SUNI Sustainability

Sustainability is broad and many different things can be brought under the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, the SUNI Sustainability Committee determined that for the first year, we will focus on the following three goals:

1. Put less waste in landfill and waterways – trash, especially the kind that doesn’t decompose but rather breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, pollutes our oceans and even our air. Animals get tangled up or worse, eat the trash. Finally, it harms humans as it enters the food chain and water systems.
2. Reduce water use across the neighborhood and improve water quality – we live in the arid West and water is scarce in our ecosystem. We need water to live and we need that water to be safe to drink. Pollutants that contaminate our water harm our health.
3. Increase the number of trees in Sunnyside – trees provide so many services. They produce oxygen and take carbon dioxide out of our air. They filter our water through their root systems. They provide shade which cools off our homes, streams and waterways. And, they even reduce crime – neighborhoods with more trees are safer.

In order to track to our goals, the SUNI Sustainability Committee has identified some key focus areas for action, including

• promoting composting and recycling, and increasing the use of compostable and recyclable materials by SUNI business owners
• increasing trash collected from streets, alleys, sidewalks and parks to reduce pollution in our water systems
• using less water by planting native shrubs and grasses which require a lot less watering and focusing on using less water in our everyday activities
• motivating and enabling residents to plant more trees on public right of way, in parks, and in private yards to reduce water runoff and improve air quality

We have a long list of ideas for improving the sustainability of our community.  Below are our top 5 activities that we believe will have the greatest impact for our efforts:

1. Neighborhood Cleanup Days
2. SUNI wide planting events
3. Small business outreach to encourage more composting/recycling and using materials that can be composted (that bio-degrade easily)
4. Promoting Meatless Mondays and sharing “things to watch”
5. More block captains to remind people about street sweeping

Stay tuned for updates on these activities!

If you are interested in joining your neighbors in sustainability activities, please join the Sustainability email list below. We promise not to send too many emails your way and you can always change your email preferences. Please also follow sustainability news on the SUNI Facebook page.

If you would like to participate in any specific activities listed above or have your own ideas for how we can make our neighborhood more sustainable, we can use help from planning through execution – so reach out today!

Together, we can make our neighborhood more sustainable. Join us!