Monday, March 26, 2007
Environmental progress or green wash?
Park City citizens claim to support wind power, recycling and sustainable development, but sometimes it is hard to take them seriously. Just look at all of the new developments, and the traffic! But to be fair, being an environmentalist in a popular resort town can be complicated. Locals are frequently faced with the question: is it possible to control growth, protect the environment, and still prosper? Overall, do you think Parkites can call themselves green or are they just trying to be politically correct? Feel free to hand out compliments or point fingers by posting your comments here.
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16 comments:
There is no way Park City can call itself green. First of all, most of the town is second homes, which are by definition not green. These are homes which don't need to exist at all. So that means that materials were used to build a house that didn't need to be built at all. Second, the houses are unnecessarily big. It is very un-green to have a 12,00 square foot second home which is made of wood, which comes from trees, which were cut down to build, and also other trees were cut down to make room for it and then needs to be heated. Then roads were built to get to the unnecessary 12,000 wood second home. Roads are made of asphalt, which comes from oil out of the ground by big drilling rigs scarring the earth run by Halliburton and ExxonMobil. Then to get to drive on the asphalt road to get to the 12,000 square foot wood second home we drive Chevy Tahoes and Rand Rovers that get 14 mpg. They they go out to dinner in their Range Rover and park in the brand new concrete parking structure on Swede Alley. Concrete comes from sand and gravel quarries like the one in Parley's Canyon which digs up the earth and leaves a big scarred hillside. So everything about Park City is extremely wastful, harmful to the earth and un-green. Park City's green-ness is a joke, the poser green City Council is a joke and especially posers like Dana Williams and Joe Kearnan are jokes.
The only real "green" in Park City is that, with the dead presidents printed on it.
I concur with the previous posts and would like to add that it does not appear that there is any solution to the growing traffic problem. The lack of roads to accomodate the influx of growth is a recipe for big city traffic in a small town. All the while, building for both commercial and residential structures is flourishing.
Although there is a green movement, it is not happening fast enough. Unfortunately the green companies right here in Park City as well as Salt Lake are doing more business out of state because of the lack of urgency to recognize the paradign is shifting and we can no longer ignore these environemtal concerns. Some local companies; Envirotherm, Mor-lite, EcoSteel Building Sys., The Green Building Center, SL City Green, etc.
Being "green" is a personal choice that can spread to become a community ethic. Unfortunately, the strongest "green" ethic in Park City is desire to make some "green".
Striking the green balance is definitely a complicated issue in a tourist town such as Park City; however every effort counts and instead of hanging on the negative we should be focusing on bringing the postitve to light and educating others about real solutions that everyone can do. Unplug all of your appliances when you leave the house is one simple solution that relatively few take the time to do. Another solution to help strike a balance is encourage your local watering holes and restaruants to recylce--you'd be suprised how many don't! Offer to take the recyclables to the center for them if you really care--I work with some inspiring people who do just that for a very busy main street restaurant. Lastly, consider buying carbon offsets...check out nativeenery.com. Being green is a personal responsibility...stop blaming the town and do something.
"It is not easy being green."
Nan, you and your staff at the Record are full of "methane gas." Put that in your tank!
"can we go green and survive economically"!! Survive is key. We are talking about survival of our planet. Some of us suffer economically for a period of time; ultimately we must change for this survival
Let's focus on the question.
"Is it possible to protect the environment and still prosper?"
Of Course!
Anything is possible. There's nothing that we cannot do or change and the new opportunities are boundless.
Now let's start with being responsible CONSUMERS and EDUCATE ourselves and others. 'Be the change you wish to see in the world', right?
'No one knows enough to be a pessimist.'
Death to anyone who drives and SUV or disagrees with Al Gore!
Put Father Flynn from St. Mary's in charge of the program. He is a communist, so he can teach the kids more of the same pyschobabble!
Neither my husband nor I will ever drive a big gas guzzling truck (branded SUV to sell to soccer moms). I remember when I would pull up next to a big F-150 at a red light and see a rugged man behind the wheel. That was my chance to get my 10 second flirt on! You know... look over, smile, look forward, drive. Now, I pull up to a big truck at a light and some little kid is sticking out his tongue while his brother is giving me the finger-- that used to only happen next to station wagons! What's the world coming to?
