St. Louis Sustainability News - April 2018

On April 16th, Mayor Krewson launched Bike Share in the City of St. Louis. The City has issued permits to two companies, Lime Bike and OFO, to operate as dockless bike share options that will prioritize access for low-income communities.  The program will start with approximately 1,500 bikes and scooters available throughout the city, with a total of 5,000 bikes to be rolled out in the coming six months. The City’s Streets and BPS Departments have been working to make bike share a reality for several years, and has enjoyed the support of several community partners, including Bi-State, Great Rivers Greenway, and Trailnet.  

Climate Protection
This eNews is a bit late because I am catching up from taking a long-awaited trip to Peru. In the March eNews, I mentioned the City would be participating in the global Earth Hour event by turning the lights off at City Hall, as it has for the past several years. Even so, I was rather surprised to see that the busy Lima airport and little villages in the Peru countryside were actively engaged in promoting Earth Hour. As it turned out, I experienced Earth Hour by having dinner in the dark at our Machu Picchu hotel! While Earth Hour is largely symbolic, it goes to show that small steps can make a difference, when it comes to taking action to help the environment. Every little bit helps … and can actually amount to a significant impact.

In that vein, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is announcing a new effort to encourage local climate action: the St. Louis Climate Handprint. In the coming weeks, you will notice new materials and opportunities for you to take action to help our environment. The concept of the St. Louis Climate Handprint is that individuals can make a positive contribution to our global environment -- whether at home, work or school. The City will be sharing ideas and offering demonstrations in the months ahead.  Thank you for your efforts - they really do make a difference. A great opportunity to learn more climate action ideas will be during the SLU Climate Summit starting this weekend. 

Urban Ecology
The STL City Nature Challenge event is coming up, and we have been working with the Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Department of Conservation, Saint Louis Zoo and other partners to develop resources to help those who would like to participate. On the City’s Urban Vitality & Ecology webpage, we have included information about the locations in the City where there will be hosted nature opportunities between April 27-30, a resource guide on how to use theiNaturalist app, a detailed Participant guide for conducting citizen science during the STL City Nature Challenge, and Field ID reference sheets to identify springtime species in five key habitats of interest: Urban Aquatic/Wetland, Urban Designed Spaces, Urban Forest/Woodland, Urban Residential, Urban Tallgrass Prairie. Please participate during April 27-30 at home or at one of the hosted activities throughout the City! 

I am pleased to share that the City has been selected as one of six in the country that will receive aCities Connecting Children with Nature Grant from the National League of Cities. In addition to conducting an updated eco-literacy assessment, the team will be exploring how to optimize outreach and accelerate uptake of partner opportunities that promote connections with urban nature. The Office of Sustainability will be working with the City’s Recreation Division, and partnering with Urban Strategies as the community lead on this grant award.

The City's Playtime Recreation Youth Summer Camp Registration is open for free summer camps for City youth ages 5-17. Camps are offered at parks and partner locations throughout the City. Due to space limitations, camps will close when they reach capacity. For more information and to register, visit here.

The Spring Sustainability Community Tree Planting events are underway for the Partners for Places Green Infrastructure grant project: Minnie Wood Park in Dutchtown got 50 trees last weekend, and Barrett Brothers Park in Wells-Goodfellow will get 100 trees on May 5th. Forest ReLeaf of Missouri is leading the community-based tree planting events with first responders. Please contact them if you would like to join in on the fun. 

Preliminary Resilience Assessment
The City’s Office of Resilience has released a Preliminary Resilience Assessment for the city. 100 Resilient Cities, the Chief Resilience Officer and numerous departments and partners conducted a comprehensive look at both the acute shocks and chronic stresses that weaken the fabric of a city. The Assessment provides a baseline of data, which helps inform targets and measure future progress towards resilience.

Opportunities to Get Involved in Sustainability Efforts:

• Great Rivers Greenway, along with many partners, is holding a design competition to envision the Chouteau Greenway, a project to connect Forest Park to the Arch, with spurs north and south to connect and engage citizens. Four finalist designs have been submitted and are on display this month. Voice your opinion on Chouteau Greenway here.
• Between April 27-30 the City and partners throughout the St. Louis region will participate in the STL City Nature Challenge. This global competition involves 65 cities around the world -- each striving to observe as many wild species of plants, birds and animals as possible between April 27-30, 2018.  Info is posted here on which locations in the City of St. Louis are hosting special STL City Nature Challenge events. Learn how to be a citizen scientist, have fun, and help the City gather urban biodiversity information.
• Call For Sustainable Yards! If your backyard is green (including low-impact lawn care, composting and using recycled materials, organic gardening, chicken and beekeeping, gardening with native plants, water conservation, and renewable energy) or you know someone whose yard is, we invite you to consider being a host on this year’s tour and putting your yard on show. Registration to host closes May 1. Learn more here.

Attend a Sustainability Event in the City of St. Louis:

• The 2018 World Ecology Award will be presented by UMSL’s Harris World Ecology Center to E.O. Wilson at the Saint Louis Zoo on April 20; 8 pm free presentation.
• Chinese Culture Days at the Missouri Botanical Garden on April 21-April 22 from 9:00 am-5:00 pm. This celebration features cuisine, a 70-foot dancing dragon, and more.
• St. Louis University will hold a Saint Louis Climate Summit on April 22-24. Experience panel discussions by experts, hear Bill Nye the Science Guy and Carl Pope. Some aspects of the summit are free but require registration. Info here.
• St. Louis Earth Day Festival in Forest Park April 21-22 from 11 am- 5 pm. Info here.
• STL City Nature Challenge: April 27-30, 2018-event details will be added here. 
• Dwell in Other Futures: Art/Urbanism/Midwest is a two day festival on April 27 and 28 of arts and ideas that explores race, urbanism and the future at .ZACK arts facility and the Pulitzer Arts foundation. For more info, click here.  
• 16th Annual Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Celebration of May 5, noon-5:00 pmalong the Mississippi Greenway. For directions to the event, visit here.

Sustainability Initiative Featured On The Air
I was recently invited to speak with Don Marsh on St. Louis Public Radio to discuss some of the City’s current sustainability projects. If interested, you can listen to the interview. 

As always, thank you for all that you do to advance sustainability in the City. 
With kind regards,

Catherine L. Werner
Sustainability Director
City of St. Louis Office of the Mayor
WernerC@stlouis-mo.gov
Twitter: @GreeninSTL
www.stlouis-mo.gov/sustainability