HAPPY EARTH DAY! This is the www.greenwichita.org website and now a new GREEN Wichita Blog. It just seemed fitting to jump start it today as a way to celebrate.
INTRODUCTION:
My name is Kay Johnson, Manager of Environmental Initiatives for the City of Wichita. As a college student, I started working in the environmental field in 1976 (Water Resources Board for the State of Oklahoma) and I’m proud to say it has been my profession ever since. This site isn’t about the City of Wichita but information will be included about the City programs and activities. The purpose of the website and blog is to spread the word about environmental resources, actions and ideas that citizens, businesses and governments are doing or things that can be easily done to protect and improve our quality of life beginning with the environment. From time to time, others will write the blog and others will be interviewed.
The Wichita area has a great group of active citizens, organizations and businesses that already promote the environment. Also, we often, we don’t hear about the many good things that are already going on to improve the environment. There’s also not been a good local website the Internet to go for local environmental information. We want greenwichita.org to be THE LOCAL GREEN RESOURCE – a place to go to first. So, to start this off, I’d like to pass on some incredibly good news in a section of the GREEN BLOG that I will now call “Did you know?”
DID YOU KNOW?Wichita Transit placed bike racks on Transit buses a few months ago to encourage more riders. Intuitively they felt this would increase ridership while at the same time encouraging bicycle use. The first week of April, they decided to count bikes. During that one week only, they counted 777 bicycles. People ARE riding their bikes and buses for transportation! Also, Transit’s Q-Line Trolley has significantly increased their ridership. Last year in 2009, 7,700 rides were provided. In the first three months of this year rides are at an incredibly all time high of 23,353 rides. Using bus and bicycle transportation is inexpensive and helps to reduce air pollution. YEA!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
FONT SIZE: It is amazing that a font can make a difference. According to a recent article in Yahoo News, Century Gothic and Times New Roman are the two best type fonts that use the least amount of ink when printed. Times New Roman is still the one most recommended because of its readability and you don't have to print an extra sheet of paper. Print in "draft mode" and "print on both sides of the paper" are the standard recommendations for trimming expenses. The best advice is, of course, "don't print at all".
AIR QUALITY: Vehicles contribute a significant amount of pollution that can contribute to air pollution called ozone or smog. Reducing your idle time is so important for saving our local air in the spring and summer. Sometime I’ll share additional air information on this blog. For now, read these tips found at
TO GET INVOLVED:
We have been working on many fronts to influence individuals and groups to get them involved in environmental stewardship and to improve the quality of life in our region.
Two of these groups are:
1. Visioneering Wichita for the Environmental Sustainability Alliance for individuals and organizations interested in shaping the community and taking action at:
http://www.visioneeringwichita.com/
2. GreenBizWichita, a brand new organization, for businesses that want to save operational expenses by going green -
www.GreenBizWichita.org
Feel free to use these links to contact these organizations and get involved. Other organizations will be highlighted or featured from time to time here.
COMMENTS:
Please feel free to tell me what you did on Earth Day or add other environmental comments.