Green Guilt

Written by, Nora Fierman, The Alliance Center Communications Intern

| Green Guilt | : (Noun) – Feeling like you should or could do more to help the environment.

Maybe you forgot to turn the lights off that one time you left the house all day. Maybe you drove to the store that’s just a few blocks down because you needed that one thing. Maybe you forgot your grocery bags or used plastic utensils and watched as the waste added up. Maybe you finally thought, I’m just one person, this is too much.

This is green guilt. The feeling of ‘I’m not doing enough’ or ‘I just did something wasteful for selfish reasons.’ As climate change takes position on the political stage, activism increases and we begin to see real affects, it’s easy to fall victim to this feeling. Green guilt is everywhere. I feel it when I buy something wrapped in plastic. When I have a to-go cup or containers, even if they are compostable. I feel it for other people – when I watch strangers waste food, fail to recycle or friends drive to work, though the distance is short.

The absolute worst of all, I feel it when I’m doing the things I love most – when I’m outside. As an avid backcountry skier and mountain biker, a climber and a backpacker, a self proclaimed outdoor enthusiast, I feel green guilt when I drive to trailheads. Maybe don’t drive as far to this new trail or this new objective, I tell myself. Maybe don’t go on that after work mountain bike ride. I know that these activities run in my blood and that I am the absolute happiest summiting a peak, skiing deep powder, beginning a descent on my bike and flowing through wildflowers. Warm coffee on a cold summer morning in the backcountry or hot dinner curled up in sleeping bags under the stars bring the biggest smiles to my face. How do I combat this green guilt? I know if I eliminate these activities, I wouldn’t be the person I am, I wouldn’t have the friends I have and I wouldn’t be as happy as I am.

How do I deal with this? I have adopted the concept of the ‘backyard expedition.’ It’s not a solution, but it allows me to continue pursuing my passions. I’ve realized I don’t have to drive across state boundaries to find new objectives and reach new heights – we have all that right here, in just a two-hour drive. This past winter I have made it a goal of mine to explore closer mountain ranges more intimately, and I’ve been successful! We are lucky that in Colorado, we have vast ranges right in our backyard, just waiting to be explored. Every time I head into the backcountry, I see a new peak beckoning. In just a short drive, I’m back exploring the next.

My green guilt still lingers, knowing I’m still causing waste for personal satisfaction. But then I remember – these activities make me the happiest, so I will do them as responsibly as possible. Maybe this is the category in which I have the biggest footprint, despite searching for ways to reduce it. I make extra effort elsewhere. I bike to work. I have grown increasingly aware of plastic at the grocery store and consciously reduce purchasing it. I bring my own bags, always. I’m a vegetarian. I cook at home, making many staples rather than buying more plastic-contained products and I waste pretty close to no food weekly. But the green guilt whispers –  ‘is that enough?’ For now, yes. And I promise to continue my commitment to reducing my impact. After all, it’s my job at The Alliance Center to spread the word about sustainability and help our community join this movement.

That’s why this summer, The Alliance Center is dedicated to exploring this idea of ‘green guilt:’ what it is, why we feel it, and how it affects our community. Most importantly, we want to offer tips and advice as to how to overcome these feelings. The Alliance is a resource to our community. We work at the intersection of the environment, the economy and our community. Our building is full of resources to help our neighbors reduce impact, because we know small change leads to big change! Follow along and join this journey as we post challenges, resources and tons of tips and tricks, as well as events at The Alliance and around Denver! As always, let us know what you are up to with the hashtag #MyGreenGuilt. We love to hear from our community!

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One Denver family’s waste reduction journey

Written by: Diana Dascalu-Joffe, Senior Attorney, Public Lands, Center for Biological Diversity

My family is a busy, bustling and active bunch made up of two working parents, two very energetic and fun-loving kids, ages 10 and seven, and a sweet three-year-old chocolate lab named Violet. Our lives are pretty typical of most Denver metro-area families, running the kids around to activities and sports after school while maintaining meaningful careers in the field of environmental and energy law. There is never a dull moment and usually not much time to devote to reducing waste in our own home. We already own a highly energy efficient home with solar panels for heating and cooling. We drive only one car for our family of four, with my husband and I utilizing RTD public transportation to get to work. So, we already prioritize eco-friendly personal choices in our home and family. Our kids understand and value the part we all play in bettering life on this planet. It is one of our central core values as a family.

