Sustainability Ambassadors 

1. Attitudes about our role in maintaining a healthy environment
2. Ideas about how government can best ensure a healthy environment
3. Waste management: recycling, composting, dog waste, e-waste, packaging
4. Lawn and garden care
5. Food purchasing and consumption
6. Energy conservation
7. Water conservation: Leaking toilets
8. Toxic chemicals in the water or in consumer products
9. Knowledge about pollution in Puget Sound and stormwater
10. Transportation choice

Search: you city recycling / King County recycling

King County has a great recycling resource page that helps you answer the question "What do I do with this?" http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/wdidw/

Zero Waste Washington protects people and our natural world by advocating for products designed and produced to be healthy, safe, and continually recycled and reused.  They use three main strategies (1) advocating policy changes for products and materials at the local, regional, and state levels; (2) engaging citizens in driving system changes; and (3) Implementing pilot projects to demonstrate that the desired change is possible. http://www.zerowastewashington.org/

The city of Seattle Zero Waste Strategy is a fascinating study in civics and economics and the environment: http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/zerowaste.htm

Cedar Grove Composting plays an important role in diverting organic waste from landfills. From two local facilities, they compost over 350,000 tons of residential and commercial yard and food waste annually. Their website is full of useful information about their process and products: https://cedar-grove.com/

Seattle Tilth has an excellent Master Composter/Soil Builder volunteer program that is a key partner in Seattle’s waste reduction and recycling efforts. They help city residents to build worm bins, recycle food and yard waste at their homes, build healthy urban soils and support thriving landscapes throughout the city. http://seattletilth.org/learn/mcsb

Puget Sound Starts Here teams up with musician, Martin Luther, to bring awareness to the effects of pet waste on the Puget Sound. Watch the Dog Doogity video here: http://pugetsoundstartshere.org/scoop-poop/

For the fecal bacteria science and monitoring visit the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound http://www.eopugetsound.org/science-review/section-6-marine-fecal-bacteria

The Story of Electronics is a video released in 2011 that employs the “Story of Stuff” narrated animation style hosted by Annie Leonard. http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-electronics/

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry. Their goal is to protect the health and well-being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products. This page has a good overview of the problem with electronic waste. http://www.electronicstakeback.com/resources/problem-overview/  And here is another helpful page with guidelines for recycling your electronics: http://www.electronicstakeback.com/how-to-recycle-electronics/

Total Reclaim is the leading recycler of computers and electronics in the Pacific Northwest. http://www.totalreclaim.com/e-waste_problem.html

3R-Technologies, a local collector registered with the Washington State Department of Ecology, can accept most electronics for no recycling fee. If you have household e-waste, or your organization is a non-profit, a school district, a small government, or a small business (fewer than 50 employees) check out their services here: http://www.3rtechnology.com/

Plastic Packaging: This page has great charts, graphs and numbers on the problem with plastic packaging: http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-packaging-waste.html

How did the city of Issaquah ban plastic bags: http://www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/index.aspx?NID=1170

How did the city of Seattle ban plastic bags? http://www.seattle.gov/council/obrien/bagban/

King County has excellent resources on natural yard care here: http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/naturalyardcare/

Dig a little deeper at this link if you want to learn about the soil food web and soil chemistry:http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/naturalyardcare/soilbuilding.asp

Examine the same issue by looking at the relationship between healthy soil and salmon streams: http://www.soilsforsalmon.org/why.htm

See how the city of Seattle’s Food Action Plan is leading the nation in thinking about the systemic impacts of smart food policies: http://www.seattle.gov/environment/food/food-action-plan Does your city have a food action plan?

The Regional Food Policy Council (comprised on members from four central Puget Sound counties) has developed recommendations for local governments interested in addressing the local food economy and food access through policy and programs. The policy blueprints at this link provide recommendations illustrated by examples from the Puget Sound region. These show steps local jurisdictions have already taken to support the food system: http://www.psrc.org/about/advisory/regional-food-policy-council/

Seattle Public Utilities and its 18 water district partners are building on recent success to conserve water which sustains our quality of life, saves on our water bills and protects salmon. Because of water-efficient fixtures, new practices in landscaping, and business and residential conservation efforts, we’ve been able to reduce water consumption by 14 percent in the past six years, from 92.2 to just 83.6 gallons per-person per day. Can you and your family conserve water even more efficiently than almost 100 gallons each day? http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/WaterQualityAnnualReport/WaterConservation/index.htm

Maybe your water is supplied by the Cascade Water Alliance instead of Seattle Public Utilities. See the map on this page to find out. http://cascadewater.org/ The Cascade Water Alliance serves 350,000 residents and 20,000 businesses. To learn about their conservation initiatives, including tips on leaking toilets, explore this page: http://cascadewater.org/conservation.php

Study pages 1-17 of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda for the best overview of the issues and proposed solutions for reducing polluted stormwater runoff.

http://www.psp.wa.gov/downloads/AA2011/083012_final/Action%20Agenda%20Book%201_Aug%2029%202012.pdf

Sightline Institute editor Lisa Stiffler investigates the problems and the solutions related to polluted stormwater runoff in a series of well-written blogs. http://daily.sightline.org/projects/stormwater-solutions-curbing-toxic-runoff/

Every city is required to post their plan for reducing polluted stormwater pollution on their website. Search for: City / Stormwater / Surface Water Management Plan

Feet First is working to ensure all communities across Washington are walkable. Check out their program and resources here: http://www.feetfirst.org/

Walk Score is a software tool that calculates the walkability of your neighborhood. You can get you walk score for any address in the United States. They have also ranked 3,000 cities and over 10,000 neighborhoods to help people find a walkable home or apartment. http://www.walkscore.com/

Check out the city of Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan and compare these strategies to what your city is working on. http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikeprogram.htm

Here is the regional transportation plan from the Puget Sound Regional Council comprised of four central Puget Sound counties. Transportation 2040 is an action plan for transportation in the central Puget Sound region for the next 30 years. By the year 2040, the region is expected to grow by roughly 1.5 million people and support more than 1.2 million new jobs. All of these new people and new jobs are expected to boost demand for travel within and through the region by about 40%. Study the plan: http://www.psrc.org/transportation/t2040/t2040-pubs/final-draft-transportation-2040

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