Boise City wants to be known as “the most livable city in the US”, livable means sustainable. Both in our economic practices but also our approach to the environment we live so close to. Boise is the City of Trees and it’s a moniker that the city council and mayor are eager to preserve. The talk has increased this year of instituting a new city office of sustainability, in similar light to those in larger cities like Seattle, Baltimore, and Austin. The city leaders are pushing for livable to mean a sustainable city culture that is focused on those aspects that make our city unique; clean water for our river, clean air for our foothills, and un-littered streets for the downtown. Sustainable Boise is a citywide movement that aims to do just that. Within the next 10 years city leaders plan to:
-install LED streetlights
-expand the cities geothermal system
-establish an urban tree canopy
-encourage farther the use of alternate transportation
-initiate an anti-idling campaign
-establish two wastewater treatment facilities
-etc.
[For a full list visit Boise Public Works webpage]
The aim for this eco-minded city culture is also to get individual residents involved. Already the city has instituted a composting bin system that will cut the waste sent to our landfill. The easiest way however, is to encourage residents to cut their waste from the get go by living zero waste, or at least low waste, lifestyles. Zero waste is a growing movement that focuses on minimalism and cutting an individual’s waste by simply not creating it.
11 ways to live green in the City of Trees:
- Those compost bins
It’s lovely to have them but not participating really renders them useless. About 40% of the average American’s household waste is food waste that doesn’t need to end up in landfills.
- Control waste when food shopping
Though Boise isn’t a huge city we still have options for bulk shopping: WinCo, Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer, and the Co-Op all have bulk shopping options. This allows you to get the correct amount of food need to make recipes so to not throw out excess and it cuts down on the food packaging you pay for and bring home. Making or purchasing cotton bulk bags for produce or grains, bringing glass jars or bottles for liquids, and planning recipes ahead of time are all ways to reduce your waste and your shopping bill. (Bulk is cheaper than pre-packaged food). Taking advantage of the wonderful Boise Farmer’s Market gives residents access to local,package free produce and products while supporting many refugee gardens.
- BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag
For food shopping, clothes shopping, or to just have an extra bag to reduce the need of plastic bags, tossing a reusable tote bag into your purse or car for quick grabbing is the easiest way to cut down on plastic consumption and future litter. Think about the amount of plastic bags you see daily squashed on the side of the road or floating across the street.
- No more takeout containers
You can still eat out and reduce waste. Bringing a tuber ware container with you when going to a restaurant is simple and you avoid taking home the to-go containers that just result in your trash filling up quickly and are a onetime use item that goes straight to the landfill.
- DIY when you can
Making beauty products, cleaning products, and home products when you can cuts down product packaging you buy, amount of waste that goes into the landfill, and the amount of chemicals in/on your body and home.
- Thrift options and secondhand
Can’t DIY it? Buying secondhand before buying new cuts down the waste created at stores and factories. (If you don’t take it off the shelves, stores have no need to create more waste to make products to replace it.) Plus it’s cheaper. This isn’t only for clothes, but furniture and building materials. Watching a few YouTube videos on how to re-a-pollster a chair or utilizing the second hand building materials store on Grove St. will in the end save you hundreds of dollars.
- Clean up when you can
It can seem embarrassing at times, but picking up trash as you hike in the foothills or walk on the green belt helps keep the waste from finding its way into our river or polluting the views we enjoy in Boise. Picking up trash along the city streets is good too, just be careful what you pick up and wash your hands afterwards.
- Smokers! Reconsider tossing that butt
Speaking of litter, while smoking in and of itself isn’t the most eco-friendly habit; it’s also not the worst. Keeping an old jar or water bottle in your car to toss your butts into when done smoking instead of throwing them out the car window is a great way to not litter them and not have your car smell of cigarettes. So if you’re going to do it, do it without litter.
- Getting from point A to point B
If you grew up in Boise or have been here for any prolonged amount of time then you’ve heard the jokes and listened to the criticism of that notorious Boise bus system. While not entirely unfounded, these shouldn’t deter you from utilizing it. Taking the bus instead of always driving is a great way to cut down carbon emissions and save you money on car upkeep. Plus maybe if we all used it more than the city would see the benefit of improving it, giving us all the more reason to use it. Beyond that biking is a great option with dozens of new bike stations popping up around the city. In honesty though, Boise is a driving city. Reducing pollution and waste while driving a car can seem like an oxymoron but staying caught up on upkeep is worth the time. Prevent your car from leaking fluids and dispose of the old fluids or parts in the proper way will go a long way in extending your car’s life, your pocketbook, and the earth.
- Take steps at home
The obvious one is to turn off lights and water that aren’t in use. Replacing air filters, cleaning hot water heaters, getting energy efficient appliances, etc. have all been pressed and are worthy of your time to look into. Recognizing where you live is an important part too. Like having a fully green lawn in Arizona makes no sense, knowing the climate you live in helps reduce the money you spend on landscaping, the wear on your house, and waste that’s created. By the river, landscape can be greener, but up on the bench or in the foothills those of us who live there need to acknowledge that we live in a high mountain desert. While it’s not the cactus and tumbleweed filled desert most people think of at the word desert, there is less rainfall. This means we all need to adjust our outdoor styles to what makes sense to the area around us.
- Your convenience doesn’t matter
In recent years convenience has been the name of the game in American culture, but it also produces a load of waste. Planning ahead and putting in the effort to go a couple extra steps beyond what is immediately easy will reduce the waste one person creates almost in half and save you money. It’s hard to wrap your head around at first because convenience is suppose to make life easier (obviously) but it’s not worth it in the long run when you consider how much bulk grocery shopping, planning transportation, or using the compost system the city has sent up will help not only one household but the entire valley.
Eco-Minded 