Since starting as senior public lands attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity in 2016, a tenant of The Alliance Center, I began to educate myself about my family’s personal waste stream and how we can begin to minimize trash beyond just recycling at home. The Alliance Center has a hard to recycle station in the building with information on what items can and cannot be recycled and what is actually landfilled. I learned a great deal from this station and the informational emails that would go out to tenants at The Alliance Center on how to use the station. The Alliance Center also composts food waste.

Back in 2016, our family would generate about two bags of trash for the landfill every week, even while doing our best to maximize our municipal recycling. We committed to cutting that landfill waste in half by utilizing The Alliance Center’s hard to recycle station for items that couldn’t be recycled by our municipal recycling program. Then, in 2017 we signed up for Denver’s municipal composting program. By 2018, our family reduced our landfill trash to one full trash bag a month, beating our goal by 175 percent.  We realized that most of our municipal trash was comprised of food waste and non-recyclable plastic bags, bathroom and cleaner waste, and foil-lined bags/tubes, which The Alliance Center takes to recycle. I bring a small bag full of these items to the Alliance Center every week, and it has made a big difference in our total family’s waste stream. My kids and husband have learned which items go into which bin (or recycle bag for mom’s office). We introduced this commitment to reducing waste into the core of our daily family routine. It is not only good for the planet, but good for our own well-being. Self-care, care of others and planet-care go hand in hand. While our family might not be totally zero waste in the foreseeable future, we have made it a priority to be as low-waste as possible.  The Alliance Center has given us the opportunity to do just that.

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Denver’s Upcoming Mayoral Election

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Whose voice do YOU want to hear on the train at DIA?

In many ways, Denver is a thriving city. US News and World Report lists Denver as the #3 Best Place to Live in the US. Our unemployment rate sits at 2.6 percent, which is 1.8 percent lower than the national average. We were recently announced as one of the winners of the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge for our work to fight climate change at the local level.

However, Denver is dealing with some pretty significant challenges. For one thing, our air quality is terrible. The harsh reality for many Front Range residents is that Colorado not only flunked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard set in 2015, but the state never met the older, less-strict standard from 2008. Our growing population, and the cars that come with it, are making it harder and harder to meet the EPA standards. Poor air quality affects not only people with asthma and respiratory illnesses, but also children, whose lungs are still developing. Our poor air quality is just one of a variety of challenges that the next mayor will face in their position.

Local elections often get a lot less attention than those at the national level, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less important. Denver’s upcoming mayoral election will determine much more than whose voice plays on the airport train; it will determine how our city tackles issues such as climate change, air pollution and affordable housing.

How This Vote Works

Ok, now that we have laid out why to vote, we can discuss how to vote in the upcoming mayoral election. Denver is holding its general election for mayor on May 7, 2019. In Denver, all candidates are listed on the same ballot. In the event that a candidate does not receive over 50 percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff election scheduled for June 4.

Voting in the general election is relatively simple. There are two ways to vote: 1) vote by mail – ballots will be mailed on April 15, or 2) vote in person at a voting center starting April 29.

Here are a list of important dates to keep in mind:

  • April 15: Ballots begin mailing to active voters
  • April 15: 22-day residency deadline
  • April 15: Drop-boxes open across the City
  • April 29: Vote Centers open
  • May 7: Election Day
    • Voting centers open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
    • Ballots must be received by 7pm
  • June 4: Run-Off Election (if necessary)
    • Voting centers open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
    • Ballots must be received by 7 p.m.

Here at The Alliance Center, we are deeply invested in the future of Denver. We believe that local government can be a powerful force in the fight against climate change and in creating an equitable and responsible economy. As a lead-up to the 2019 mayoral election, we are hosting a Mayoral Candidate Forum at The Alliance Center on March 21. Confirmed candidates include Michael Hancock, Lisa Calderón, Marcus Giavanni, Jamie Giellis, Ken Simpson and Penfield Tate. Our forum will focus specifically on sustainability-related issues, such as transportation, climate change, pollution and affordable housing. The event is already sold-out, but there are a limited number of scholarship tickets available, and we will be livestreaming the event. Click here to learn more.

