By Kent Edwards, Delray Beach Office of Sustainability and Resilience
As Earth Month comes to a close, we look back at the multitude of activities and events here in Delray Beach, where we embodied the saying, “Think globally, act locally.”
The Earth provides all the resources that we depend on; it naturally functions to clean our air and water, but the Earth has limits. It can be an endless source of refreshment for our souls, and living sustainably is not just good for the Earth – it’s good for people, too.
It’s my hope that this Earth Month, we helped to broaden and clarify the understanding of what the Earth provides for us. Below are a few of our activities from this month.
We started out by posting a webinar describing our draft Climate Action Plan, which is being presented to the City Commission this Earth Day, April 22. A great deal of public input and collaboration has gone into the plan, which we hope will guide many of the city’s sustainability efforts.
During the First Friday Art Walk event in April, Office of Sustainability and Resilience staff were hosted by two city partners, the Cornell Museum and the Arts Warehouse. Climate Action Plan information was on display, and staff talked informally with many of the visitors to these venues.
A local group, the Grass River Garden Club, organized a habitat restoration event at Cornell Park. In just a couple of hours, the club removed a tremendous amount of golden pothos, a Category I invasive plant, which was beginning to overrun part of the park.
Informational webinars were presented on topics that are strategies in the draft Climate Action Plan. A Solar 101 webinar went over the basic technology and common questions related to installation of solar energy systems.
Another webinar focused on energy savings performance contracting, a method that local governments can use to make energy efficiency upgrades and improvements. The energy savings, and associated cost reduction, obtained through these contracts can be so large that there are no out-of-pocket costs.
The city’s tree planting program sponsored a tree giveaway, which was organized by Community Greening, a local non-profit. A total of 185 trees of six different species were picked up by residents, to be planted throughout the city.
The Institute for Regional Conservation recorded a video with city staff, describing habitat restoration work at Atlantic Dunes Park. For several years efforts have been under way, and the video not only showed current conditions, but also described work to date. A habitat restoration event was also held at the park, continuing the restoration work highlighted in the video.
The Delray Beach Historical Society hosted city staff from public works and sustainability and resilience, to make a video focusing on Lake Ida, development around the lake,and water quality. The historical perspective was a great way to show how much the area has changed, and to illustrate the stress that development has put on natural systems. This led into a discussion of stormwater and water quality issues, very timely for today, and opportunities for everyone to have an effect through daily activities in their neighborhood.
We celebrated Arbor Day on social media, with pictures from our tree giveaway event, and information about the City’s Tree Drop Off Program. Through this program residents can select from several different species of native trees, to have three 15-gallon trees brought to their home for planting.
The city’s green business program and two certified green businesses, Eco360 and One World Zero Waste, were the topic of a video posted on social media. Both businesses not only completed the certification program, but also have a business model that offers sustainable products and services.
The local event for the Great American Cleanup was held at Sandoway House, a historical building and environmental education center. Communities all over the country participated in this annual improvement event, to create a cleaner, safer and healthier environment for residents.
There are many ways to live sustainably, something that everyone can make a part of their lives. This month we showed that working together we can address these issues locally, and when communities work together, benefits on an even larger scale are possible.
Kent Edwards lives in Delray Beach and works as the city’s sustainability officer. He has lived and worked in Florida for more than 35 years. Banner image: Sunrise at Delray Beach (iStock image).
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