Sustainable Ogden Committee works to keep Junction City green
Text 
No comments [ Add Comment ]By Art Roscoe
Guest commentary
T
he lead editorial in this paper on Aug. 17 ("Clearing the air") was about a new program Ogden city has launched called "Fresh Air Friday." Thanks to the editorial staff for picking up on the initiative to help make Ogden greener and more livable. What was not said in the editorial is that Fresh Air Friday is a part of a larger and more comprehensive program that is being organized and administered by the Sustainable Ogden Committee.
OK, so what is the Sustainable Ogden Committee? The SOC, an advisory committee to Ogden's mayor, was established in November 2006 by an executive order of the mayor. The SOC vision is that the city of Ogden will be a community committed to clean air, water, and preserving open space to enhance the quality of life for its citizens and support Ogden's reputation as the international high adventure recreation capital. Its mission is to advise the mayor on policies and practices that can create and sustain our high adventure recreation quality of life for the next generation. The folks who are involved in making this happen include Art Bowen of the Utah Transit Authority, Bryan Dorsey of Weber State University, Jeanne Evenden of the U.S. Forest Service (Jeanne also chairs the Fresh Air Friday committee), Helene Leibman of Weber Pathways, Ben Logue of the La Porte Group, Brad Markus of Questar, John Patterson of Ogden city, Lisa Romney of Chevron Energy Solutions, Steve Rush of Rocky Mountain Power and me. Karen Thurber provides capable staff support and does most of the heavy lifting.
Once the SOC was established, it generated a list of possible projects, all in support of the committee's vision and mission to either correct or head-off environmental issues in Ogden. Since it is impossible to tackle all issues at once, Mayor Godfrey established the work of the committee, giving top priority to programs that will address air quality. That is why Fresh Air Friday and the Blue Sky Challenge programs moved to the top of our priority list. The success of each of these programs is dependent upon the involvement and support of the citizens and businesses that build their livings and lives here in Ogden.
The response has been enthusiastic and genuine. It is encouraging to all of us committed to Ogden that we can become a community fully engaged in caring for our environment.
The Blue Sky Challenge Program kicked off on May 1 of this year with a goal of achieving 1,700 total enrollments by the end of the year. As of Sept. 1, about 760 new enrollments are needed to meet that goal. Ogden city, Weber State and many businesses are solidly on board at high commitment levels.
The Fresh Air Friday program is off to a great start with 18 employers representing about 3,500 employees already signed up and participating. Several other employers representing an additional 2,000-plus employees are ready to make the leap.
The combined effect of these two programs on Ogden's environment is dramatic. It is the equivalent of more than 9 million miles not driven annually which equates to more than 4,200 tons of CO2 not released into the atmosphere.
Now that those programs are quite successfully under way, we are beginning to focus on a number of other important initiatives. In particular, we are looking at three recycling programs with the hope that we can get all three started before the end of the year. The first, called Recycling Rangers, is a program we plan to introduce in the middle schools. The objective will be to educate children in that age range on the importance of recycling for the preservation of our environmental quality. Our hope is that they will carry the message home and begin or reinforce the recycling message with their parents. The other two programs involve recycling in parks during public events and establishing a commercial recycling program for the downtown area.
In addition, the city has committed to improving its overall vehicle fleet efficiency through adding high efficiency vehicles and by burning bio-fuels and natural gas. It is also examining replacing the lights on Christmas Village with LED lights and putting LED lights in all traffic signals. Finally, the city has made a major commitment to the Blue Sky Challenge program.
A celebration of the initial success of the Fresh Air Friday and the Blue Sky Challenge programs, as well as other elements of the SOC plan, will be held at the Salomon Center Sept. 28. Please plan to join us as we celebrate in the joint effort of creating a new, greener and more livable Ogden.
Roscoe chairs the Sustainable Ogden Committee.
