It’s Earth Day! How can you celebrate?

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Earth Day, on April 22, has been a tradition since 1970. Its purpose is to encourage social and political action by drawing attention to the damaged state of the environment. Millions of people take the opportunity to pitch in — if only for a day.

The City Council has adopted a Sustainability Work Plan seeking to reduce Mercer Island greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent within five years. For more information on city sustainability programs, email Sustainability Manager Ross Freeman at ross.freeman@mercergov.org or call 206-275-7662.

What is the City doing?

Starting Earth Day, Freeman will be doing a promotion at City Hall and giving away free kitchen-counter composters and Mercer Island reusable shopping bags, while supplies last.

Freeman said that in the next few years, he will be exploring a green building certification program for single-family construction; natural yard care, including rain barrels, rain gardens, low or no chemical practices; commercial and multi-family composting; a redesign of the Leap for Green Sustainability Fair; cleaner vehicle replacements for the city fleet ;and a styrofoam packaging ban.

Mercer Island has a plastic bag ban, which took effect on Earth Day last year. The city also ran a “Solarize” campaign in the fall. Most residents find they can cover 50-70 percent of their annual power needs with clean, green power. Residents can also contribute funds for a Community Solar array on the roof of City Hall.

So, what else can you do?

Recycle, compost

The Island’s residential recycling program has been one of the region’s most successful since its inception in 1990. Island residences annually divert more than 60 percent of their waste through the curbside recycling and yard waste programs. Every MI residential account is eligible for free curbside recycling.

Last month’s annual spring recycling collection event at the Boat Launch was well-attended, with about 782 vehicles carrying 88,574 pounds of discarded material, averaging to 113 pounds each.

In addition to regular yard waste such as grass, leaves, weeds and prunings, you can also put food scraps and food-soiled paper in your yard waste cart, including fruits & vegetables, bread, pasta, grains, eggshells, nutshells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags and pizza delivery boxes, paper towels and napkins and now meat, fish, bones, poultry and dairy products. Collected yard waste is processed into compost and sold at home and garden stores.

Volunteer

There are many events in the Seattle area that focus on restoring the natural environment. One of the most popular ways to celebrate Earth Day is to plant a tree, but serve.gov and allforgood.org are resources to find group volunteer opportunities.

On Saturday, April 25, the city is hosting a forest stewardship event at Ellis Pond (visit www.earthcorps.org or the city website for more information), and Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust has a project at Lake Sammamish State Park involving habitat restoration.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Nature Conservancy are partnering on a photo project this April, called #NatureSelfie. The goal is to get people outside on Earth Day, connect with nature and share love for the Earth.

At home

• Carpool, use public transit or bike to work

• Upgrade lightbulbs and older toilets

• Pay a bill online

• Contact your legislators about water safety, forest preservation, clean air, recycling, etc.

‘Leap for Green’ on hiatus in 2015

This year, the ‘Leap for Green’ sustainability fair originator, IslandVision, has decided to hand off the event to the city to carry it forward and integrate it with other sustainability programs. The fair will take a year off, and be back in 2016.