Please get out and vote in the election on May 7. Our future is in our hands, and voting is one of the best ways to make your voice heard.

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My Green Building Journey with The Alliance Center

Written by Melissa Baldridge, member of The Alliance Center Board of Directors

I recently joined The Alliance Center’s Board of Directors, and I’m excited to lend my expertise as a green building expert. This isn’t the first time I’ve been involved with The Alliance Center, though. And in fact, The Alliance Center is the reason I even got into green building in the first place.

In the early 2000s, I was a freelance writer specializing in architecture, design and art, and while I collected some nice bylines, I was bored senseless writing about bathroom re-dos in Mapleton and 12,000-square-foot baronial ski castles in Beaver Creek. I was pretty clear that few people bothered to read my carefully crafted articles beyond skimming the pretty pics, and my stories certainly weren’t making a difference.

In late 2004, Historic Denver, asked me to write an article about a renovation near the mostly boarded-up Union Station. The project? The Otero Building formerly owned by Tattered Cover founder and Denver legend, Joyce Meskis. The building was called The Alliance Center, and Historic Denver would be one of the first 20 tenants there.

There were a number of news hooks for the project, and I interviewed John Powers, Janna Six and Dennis Fleming, the project manager. A board member for the Colorado Environmental Coalition, Powers had spent time in the Tattered Cover next door to the Otero building, seeing all these well-meaning but impecunious nonprofit groups scattered throughout the building, competing for the same donors and clueless about how to pool effort and resources.

In early January 2004, Powers started looking for permanent digs to bring all these groups under one roof. Meskis would sell the building to the newly formed Alliance for Sustainable Colorado (now The Alliance Center) for $4.625 million, with Powers putting down $250,000 and collateralizing his home for the construction loan. Powers and Six also bought the lot next door with the intention to raise another tower with rentable space.

The kicker for me was that the building was pursuing LEED certification, a relatively new green building certification starting to be used with new construction. But the Otero Building was older, built in 1908 with renovations in 1951. So, the LEED Existing Building Operations & Maintenance (EBOM) certification was a big deal, with only a handful of other projects in the country housing nonprofits and retrofitting to the LEED, above-code standard.

The article itself was a deep dive into the world of high-performance building – bricks and mortar that rode easier on the planet – and I burned through a couple of pages trying to (1) help my readers get their heads around green build, and (2) getting my own head around it. Beyond pretty pics and wind turbines in the sky, green building was cool, I was hooked, and I decided wanting to be a LEED professional someday.

Fast forward to 2008, and my partner was in an MBA program at Drexel University. She was also heading sustainability (aka “resource management”) on the supply chain for a food manufacturer. We knew we wanted to work with bricks and sticks. We both knew that sustainability was the bomb, our raison d’être, and yet we also saw how those good sustainability folks got patted on the head and sidelined in grownup real estate conversations.

So, we created a hybrid company we called GreenSpot Global, with both deep in-house sustainability expertise and real estate transactional capability. I got my first of about a dozen certifications – my LEED AP EBOM.

Since our official organization in January 2010, GreenSpot has been responsible for deal and project sourcing, sales, sustainability and financial analysis on property worth over $340 million. I’ve modeled, certified and audited over one million square feet of property. The National Green Building Standard named me a “Partner in Excellence” for innovation and excellence in green build, and the U.S. Green Building Council, Colorado named GreenSpot a “Top Green Dealmaker.”

Perhaps most importantly, we recrafted our mission four years ago to create and renovate regenerative property, spinning energy, carbon, water and waste meters backwards. From the hybrid nature of our business, I identified the “Four Steps to Higher Value for Green Build,” bridging both the wonky world of sustainability and the high-stakes game of real estate deal making.

And it all started because of one little assignment on The Alliance Center, which Janna Six says was one of the first write-ups the Alliance got.

Would I have found my way into my career-as-calling without The Alliance Center? Probably, but the Alliance was like a compass needle for me, fixing on my true north.

So, it’s fitting for me to be back here 15 years later, bringing what I’ve learned and will continue to learn as a board member, all because the center was a polestar for me when I was ready for more.

 

Click here to read the story that started it all!

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The Sustainable Development Goals: What are they?

