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Green Star E-News
Green Star E-News Vol. 7, No. 6 June 9, 2006
Recognizing Alaska organizations committed to environmental responsibility.
In this issue:
* Shining Stars
* Oceans Festival is Saturday, June 10th
* Submit Your Green Star Award Achievement Report by June 30th
* Bike to Work Day was a Winner
* Health Care Energy Performance Follow-up
* Old Sadler Building Goes Green
* Integrated Pest Management in City Parks
* Recycling Added to Solid Waste Commission’s Mission
* Raising the Roof in the Valley
* This Month’s Hot Link: Have a Green Summer (with Earth Day Network and Google Maps)
* Thank you 2006 Sponsors
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SHINING STARS
Welcome to our newest enrollees – K2 Aviation, Rust’s Flying Service, and Anchorage Neighborhood Housing Service.
Green Events abound in June! Look for recycling bins at the following events this month.
Reading Rendezvous
North American Benthological Society meeting
Oceans Festival
Three Barons Fair
Eklutna Pow Wow
AYEA Fun-Raiser
Iditarod Volunteer Picnic
Botanical Garden Fair
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OCEANS FESTIVAL IS SATURDAY, JUNE 10th
The 4th annual Alaska Oceans Festival is Saturday June 10, 2006 on the Park Strip. The festival is a marine conservation event developed to celebrate all things “ocean.” This year’s event parallels World Ocean Day -- held on June 8th -- reminding us that we are all connected by our oceans, despite distance, proximity and political borders.
The primary focus of the festival is to educate the public and raise awareness about the importance of healthy oceans and to celebrate the bounty of Alaska's many marine resources. With nearly half of the total state population living in Anchorage, the festival presents a unique opportunity to bring Alaskans together to celebrate the uniqueness of our oceans and the significance they have in our lives.
Musicians, speakers, artists, and ocean conservation groups converge in beautiful downtown Anchorage to spend a day celebrating our Alaskan connections to the ocean. Food vendors, a beer garden, the Seafood Olympics, a foot race, and the “Bucking Salmon” are just a few of the attractions that make the Alaska Oceans Festival one of Anchorage’s favorite summer events. The festival also is a Green Event, so look for recycling bins while you enjoy the festivities.
For details about speakers, films, vendors, bands, activities, and the full schedule of events, visit http://www.akcenter.org/programs/oceans/oceans_festival.html.
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SUBMIT YOUR GREEN STAR AWARD ACHIEVEMENT REPORT BY JUNE 30th
Since January of this year, Providence Alaska Medical Center; HDR Alaska, Inc.; Oasis Environmental; Sierra Club; and the American Lung Association of Alaska have earned their Green Star Awards. We hope that many more Green Star enrollees will join these Alaskan organizations that are proudly displaying their efforts to be good for the environment and good for business by becoming a Green Star Award Winner.
With only eight standards to meet, and a helpful checklist format, the Green Star Award Standards Achievement Report is an easy way to report your Green Star successes. The committee that reviews these applications only meets four times per year, and the June 30th deadline for this quarter is approaching.
A completed Green Star Award Standards Achievement Report sample is available at http://www.greenstarinc.org/GSaward.php. If you have any questions or would like assistance in completing the Green Star Award application, please call 278-STAR. We are happy to help. Site assessments are a great way for Green Star to assist you in your environmental management efforts. If you haven’t had a site assessment yet, please call to schedule one.
Once your organization earns the Green Star Award, you can enjoy the many benefits listed below:
Social and Economic Benefits are part of the Green Star Award. Improving the management of energy, water, and solid waste increases efficiency and is well worth it in monetary savings, employee satisfaction, and public relations.
Green Star Award Certificates are Signed by Mayor Mark Begich to demonstrate the Municipality’s support for Anchorage businesses, agencies, schools and organizations that are committed to environmental quality.
A Link from Our Website to yours will be made, so that other Green Star members and the community can more easily find and support Green Star businesses.
A 2006-2007 Green Star Window Decal can be displayed to proudly symbolize your environmental efforts.
Continued Environmental Improvement is encouraged to keep your company on the cutting edge of environmental management. As more energy-efficient technologies come to market and new recycling programs emerge, Green Star will let you know.
Don’t forget, the application deadline for this quarter is June 30th. If you haven’t done so already, please complete the Green Star Standards Achievement Report so Green Star can give your organization the recognition it deserves.
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BIKE TO WORK DAY WAS A WINNER
After only its second year in action, the Bike to Work Day on May 19th was a great success. Hundreds of Anchorage commuters took the plunge and biked to work as a way to do their part to offset traffic congestion around town. To further the cause, Green Star collaborated with the Municipality to create a fun pool of prizes to reward those bicyclists who completed an online survey, as well as bicyclists who are employees of Green Star organizations.