But on a more serious note, I do get sick of the hypocracy of today's so-called environmentalists. They get pissed at a soccer mom driving an Explorer, and then hop on thier private jet and fly across the country (a one-way flight could fuel a Hummer for a year).
I prefer putting around in my Mini Cooper and dodging trucks who run red lights-- keeps my life exciting while I get 30 (city) miles to the gallon.
Our problem is with City Government. City Manager runs the show: He's corrupt, extorts, accepts bribes, favoritism, nepotism, double standards, etc. Park Record, INVESTIGATE! He does business at the Rotary Club! ILLEGAL! Tom Bakaly belongs in JAIL! FIRE HIM! report it to the FBI! (It's confidential) Save our town! FIRE TOM BAKALY AND THROW HIM IN JAIL. we will never be green as long as we have such a terrible person setting the course for this town. He THINKS HE's ELECTED!! HE IS NOT!!!!!!!
I have to smile as a former resident and now interested onlooker. PC is just trying to be 'PC' and its looking like they will miss the mark
Example: Miles Rademan came on state wide tv last week saying "we are using 80% of our water every day and we can't continue to do that" I know for a fact that the city has used almost all its water everyday in the summers when I lived there. There were even times that the Daly Canyon tank went dry (shhh no body supposed to know).
Plain and simple this is another bid for more water so the "growth" can continue on unabated.
Miles used to open his water talks in the old days with, "In the West water does not flow down hill but rather flows to the largest amount of money". Weber Basin Water Conservancy District has part of Smith Morehouse reserved for Park City (Snyderville Basin)and is just drooling over getting that water over the hill via Rockport and a new treatment plant. They can then sell that water to you up there before they sell it to the folks downstream. How many of you have a business you can sell your product then retrive it and sell it again?
First of all, there are some Parkites that live here year round and are conscious and respective of the green movement. The thing that makes this year-round parkite angry is the city itself!
First of all, how much water does it take for that huge (enormous) GREEN lawn on the north side of 248 (Kearns) where all our schools and various other city-owned buildings sit?
I find it amazing to see not only how lush and green our city-owned grass land is - (right after you pass the blinking "Conserve" - STAGE 1 DROUGHT - sign as you enter into Park City from hwy 40), but how many times I've passed by while it is actually raining and see the sprinklers going!!!
City: SET AN EXAMPLE! Let's skip re-asphalting the roads next year and use that money to xero scape as much of our city-owned land that is possible and purchase a more efficient sprinkler and drip systems that measure the moisture and don't water when it is not necessary.
Top Stop, in Park City, sells compressed natural gas (CNG) for $0.73 per gallon equivalent. (Thanks guys!) CNG engines are the cleanest internal combustion engines on earth (much, much cleaner than any hybrid). In fact, on bad air days in Salt Lake, the emissions coming out my tailpipe are cleaner than the air going in!
Honda makes a Civic that runs on CNG only. When I found out Top Stop sold CNG, I bought a used one as an experiment. Had it trucked up from Phoenix. It gets about 35-mpg. It isn't much to look at, just a humble little green machine in the land of Range Rovers and Escalades. It goes about 140 miles for the price of one gallon of regular unleaded gas... and it feels good to know that we are doing a something besides changing out our old incandescent light bulbs to get cleaner air.
My real estate clients think it is kind of cool once they understand it. (Call me to list your sell your home and I'll give you a ride! LOL). Seriously even if you don’t want to do a real estate deal, call me if you want to talk about what I've learned about CNG fueled cars and trucks. I'm happy to share. (435) 645 8777 at my home in Park City.
Governor Huntsman recently had his Suburban changed over to run on CNG (at his own expense). He's asked others with the means to do the same thing.
There are federal and state tax incentives that may make the change to CNG nearly costless (check for AMT implications of the tax credits). Regardless of the tax benefits, the environment would be cleaner if we switched to CNG.
We have local supply and some of the cheapest CNG in America. Plus CNG is a natural bridge to hydrogen, a completely clean fuel.
It isn't everything, but it is one simple way to be a part of the solution. Driving a CNG vehicle WILL leave a smaller carbon footprint.
Art Brothers
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