April
2008
What’s Green Omaha doing lately anyway?
Um, hello!!! Earth Day Omaha is this Saturday! From 12 PM to 6 PM in Elmwood Park there will be a schedule of musical performances and guest speakers who know a thing or two about being green. From 6 PM to 8 PM, Omaha can enjoy a beer garden, live music, and food. Nice start to a fun Saturday! (Yes, I said “start”. I know you crazy Omahans aren’t going to quit there! You’re going to go straight home and change your lightbulbs to energy-conserving swirly versions.)
One great way to know how to become involved with Omaha’s green initiatives is to visit the Green Omaha Coalition website. The Green Omaha Coalition is working steadily toward a larger membership with more participation from the community. Their goal is to make Omaha one of the greenest cities in the country. Remember this article, about the 50 Greenest Cities? We can be a part of that list, too, especially by partaking in events like Earth Day Omaha.
The Green Omaha Coalition has five subcommittees which include Public Agency, Green Education, Green Neighborhood, Green Business, and Design and Construction. You can contact any of these committees here.
Right now, the Green Neighborhood Council is working on a Green Neighborhood Scorecard - a way for neighborhoods to measure their environmental health. They hope to implement this Scorecard within the next month. The Scorecard would be used by neighborhood leaders to call attention to specific environmental concerns. Hey - if we don’t know there’s a problem, how can we fix the problem, right? These scorecards will help to shed some “lime-light” on the situation. (Tee-hee.)
The Green Business Committee aims to develop a Green Business Directory that would serve as a resource for Omaha area businesses to contact for recycling and green education assistance. (This is something that I’d love to have as a resource for the small business that I work for! Can’t wait.)
ALSO, if you’re looking for Green Tips, I have found a jackpot! The Nebraska State Recycling Association’s website features a lot of green-focused articles. These articles are also categorized according to your needs as a citizen, as a business, as an educator, and information about how our government is helping. Here you can find a list of recycling locations, interesting facts, a list of state nature areas, and more.
Interesting fact from the Nebraska State Recycling Association: The average person produces five pounds of trash PER DAY. Whoa! Of course, you’re not average if you’re like my friend Mimi, Pro Recycler! We’ll have to learn more from her soon.
Have you heard of the “Human Footprint”? The National Geographic Channel did a big special on the amount of products the average person uses in their lifetime. You should check into that.
Cheers!
Brad
Omaha-Review.com