program is the belief that doing business with the environment in mind not only contributes to the health of our communities and organizations, but can be profitable, too. The program is built around a set of voluntary standards encouraging waste reduction, recycling, and energy conservation. Fulfilling the standards brings a Green Star Award and recognition as a caring, responsible member of the community. Creatively meeting challenges is a hallmark of Green Star Award winners. For many, the momentum to "do the right thing" carries on even after the original Green Star standards have been met. This in conjunction with a growing concern about air quality in Anchorage inspired the enhancement of the Green Star program and the creation of the new Air Quality Award. And it just also happens to be Green Star's tenth anniversary! Why Care About Air? Clean air is vital - it keeps us healthy and allows us to enjoy the natural beauty surrounding us in Alaska. As Anchorage grows, we can't take clean air for granted - ignore it and it WILL go away! This is why Green Star is joining other agencies and organizations in Anchorage in a proactive effort to incorporate clean air practices into daily activities and community planning. Green Star is honored to be working together with the Municipality of Anchorage Health and Human Services and Public Transportation Departments, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the Alaska Center for the Environment, and the American Lung Association of Alaska for a cleaner, healthier Anchorage. What can you do to keep the air in Anchorage clean? Rise to new heights with Green Star and get your Air Quality Award! Here's how: Presenting... THE GREEN STAR AIR QUALITY AWARD The steps to achieving the new Air Quality Award are similar to those for the regular Green Star Award. In fact, the first six standards are nearly identical, and many of the last twelve overlap. If you've already received your Green Star Award, you may be well on your way to achieving an Air Quality Award, too! The Air Quality Award may be achieved independently - you don't need to have your Green Star Award first. The Air Quality Award standards, in brief: First, complete all of the first six standards: 1. Adopt, post, and circulate to all employees the Green Star policy statement, or your version of it. 2. Designate a Green Star Coordinator and/or team. 3. Provide three incentives or training opportunities that encourage management and employee participation in the Green Star Program. 4. Notify your customers of your efforts to meet the Green Star Standards. 5. Assist at least one other organization in becoming a Green Star participant. 6. Conduct an annual waste assessment specific to the award. Then, complete six of the remaining twelve: 7. Encourage the use of alternate means of transportation in at least three ways. 8. Encourage the use of engine block heaters by vehicle owners at home and at work. 9. Provide air pollution prevention tips to employees in at least three ways. 10. Post the results of your annual emissions assessment (see Standard #6), and invite suggestions for additional ways to improve air quality. 11. Establish a procedure for notifying employees on days when air pollution levels are high and suggest ways to protect health and reduce pollution. 12. Establish flexible shifts to avoid rush hours, and allow employees to work from home when feasible. 13. Reduce emissions from company vehicles in at least three ways. 14. Reduce emissions from furnaces, oil burners, and other equipment in at least three ways. 15. Reduce dust in facility parking lot(s). 16. Design facilities for safe and easy access by pedestrians and bicyclists. 17. Involve your organization or employees in community planning processes and actively advocate for improvements benefiting air quality. 18. Develop your own method to improve air quality. To receive a copy of the Air Quality Standards by e-mail along with tips for achieving them, please contact us at the Green Star office, 278-7827, greenstr@alaska.net. We look forward to helping you achieve your Air Quality Award! To learn more about air quality in Anchorage visit the Municipality's web site <http://www.ci.anchorage.ak.us/Services/Departments/Health/Environ/air.html> Detailed descriptions all the Green Star standards along with lots of helpful information, resources and links will soon be available on our new and improved website, which is now undergoing major reconstruction. More updates later as we get ourselves online! ================================= Recycling Reminder It's not too late to submit your comments on the Anchorage Recycling Plan. Send them to the Recycling Task Force at <wwsws@ci.anchorage.ak.us> by March 15, as well as to your Assembly members (contact information at <http://www.ci.anchorage.ak.us/Assembly/index.html>). Comments to Assembly members will be accepted at least through the end of March. To obtain a copy of the plan visit <http://www.recyclingsolutions.org>, or contact MOA Solid Waste Services, 343-6262. ============================== Link of the Week Get there with clean air! Check out Anchorage People Mover at <http://www.peoplemover.org>. After People Mover's three-month free-ride program ended in January, bus ridership has stayed high and twice as many riders as usual bought monthly passes in February. Join the move to People Mover and help your employees get on the bus with People Mover's Employer Sponsored Pass program. Call People Mover at 343-4530. ================================= Green Star Idea Anchorage consulting firm ENSR significantly reduced its paper use by replacing an old mechanical copy machine with a more efficient digital model. Eliminating the need for "original" copies, documents are stored and sent to print electronically, double-sided and collated, from employees' desktops. Fewer jams and less toner use has made the new machine a smart purchase for ENSR. Well done! ************************************** Do you have a GREEN STAR IDEA to share? Please send your comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at <greenstr@alaska.net>. Forward this newsletter freely. Please send to us any e-mail addresses you wish to add to our mailing list, and let us know if you would like to be removed from the list. Thank you! The staff of Green Star, Inc., Anchorage Beverly Short, Program Assistant ************************************** Thank you to our newest Bronze sponsor: Montgomery Watson Green Star's 2000 sponsors: Platinum: ARCO Alaska, Inc. Gold: AT&T Wireless Bronze: Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Anchorage, Smurfit-Stone Recycling Supporter: Dowland-Bach, Green Connection, Yukon Equipment In-kind: National Bank of Alaska, EMCON Alaska, AMC Engineers, the Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, SST Travel Schools, Alaska Conservation Foundation |
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