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Have you heard of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Created by the United Nations, these 17 interconnected global goals are designed to create a better and more sustainable future for all.

Why are the SDGs useful?

As you may know, sustainability is incredibly complex and sometimes quite messy – it can mean many different things to  different people. The SDGs layout 17 social, economic, and environmental components of sustainability, with goals associated with each of them (see the image above). The creators of these goals set an aggressive timeline to meet these goals – 2030 – which basically means that we have 10 years to tackle issues such as poverty, gender equity, climate change and more if we want to create a better future for our kids and our grandkids.

We realize these goals are broad and can be vague at times. Rest assured these are just the titles, the UN has created 169 sub indicators that identify key areas under each of these broad and ambitious goals to use as a tool to track and measure progress.

This is a big challenge. One that will take all of us. Don’t let this aggressive timeline overwhelm or discourage you, the SDGs lay out the road map to achieve this future, we just have to roll up our sleeves and dive in.

Why is The Alliance Center working toward these goals?

We recognize that there are many organizations, governments and businesses working toward these goals, and we aim to collaborate with these leaders to make the global goals more tangible, actionable, and local to Colorado. Here at The Alliance Center, we have begun to map our work and impact to these 17 goals. We are currently undergoing an in-depth process of determining which goals we are working on and how we can legitimately track our progress toward meeting them. So far, we have determined that our work aligns with seven of the 17 goals. These seven include:

7 – Affordable and Clean Energy
9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10 – Reduced Inequalities
11 – Sustainable Cities
12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
13 – Climate Action
17 – Partnerships for the Goals

We recognize that even 7 of the 17 goals is A LOT for any one organization to work toward. Our mission and our vision are based on strategic collaboration – which means we understand that we can never achieve these goals alone. At our heart, The Alliance Center is a collaborative working space, home to many of the leading NGOs in Colorado. We have also begun to map our tenants’ (NGOs housed in the Alliance) work to the SDGs. We aren’t sure, yet, but we expect that with the 50 or so organizations working in our building, all 17 of these ambitious goals are being meaningfully addressed. We will share much more about this process as it unfolds in 2019, so stay tuned!

As an organization, we have a lot of resources, passion, and partners to work with to achieve these goals. As an individual, you may be asking, what can I do to make a difference in the face of these ambitious targets? Don’t fret – there are tons of ways you can make a difference – right now, right here.

How can you get involved?

The SDGs are big. Really big. It can be daunting to think about how you as an individual, community member or employee can help push progress on any of these goals. Don’t fret – there is a lot you can do. The Good Life Goals are individual actions that everyone around the world can take to help meet the SDGs. The Good Life Goals are based on the idea that the power of the people matters as much as powerful people.

At The Alliance Center, we have aligned the Good Life Goals with our Act Now Initiative – creating a resource of (relatively) easy, personal actions that you can take right here, right now to contribute to a more sustainable future. This is a work in progress. If you have ideas for more actions or if you are working toward the SDGs yourself – please contact us! We look forward to building a better tomorrow with you.

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Colorado Gives Day: Resources from The Alliance Center

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Colorado Gives Day is Tuesday, December 4. On this day of giving, thousands of Coloradans come together to support nonprofit organizations across the state. The Alliance Center has set a goal of raising $25,000. You can help us reach this goal! A gift of any amount helps us continue our work toward an inclusive, equitable and sustainable future for all. Visit our Colorado Gives Day page to learn more and schedule your gift. Make sure to check our list of Colorado companies who match their employees’ donations, and reach out to your HR department to double your impact!

You can also help spread the word! Click here to download our Colorado Gives Day social media toolkit, which includes ideas for social media posts and emails to your network. Right click on graphics below to download and share on social media.

Instagram Graphics

         

Facebook Graphics

         

Download full toolkit here.

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Partner Post: The GrowHaus

Partner Post: The GrowHaus’ 7 Tips to Make a Vibrant and Sustainable Urban Garden

Let’s talk about urban gardening! Of course growing your own food is fun and rewarding, but what’s more is that it may lead you into eating more fruits and veggies; you can control what chemicals and pesticides you want, or don’t want, to touch your food; and it may save you a few dollars during your next trip to the grocery store. Not to mention, we think you’ll have a good time in the process! Here are seven tips to making your urban garden sustainable, unique, and vibrant! To learn more check out a workshop at The GrowHaus on the second Saturday of every month.