Overall, 330 bikers completed the online survey, which doubles the 167 surveys that were completed last year. In addition, many more bicyclists who participated in Bike to Work Day did not have a chance to fill out the survey for a variety of reasons. The survey results, which include the specific written responses, can be viewed at http://www.ci.anchorage.ak.us/healthchp/biketoworkday.cfm.
A total of 72 employees from six Green Star organizations biked to work and submitted their names for some wonderful drawing prizes. Alaska Center for the Environment had the highest percentage of employees participating in the event, while ConocoPhillips and BP were close competitors on the total number of employees who bicycled. BP employees who biked to work were rewarded with a free breakfast, while ConocoPhillips provided juice and other cold drinks.
Green Star and the Municipality are currently distributing the drawing prizes. The donationed prizes this year were quite varied, including lunch certificates at local eateries such as Glacier Brewhouse, Orso Ristorante, and Sacks Café. Other unique giveaways were a free night stay and bike rental at the Anchorage Guest House, tandem bike rentals from Girdwood Ski & Cyclery, a bike jacket and jersey from Free Spirit Wear, along with sports gear from Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking and Skinny Raven Sports.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a complete biking event without the necessary tune-ups and equipment. REI provided a wonderful public service by offering a safety bike check at Westchester Lagoon on the day of the event. An REI representative said that REI assisted 65 bicyclists with their bikes. He also indicated that more than twice that many rode by on their daily commute without stopping for the bike check, proving the Bike to Work Day to be a popular event.
Along with REI’s bike rack donation, there were a plethora of biking items and services donated by Alaska Mountain Bike Source, The Bike Shop, the Bike Department/Chain Reaction, Paramount Bikes, and Sunshine Sports.
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HEALTH CARE ENERGY PERFORMANCE FOLLOW-UP
If you attended the ENERGY STAR "Rating the Energy Performance of Healthcare Facilities" training in March and have begun benchmarking your facility using U.S. EPA's energy performance rating system, you may have some follow-up questions about Portfolio Manager.
A special one-hour session to help you troubleshoot your account, review assumptions, and provide quality control tips to ensure an accurate energy performance rating is scheduled for June 21st. This assistance session is being offered directly by Energy Star and you can participate via teleconference and Internet connection.
Please join ENERGY STAR for this free-for-all Q&A session on June 21st, 2006 at 12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (8am Alaska Time). To register and to see more information about the training session, visit https://energystar.webex.com/energystar/k2/j.php?ED=88879637&UID=43154222. Once you have registered for the training session, you will receive an email message confirming your registration. This message will provide the information that you need to join the training session
Because Green Star is not hosting this session, please contact Dr. Sharon L. Levin at slevin@manageenergy.com if you have any questions about this training. Best of luck benchmarking!
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OLD SADLER BUILDING GOES GREEN
The Anchorage Community Land Trust broke ground on a major, innovative $8.5 million Mountain View renovation project last month. The project is unique because it will be the first public building in Anchorage to use a sophisticated, green-interior building design, called DIRTT (Doing It Right This Time). Green building interiors are one of the latest building innovations sweeping the construction world, both nationally and internationally.
The DIRTT system features structures made of recycled materials, high quality movable walls, and reduced energy use. It also maintains high quality aesthetics including curved walls, built-in furniture, and etched glass. The system also is highly cost competitive with conventional construction.
The DIRTT system was pioneered by Calgary developer Mogens Smed, who persuaded the Municipality of Anchorage to visit his factory. Anchorage Community Land Trust Director Brian Shelton-Kelley and City Renewable Resources Manager Kevin Harun made the trip to Calgary and liked what they saw.
“This system is not the usual cubicle set-up; it’s a beautiful system that looks like permanent walls. This type of construction is not only aesthetically pleasing but it also reduces the amount of construction and demolition debris,” says Harun.
“The amount of waste generated by construction sites is huge, and by using green-building interiors we can reduce the waste while saving the City taxpayers money,” says Mayor Mark Begich.
Harun notes that the DIRTT system is one of the leading green-building systems being used extensively in Canada, the Lower 48, Europe, and Japan. “It puts Anchorage on the cutting edge of green-building design, and it means Mountain View will have something to show the rest of the City, “ Harun said.
DIRTT is represented locally by Lynn Barrett at Paragon Designs. For more information about the system, contact Lynn at 646-7900 or visit DIRTT on the web at http://www.dirtt.net.
