FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
MEDIA CONTACTS: Sue Cobb or Revekka Balancier
Mayor’s Office – 720-865-9016
Michele Weingarden
Greenprint Denver, Director
(720) 865-9030
michele.weingarden@denvergov.org
Denise Stepto
Greenprint Denver
(720) 865-9017
denise.stepto@denvergov.org
Mayor Hickenlooper Announces Greenprint Denver ‘Take Five’ Environmental Pledge Initiative on Earth Day
Mayor and Greenprint Denver encourage residents to take five simple steps to help the environment
(Denver) In the spirit of Earth Day, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced the Take Five Environmental Pledge, encouraging local residents to take a five-step pledge for the environment. The Take Five Pledge is part of the Mayor’s Greenprint Denver program to create an environmentally and economically sustainable community for generations to come.
“The choices we make in our daily lives can have a huge impact on our use of resources as individuals and as a community,” said Hickenlooper. “By changing five very easy habits, we can all contribute to the environmental and economic health of our city – both today and for generations to come.”
The Take Five Pledge includes five simple steps Denver residents can take for a better environment:
-
ENERGY: Replace four light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Doing so would save 1,760 kilowatts of electricity over the life of the bulbs and $20 million a year off of the combined electricity bills of all Denver residents.
-
WATER: Shorten your shower by 45 seconds. Doing so would save Denver residents two gallons a day – adding up to 400 million gallons annually citywide – about as much water as Denver’s five largest parks need in a year.
-
AIR: Replace at least one car trip a week with walking, biking or public transportation. Each Denver resident would reduce carbon emissions by 520 pounds a year. Together, all Denver residents would eliminate 153,000 tons of emissions - the equivalent of removing 25,500 cars from the road each year.
-
LAND: Plant a tree. (And plant the Denver Daisy unveiled at the Earth Day event). By joining other Metro Denver residents in planting one million trees over the next two decades, we can help remove pollutants from the air, create shade to reduce energy use and filter dirty stormwater runoff.
-
WASTE: Replace plastic shopping bags with reusable ones. Doing so would eliminate 208 bags a year, and citywide, residents would save the amount of petroleum required to drive a car around the earth’s equator 351 times
Announced today at the Botanic Gardens, the Take Five Pledge is administered through Greenprint Denver, the City and County of Denver’s Office of Sustainability. Greenprint Denver promotes ecologically friendly practices throughout the community to make Denver a better place to live, work and play.
Denver residents can pick up a detailed brochure of the Take Five Environmental Pledge at any City of Denver public library or recreation center. Local residents are encouraged to take the Take Five Pledge online at www.greenprintdenver.org. Those who take the pledge will receive a free residential energy-saving toolkit to further aid in making green choices.
For additional information, visit
www.greenprintdenver.org.