Compost

Compost is not as complex as it is often made out to be. An old trash can or two, with holes punched for drainage, and potentially painted with fanciful designs, can make for a worthy bin.  What’s more, diverting food scraps of almost any kind from the landfill is one of the best ways to reduce your waste footprint!

Utilize No-Dig Principles

There’s really no reason to spend energy and time digging up your garden.  Tilling the soil can degrade nutrient content and destroy the microbial ecology that is great for your garden, while leaving your soil exposed to the harmful effects of the sun.  Worms and bugs help to fertilize our soils naturally, and continue the cycle of life! Once your garden is in shape, leave it be, and don’t compress the soil by walking on it! In addition, add mulch or other browned plant materials around your plants to help retain moisture (especially in the dry climate of Colorado).

Use Creative Designs like Mandala and Keyhole

Straight-line rows are so last season. Consider designing your garden with non-traditional drainage ridges. Mandala, keyhole, and terraced designs are good ways to construct your garden that aren’t the traditional rectangular rows.  These designs maintain a creative flair while also allowing footpath access to the edges of every bed of plants.

Incorporate natural elements such as rocks, wood, and water.

Adding environmentally sound aesthetic to your garden can make it appear more natural and help you avoid using unnecessary plastic or metal boundaries in your garden – items that will inevitably degrade over time.  Stone, slate, field stone, and dry wood are all useful additions to decorate your garden with – not to mention repurposed items of a vintage flavor, for decoration.

Build More Advanced Garden Structures

Herb spirals are a fun way to create gardens in small spaces, for plants that need different levels of shade, like those of herbs and spices.  A mound covered with a spiral or other patterned design is a beautiful way to include excess rocks, pieces of concrete, or any material that supports small amounts of soil and plant material.  Succulents and creeping plants are other garden items that live and look well in rocky terrain.

Advanced systems could include water collection through rock rivers, retention basins, and the stepped up addition of an aquaponics or vertical garden.  Fish ponds, aquariums, and vertical constructions that use eaves, gravity irrigation systems, and other additions will make your neighbors jealous!

Intercrop using guilds, mixing plants that support one another

Permaculturalists sometimes classify vegetables and other plants according to their growing style.  Diggers like tubers loosen the soil, crawlers cover the undergrowth, protecting soil. Climbers wend their way up supporters like trees and corn stalks, feeders provide nitrogen plant food to the soil. Protectors can repel insects and other pests, and so on.  Growing plants that complement one another has a learning curve, yet that’s part of the fun! Tomatoes could be supported by bush beans and zucchini, with an intermixing of herbs, spices and flowers. Example guild guides can be found online.

Be creative and have fun!

Having a garden is an expression of natural artistry.  Make something truly yours, using your favorite plants, farm animals, and other innovative additions.  The sky is the limit when you’re growing!

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Closing The Climate Gap

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The Climate Gap in Colorado

Many of us have heard about the big challenges climate change is bringing to Colorado. From forest fires to drought, and from extreme floods to abysmal snowpack, we’re beginning to see the fallout from climate change across the state. What we used to think of as tomorrow’s crisis is happening today. Underserved communities in our urban centers are being hit first and worst by the effects of climate change. The Climate Gap is the disproportionate and unequal impact the climate crisis has on people of color living in more polluted areas and the poor.

In Colorado, many people have been struggling to manage the challenges of climate change for decades. For example, the climate gap means that communities of color living in inequitable conditions and the poor are suffering more during extreme heat waves. We are already experiencing intensified heat waves in our urban centers due to rising temperatures and the heat island effect. The western United States has seen a larger increase in average temperature in the past decade than any other part of the country. The heat island effect describes urban areas that experience much higher temperatures than neighboring rural areas. Without access to air conditioning or cars to escape the heat, families living below the poverty line are at a much higher risk for mortality than others.