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INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN CITY PARKS
With summer just around the corner, the Municipality of Anchorage’s Parks and Recreation Department is launching a new program to control insects through less toxic means, including biological and mechanical instead of chemical methods. The move will significantly reduce the use of chemical pesticides on city streets and properties, and provide healthy alternatives to remove unwanted pests.
The City installed Tanglefoot pest barriers around a variety of trees downtown including mountain ash, cherry and crabapples. These pest barriers are a sticky trap designed to prevent leaf rollers that emerge from the trunks of the trees from crawling up to feed on leaves. The traps are made from natural tree resins, which are considered nontoxic to the environment.
“The city is moving to less toxic and biological methods because they are healthier for our children and will save the taxpayers money,” said Mayor Mark Begich. “Each year voracious bugs gobble up thousands of dollars worth of city street trees and park landscaping, and the city wants a safer way to remove them.”
In recent years, downtown residents have complained about large-scale chemical pesticide applications in Town Square and other places where people congregate. Residents were especially concerned because children, who are intense users of city parks, have the lowest tolerance to pesticides. The City responded by researching alternative methods to remove the insects without expensive chemical pesticide sprays.
Parks Superintendent Monique Anderson said that the City will be looking into the use of beneficial insects, such as Green Lace Wings, as biological controls to feed on leaf rollers in their caterpillar stage. Green Lace Wings have been used on a widespread basis in Alaska for pest control in enclosed systems and do not winter over.
In addition, the Parks Department will be using pheromone traps (natural hormone attractants) to trap and control adult moths from depositing eggs in trees and have already begun mechanical removal of egg masses on trunks and limbs.
All of these new methods (scouting, early detection, mechanical, biological and hormones) are part of what is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Currently, the Anchorage School District uses IPM management in City schools. The Parks Department has used biological controls such as lady bugs and lace wings for control of aphids, white fly, scale and thrip on tropical plants in the solarium and tropical house for five years with great success.
Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) Pam Miller, who pushed the School District to adopt IPM, hailed the new program at City parks. “This is a major step forward for our community, and especially our children, who deserve a safe and healthy environment,” Miller said.
At the end of the summer, Anderson said the City will conduct an assessment of how well the natural methods work. “If we’re successful, we intend to expand the program because it’s a win-win for our city,” she said.
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RECYCLING ADDED TO SOLID WASTE COMMISSION’S MISSION
The Municipality of Anchorage’s Solid Waste Advisory Commission became the Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Commission this month. This change illustrates Anchorage’s increasing awareness about recycling and its role in waste management.
“I think the name change is reflective of current concerns in the MOA,” said Robert Hall, Director of MOA’s Solid Waste Services. “While the primary mission of SWS is the proper collection and disposal of solid waste, there is a desire to identify solutions other than simply landfilling.”
Hall says that one of the first challenges for the newly named commission will be to find the best utilization for an expanded Transfer Station site. The Assembly recently approved the purchase of the AAA Storage site adjacent to the current Central Transfer Site. This will nearly double the transfer facility’s area, and will provide room for expanded operations.
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RAISING THE ROOF IN THE VALLEY
Valley Community for Recycling Solutions (VCRS) is raffling off a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid 4x4 from Nye Frontier Ford to help raise money to raise the roof. "Raise the Roof for Recycling" is a capital fundraising campaign to raise money to build a new recycling center. At $50 per ticket, it’s a reasonably priced way to support Valley recycling and clean air. And you may get a new car out of it! The hybrid Escape gets 33 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway (yes, you read that right - better mileage in the city!).
The drawing will be held on America Recycles Day (November 15, 2006) during the Palmer Chamber of Commerce’s noon luncheon at the Palmer Moose. Only 2500 tickets will be sold, so your chances are good. Call 907-745-5544 or visit http://www.valleyrecycling.org for more information about purchasing a raffle ticket.
The new 'Community Recycling Center' will be built on a five-acre site adjacent to the Mat-Su Borough Central Landfill on 49th State Street. The first phase of construction will begin in the summer of 2006.
When completed, the center will function as a collection site and processing plant for recyclable items. It will be centrally located, next to the Central Landfill, and operate during convenient hours in order to provide the best service to our community.
Although the main focus of the center will be the collection and processing of recyclable material, it also will serve as a brokerage for recovered resources, and a clearinghouse for information. From the center, VCRS will continue to provide educational outreach for schools, residents and businesses, and promote wise waste management and the benefits of the three R's (reducing, reusing and recycling).
