Sustainability Spotlight - January 2021 - New Year, New Goals!

We hope you had a restful and joyous new year. We wanted to take time to share with everyone some of our plans for this year. Our vision for 2021 is to enhance sustainability in Wheat Ridge through strategic program offerings, an expansion of our current outreach demographics, and a focus on projects that will yield long-term results.

We are focusing on becoming an educated, analytical and data-driven city by partnering with ICLEI citywide greenhouse gas inventory. By completing this kind of analysis, the City will have baseline measurements for carbon emissions from all major sectors – electricity, buildings, transportation and waste. This inventory will result in an accurate calculation of aggregate emissions data and the data will be utilized to create baseline metrics and inform future climate and sustainability goals. As cities in the region move towards collaborative climate goals, Wheat Ridge is joining the conversation by accessing a reliable source of current baseline metrics.

In 2021, we will be expanding the Sustainable Neighborhoods program to four Wheat Ridge neighborhoods. This program is beneficial to our city, as it creates a framework for neighbors to develop an action plan to enhance the long-term character, livability, and sustainability of their neighborhood, leading to an overall increase in neighborhood connections and resiliency within our city. Through the program, neighbors work together to create and manage sustainability projects, such as neighborhood cleanups, energy efficiency targets, and EV workshops, and city staff provides resources and guidance to assist neighbors in accomplishing their project goals. There are many projects that neighbors can complete with social distancing guidelines in place and the program has allowed other cities in the network to continue making progress towards sustainability goals and resident cohesion, despite the pandemic. Applications for the program open on Monday, January 18 and a virtual open house is planned for Thursday, February 18. Applications will need to be completed and submitted before or by Monday, March 22 at 11:59pm. To learn more about the program, click here.

Another major focus for 2021 is on the Wheat Ridge business community. We realize that current circumstances have put a burden on businesses to continue their operations and we realize an opportunity to support local businesses while also furthering sustainability goals. Through the implementation of a Sustainable Business Grant Program, we will provide matching funds to Wheat Ridge businesses that are interested in implementing strategies to lower costs and reduce emissions. Look for the application for this program to open in summer 2021.

We are also partnering with Resource Central to bring the very popular Garden in a Box program to Wheat Ridge, managing a citywide waste audit challenge for Earth Day, and utilizing our Can'dAid Foundation funded grant materials to transition the Carnation Festival to a zero waste event this summer!

As you can see, we have big plans for 2021. These are just a sampling of the projects we are planning to complete this year. Stay tuned to this page for monthly sustainability spotlights, published on the 15th of each month.