The climate gap also means that communities of color and the poor will breathe even dirtier air. Denver is notorious for our sub-par air quality, in fact we were just rated the 14th most polluted city in America for high ozone according to the American Lung Association. In fact, according to The Denver Business Journal the Denver zip code 80216 in north-east Denver is the most polluted zip code in the entire U.S. What does this mean for families living in Denver? The highest majorities of people of color and low-income residents are in some of the most polluted neighborhoods of Denver. These communities are projected to suffer from the largest increase in smog associated with climate change. More air pollution means more cases of asthma among children, more missed school days, more unpaid days for the caring parents, less income for families who already struggle to access reliable and affordable transportation, more missed hospital and health care appointments, and a host of other concerns that ripple outward as we link climate change to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Where America Stands

With Trump in the White House, America has pulled out of many of the national and international climate mitigation initiatives including the Paris Agreement. However, in the vacuum of federal leadership on climate, many local, state and regional governments have taken the lead on greenhouse gas reductions. Initiatives such as the U.S. Climate Alliance,  America’s Pledge and We Are Still In represent non-national actors that are committing to reduce emissions to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels; and to aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C. The organizations and individuals who have signed on to these initiatives represent $10.1 trillion in GDP from the United States alone.

In Colorado, Governor John Hicklenlooper recently announced a 2018 update to the Colorado Climate Plan. The state objective is to cut greenhouse gases by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, and to cut carbon from the electricity sector by 25 percent compared to 2012 by 2025 and 35 percent by 2030. The updated plan outlines advances in climate change management at the state level, as well as the progress that has been made since the release of the initial plan in 2015. Over the last three years, some examples of progress that has been made toward climate change mitigation in Colorado include joining the U.S. Climate Alliance, the adoption of the statewide electric vehicle plan, and the passing of the Denver Green Roof Initiative. The report also takes into account changes in both global and federal climate policy. In the updated Climate Plan, the authors recognize that “for communities with inequitable living conditions, such as low-income and communities of color living in more polluted areas, climate change is likely to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities.”

So, there is some good news. Through strategic collaboration, individuals and organizations across the country are advancing climate change action despite federal-level barriers. In Colorado, our climate policies and plans are integrating environmental justice into the equation for climate change solutions. But there is still a long way to go.

Where You Come In: Climate + Equity

Governor Hickenlooper and his senior staff will be visiting The Alliance Center on June 14 to discuss the updated Colorado Climate Plan and how we can meet Colorado’s state goal with actions at all levels – personal, community, and government. The event is sold out, but it will be live-streamed here.

Here at The Alliance Center, we intentionally integrate equity into all aspects of our work. We believe that a climate change solution that is not founded on environmental justice is not a solution at all. Integrating equity into each aspect of our work takes dedication, clarity, and a lot of help. In 2018 we are creating new educational and collaborative initiatives that feature equity at their core.

Our Climate + Series connects climate change to everyday issues that people can relate to such as health or housing and gives them tools to take action. At all of our Alliance Center-led events we are offering free translation services as well as limited transportation for members of underserved communities who want to participate in our events but would not be able to do so if transportation services were not provided.

As we bring people together to create sustainable solutions, we are working to break down the barriers to participation for members of underserved communities. Climate change is affecting each of us, and no community should have to carry the burden of these challenges more than another. With your help, we can scale up our impact and create solutions that honor each other and the planet.

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Partner Post: Re:Vision

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The Alliance Center is proud to partner with organizations like Re:Vision to create a better future for all. As we prepare to break ground on our own sustainable urban garden next month, we are thrilled to share Re:Vision’s story of the incredible, life-changing impact urban gardens can have on communities.

 

At Re:Vision we believe access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege. Whether through teaching families to grow their own food with our Re:Farm program, or beginning to plant the seeds of community-owned wealth at the Westwood Food Co-Op with Re:Own, our purpose is to create a thriving, resilient community. We achieve that using a three main strategies; we cultivate community food systems (Re:Farm), develop local leaders with our Promotoras (Re:Unite), and grow community wealth by creating a locally owned economy (Re:Own). We believe by providing residents with tools, training, and inspiration, the community will come together to solve some of their most pressing issues.

In 2009, Re:Vision started working in the Westwood neighborhood of southwest Denver. Westwood is bordered by Federal to the east, Sheridan to the west, Alameda to the north and Jewell to the south. You might know the area for its amazing taquerias and Vietnamese food. What you might not know, is Westwood faces significant health and economic disparities because of decades of underinvestment and inadequate resources; 37% childhood obesity rate (compared to the state average of 27%), and while Westwood has the most residents under the age of 18, it also has the fewest open spaces and parks in Denver. The average household income is less than half the Denver average, and less than 4% of the population has a college degree. There are no supermarkets, schools are overcrowded, and it is dangerous for youth to walk through the neighborhood. Yet, despite decades of neglect, Westwood is one of Denver’s most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, where 84% of residents are Latino, and approximately 60% of whom are first generation immigrants.