The Community Recycling Center is the foundation for building a sustainable recycling program in the Valley. The new center will incorporate 'Leadership in Energy and Environment Design' (LEED) building techniques, which promote whole-building practices and energy efficiency. It will minimize the use of products that require energy to manufacture or transport. It will also incorporate simple techniques that don't further pollute the environment, consume fossil fuel or unnecessarily extract our natural resources.
When the doors open, VCRS plans to handle thousands of pounds of materials every day, thereby catering to large waste producers. The center's capacity to handle large volumes of materials will allow local commercial waste haulers to expand their services and offer curbside recycling to their clients. In the future, VCRS will enlarge the recycling program to include drop-off sites for outlying communities.
VCRS will fund the construction of the center through grants, monetary donations and in-kind contributions. Once constructed and operating at full capacity, the center will be self-sustaining through service contracts, the sale of recyclable materials, processed and re-made items, and educational materials. Donations for Raise the Roof for Recycling are much appreciated and may be mailed to the 'Valley Community for Recycling Solutions, P.O. Box 876464, Wasilla, Alaska 99687.
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THIS MONTH’S HOT LINK: Have a Green Summer (with Earth Day Network and Google Maps)
Earth Day Network and Google Maps have teamed up to help make your summer vacation a green one. Visit this site to view maps and take video tours of five top U.S. vacation spots. Learn about environmentally friendly activities, attractions, and amenities. You also can use Google Maps to find green options for where ever you wish to travel.
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THANK YOU 2006 SPONSORS, GRANTORS & CONTRACTORS
Green Star could not exist without the generous financial and in-kind support of many individuals and leading local businesses and organizations. To become a Green Star individual member or corporate sponsor, please call 278-7827 or visit our web site http://www.greenstarinc.org. A huge thank you to our 2006 sponsors!
Platinum ($10,000+): Alaska Conservation Foundation, Alaska Energy Authority, Anchorage Department of Health & Human Services, Anchorage Solid Waste Services, BP, Bullitt Foundation, ConocoPhillips Alaska, FedEx Express, Municipality of Anchorage, Oak Foundation, Peak Oilfield Services, Rasmuson Foundation, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, University of Alaska Anchorage
Gold ($5,000-$9,999): Anchorage Media Group, Carlile Transportation Systems, GCI, Horizon Lines of Alaska, Total Reclaim, Inc., Weaver Brothers
Silver ($2,500-$4,999): Anchorage Daily News, Denali Commission, Graphics Solutions, Lynden Transport, Princess Tours
Bronze ($1,000-$2,499): Alaska Public Interest Research Group, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, Alaska Waste, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, Arcticom, Cellular One, Chugach Electric Association, Independent Lift Truck of Alaska, Interior Wiring and Field Maintenance, Municipal Light and Power, REI, Teamsters Local 959, United Freight
Green ($500-$999): ACS, Action Sign & Graphics/Warning Lites of Alaska, Alaska Power Association, Alaska Printing, Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Alaska Waste, Corporate Express Alaska, Costco-Debarr Rd., Delta Cargo/Arctic Circle Air, Dick Wilson, From the Fair Corners Photography, Kotzebue Electric Association, Mettler Toledo Northwest, Polar Supply Company, Sierra Club, Smurfit-Stone Recycling Company, Thompson & Associates,
Supporter ($250-$499): Alaska Warehouse Specialists, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria, Salvation Army, Terra Bella Organic Coffee, Yukon Equipment
Contributor (up to $250): Alaska Bagel Resaurant, Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Mill & Feed, ALPAR, American Credit Card Systems, American Fast Freight, Anchorage Maintenance & Operations, Anchorage Municipal Park Cemetery, Bear Tooth Theater Pub & Grill, Bus11 Design, Blockbuster Video, Carrs-Safeway, Chugiak Dog Mushers Association, Coca-Cola Bottling of Alaska, Great Harvest Bread Company, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Hot Licks Homemade Ice Cream, Iditarod Trail Committee, Middleway Café, Municipality of Anchorage Department of Health & Human Services, NorthWest Handling Systems, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group, Princess Tours, Snow City Café, Spenard Builders Supply, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Tesoro Iron Dog, Title Wave Books
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Past issues of E-News are available on our web site, sorted by topic or date: http://www.greenstarinc.org/enews/enewsindex.php. Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at enews@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any email addresses you wish us to add to our mailing list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please email a request to unsubscribe to enews@greenstarinc.org. Thank you!
The staff of Green Star, Anchorage:
Sean Skaling, Executive Director
Jeanne Carlson, Program Director
Beth Verrelli, Program Director
Jean Marie Guzzetti, Member Relations Coordinator
Tara Callear, Office Manager/Program Assistant
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