Active Stewardship Track: Water Conservation

Weekly Water Challenge

Sponsored by:  Center for Environmental Law & Policy

water@celp.org

By reducing your water use, you can reduce your water bill AND help the Spokane River!

The Active Stewardship Personal Challenge is designed to help you understand your water usage, find way’s to reduce your consumption, and help others in our community to do the same. Below, you will find the instructions for each week’s challenge. Sun People Dry Goods and REI Spokane have donated prizes for each weeks challenge.

To enter, send an e-mail to water@CELP.org with an answer to the weekly question after the “tell us” in each weeks section. Each answer will be placed in a weekly drawing. For those of you who enter all four weeks, you will be entered to win a grand prize. Thanks for making Spokane a more sustainable community!

Week 1:  September 6:

Do:  Learn about your household water use

• Read your City of Spokane water bill
• Go on the web to check your use on your account and learn how the City’s conservation rate structure works – use less, pay less

Tell us:  What water rate category do you pay in your household?

Week 2: September 12

Do:  Reduce your water use

• Fix a leak
• Look at your water meter while your sprinkler system is off, then on, then water only every other day or less if you can
• Put a shut-off nozzle on the outdoor water hose so water can’t leak when the hose is not in use
• Install a low flow showerhead and a timer in your shower
• Read the City’s 100 tips for saving water and act on one of them

Tell us: What conservation action did you take this week?

Week 3:  September 19

Do:  Learn how your water use affects the Spokane River

• Read the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Atlas, especially page 14
• Visit CELP’s Spokane River website

Tell us: What does it mean that we have a gaining and losing river?

Week 4:  September 26

Do:  Share it with a neighbor

• Show your neighbor how to read their water bill
• Help your neighbor fix a leak or take another water conservation action
• Tell your neighbor about the connections between the Spokane Aquifer and the Spokane River.

Tell us:  How did you help your neighbor this week?

Don’t forget to enter all weekly challenges by sending an e-mail to water@celp.org to be eligible for a $25 Gift Card from REI!

The Sustainable September Luncheon is the Kick-off event for the entire month of “Sustainable September”. The luncheon will take place on September 1^st, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Spokane Convention Center. This year, the luncheon will be a certified LEED silver event with an expected 300 attendees who will enjoy a three-course meal. This year’s meal will be prepared by Chef Harold Froewiss who will highlight local food from various Spokane communities, with optional gluten free and vegan meals.

The 3rd annual luncheon will feature an address by Mayor Mary Verner, and keynote speakers by several local business people. Together, they will discuss what they are doing in this economy to not only survive, but how they are thriving to be “green”. The focus for this year’s luncheon is to excite our guests to make a positive, sustainable change in how they live their lives. The objective for the luncheon is to emphasize what is being done in the Spokane communities, talk about the diverse Sustainable September tracks and their respective events and to show how easy it is to get involved. We welcome you to join us for this fabulous Kick-Off Luncheon!

Please purchase your tickets at Brown Paper Tickets

For more information please contact Traci Logan at tracil@community-minded.org

The fifth annual Main Street Fair kicks off at noon on September 10th, 2011 on Main Ave between Browne and Division. This year the Main Street fair will highlight the sustainable businesses and non-profits from Spokane neighborhoods as well as other community-oriented businesses. The block will be alive with musical acts while other performers provide entertainment throughout the day including activities for children provided at vendor booths. Join us for a day of family friendly fun and get to know the East End neighborhood on Main!

Contact Brooke Lively at (509)-999-3419, mainstreetfair@gmail.com for more information on this event. Or please visit the Community Building’s website.

After the Main St Fair, the Youth Sustainability Council hosts the 3^rd annual Sustainable Uprising festival. Sustainable Uprising is an annual street festival put on by the YSC and community partners to celebrate the contributions of young people in Spokane and promote a more sustainable way of life.

The street will remain closed to host four bands, a local recycled fashion show, participatory art projects, dancing, DIY projects, and young sustainable business owners showing their wares. Sustainable Uprising runs from 8 PM to midnight. All ages are welcome to this alcohol free event!

For more information please contact Taylor Weech at (509) 209-2603, taylorw@community-minded.org or take a look at Youth Sustainability Council’s website.

Sponsored by McKinstry, Eco-Depot Inc., & Strong Solutions

Sustainable September Spokane, McKinstry, Eco-Depot & Strong Solutions  invites the Spokane community for walk through downtown Spokane to learn more about the progressive spaces & restaurant faces through the Eco-Buildings and Local Food track.

The walk includes a visit to three local green buildings with a course (beverage included) prepared by a downtown chef at each stop. The first bite will be hosted at the City Hall Deck, with the second at Bank of America Building, and the group will finish their third bite on Saranac Building Rooftop.

Spots are limited and must be purchased in advance for the September 27^th event. So purchase your tickets soon at Brown Paper Tickets

Walkers must be ready to nibble and sip at 5:30-8:30pm with their comfortable walking shoes. 

October 1, 2011 marks the date for the Spokane River Clean-Up, a positive, high-energy gathering that affirms a sense of stewardship and community pride for the Spokane River and the trails and natural areas along its banks. The Spokane River Clean-Up is one of the largest “hands-on” community events in Spokane, and one of the largest shoreline cleanup events anywhere.

Each year, the trash tallies grow as more and more folks show up and cover more and more areas along the Spokane River shoreline. A growing list of groups and organizations, like high schools, churches, whitewater groups, service clubs and others sign up too, each taking advantage of the Clean-Up as a way to give back to the community and beautify the river.

Whether you’re a first-timer or an experienced picker-upper, you’re invited to join the fun. Live east of Downtown? This year’s event is planned to cover the University District, Sullivan Park, Barker Road, and Harvard Road in Spokane Valley. And that’s in addition to our base, the Downtown River Gorge area around Peaceful Valley, High Bridge and People’s Park.

Online registration opens September 1 on Friends of the Falls website. Mark your calendar and consider recruiting friends, family, or your favorite group to take part in this yearly event.