So, with all of these alarming statistics, why focus on food access and sustainability? Because that’s what the community wanted. When we spoke with residents, they mentioned a desire to be able to grow their own food as not only a means to save money on their grocery bills and improve access to and consumption of healthy foods, but also as a way to reconnect with the land. Many of our community members have agricultural backgrounds, and had to give those up in Denver’s more urban setting. They also gave up traditional ways of cooking because fresh produce, like chiles, and various herbs needed to cook certain dishes weren’t accessible, due to their price or actual availability. When budgets are limited, often times families are forced to make a choice between purchasing foods that will go a long way (think processed and shelf-stable foods) and produce. With the Re:Farm program, families don’t have to make that choice. Their gardens yield enough produce to feed the family and often times their neighbors as well. And if they have excess produce, they can take a variety of classes at our educational kitchen, La Cocina, to learn new culturally relevant farm-to-table recipes, or how to can and preserve so they can enjoy their produce year round. Families who participate in the Re:Farm program report continuing to eat more fruits and vegetables even in the off season.

What began with teaching seven families how to grow food in their own backyards, is now a thriving program changing food access in one community. To date, Re:Vision’s Re:Farm program has helped families throughout southwest Denver establish 1,765 annual gardens, collectively producing more than 500,000 pounds of fresh produce and saving those families over $1 million in grocery bills. In this current 2018 season, we have just over 260 families participating in the Re:Farm program.

 

Written by JoAnna Cintron, Re:Vision Director of Communications and Individual Giving

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Announcing our new Executive Director

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The Alliance Center is thrilled to announce Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, former Director of Programs, as our new Executive Director! Read more about the exciting transition in a letter from Brenna below.

Dear Friends,

Sustainability to me is more than a buzzword. It is not just recycling or installing LED lights. It is a set of values. It’s a lifestyle, one that honors the connectedness, finds balance, and strives for harmony in all systems — living and human generated.

The Alliance Center is sustainability in action. It is my great honor to step into the role of Executive Director and work with the amazing team who have been my close colleagues for the past three years to help create a truly sustainable and inclusive future. A future that works for all.

I joined The Alliance Center in 2015 after a very intentional career change. I had been working at the Brown Palace Hotel heading up their sustainability initiatives and wanted to find a place where I could have a deeper impact; where I could live and breathe sustainability — nothing less. After a ten-year career in the hospitality industry creating and leading sustainability programs for some of the premier hotel brands at the corporate and property level, I made a dramatic change in my professional life. I made it my mission to join the organization that is central to the sustainability movement in Colorado.

It is an honor beyond words to be working with our passionate and dedicated team and board, and collaborating with our extremely high-caliber tenants and partners. I feel a natural high every time I walk into The Alliance Center, and I can feel the energy seeped in passion, action and impact. To me, The Alliance Center is the most inspirational organization, housed in the most innovative building in Colorado. We are LEED V4.1 Platinum certified and are working to change the paradigm for how buildings interact with our energy grid, while driving collaborative solutions in our economy, our environment and our communities.

Over the last few years we have intentionally taken the time to clearly define our vision and the impact we want to make in the world, and we have developed a comprehensive strategy to achieve our lofty goals. We are now ready to implement our plan and help create a world where our communities are inclusive, our democracy is strong, our economy thrives, and our planet is healthy. 

The challenges we face today are existential and threaten our very survival. We simply do not have time for petty squabbles, partisan politics, tribalistic narratives, or 20th century band-aid solutions. Now is the time when we must come together in deep solidarity to co-create solutions for the 21st century and beyond.

I am elated to lead an organization that will play a mighty role in this paradigm shift. I personally invite you to join us on this journey. It will take each and every one of us, working together, to create the world we are proud to pass along to our children and grandchildren.

From the front lines of the sustainability movement, and with my deepest gratitude,

Brenna Simmons-St. Onge

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