Climate Friendly Park Drives Less and Pedals More

September 14, 2009

Have you noticed more people driving less and pedaling more in your town? Whether due to fuel prices or simply not wanting to expel carbon dioxide, more of us are using alternative transportation. Since 2003, the staff and Volunteers at Glacier National Park have also been using bikes for transportation rather than vehicles.

Thanks to a Climate Friendly Park initiative and to the Glacier National Park Fund, Glacier provides a fleet of 27 bicycles for staff and Volunteers to utilize throughout the park. The fleet consists of older-style cruiser bikes that complement the historic red “Jammer” buses. This program gives employees an alternative to driving a vehicle when completing short trips, thereby preventing a cold start from an engine. Fuel consumption and pollution output are much higher in the first minute or two after a cold start than when the engine has achieved normal operating temperatures.

You may spot a red bike at one of Glacier’s campgrounds, where a Park Ranger is using it to navigate the hills and check on campsites. It is not uncommon to see the Chief of Natural Resources riding a red bike from the park’s headquarters building to quickly get to a meeting at the science center. Preventing cold starts has a greater impact to air quality than preventing longer-distance driving.

The Glacier National Park Green Team sponsored a bike maintenance workshop for park staff to help maintain the red bikes. Bicycling extraordinaire and mechanic, Pedaling Pete, taught us a few basic bike care and maintenance skills. Our goal is to envelope a bike care and basic maintenance plan that will incorporate park staff.

Not in use? Turn off the juice!

April 15, 2009

Glacier National Park recently adopted a portion of the U.S. Department of Energy program, Energy Savers. The program teaches you ways to save enery and use clean, renewable technologies at home, while driving, and at work.

The first step that we have taken here in the park is to post helpful reminders to turn out the lights when they are not being used. Did you know that artificial lighting consumes almost 15% of a household's electricity use? Use of new lighting technologies can reduce lighting energy use in homes by 50-75%! We hope to have all of the park buildings posted by Earth Day- April 22nd.

Speaking of Earth Day, the park's Green Team will be staffing a booth at the Flathead Valley Community College Earth Day Celebration!

Finding the Balance
March 20, 2009

I’m recently returned from three weeks away, traveling in foreign countries that offered a wide range of interpretation to the phrase “living green”.  The bulk of my time was spent in the Republic of Georgia, working as part of a Department of Interior / International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) team sent to provide focused training in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to the Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.  I was in Georgia for sixteen days, based mostly in the capital city of Tbilisi.

I enjoy running a great deal, and normally like to run while traveling in places like Georgia.  However, my motivation to see the city on the run was squashed by the often dismal and dangerous air quality.  The main culprits: burning plastic (#1 and #2) and lots of poorly-maintained vehicles jamming city streets.  Someone at the Ministry laughed out loud when I asked about any recycling of materials such as plastics.

OK, so Georgia has been a democracy free from the Soviet regime since 1991 and it’s fair to say that living green may take a back seat to more some basic needs there.  A parting thought on my Georgia experience, the wretched plastic bag dominates the Georgian countryside.  Most views are cluttered by these evil things.  It hurts to look across fields of plastic at castles dating to the 12th century.  Plastic bags are blown into bushes or anything else that can hold them, often joined by other pieces of recyclables or trash.  Again, this country is doing well given their recent history and I am sure this consciousness will rise and balance will come as conditions improve for Georgians over time. They are a very strong and proud people.

Contrasting that time in Georgia was my arrival and brief stay in Germany, where every blade of grass feels in place and the idea of living green is well-entrenched.  My budget hotel had recycling containers everywhere, a low-flow shower, motion-activated lights, and on and on.  The keen observer quickly notices that the waste stream is minimized at every opportunity by aware and green-choosing Germans.  Few plastic bags here, mostly reusable ones.  Land use and other realities forced this country to consider and work towards sustainability years ago.

I returned home from these travels to my beautiful family, hearing of their life experiences in my absence.  My four and seven-year old sons seemed to live a lifetime while I was away.  I normally car pool with colleagues here at Glacier, but have chosen to start back in the “Whitefish Car Pool” next Monday.  I needed to be home when Sam and Gabe woke up these first mornings back; to experience the wonder of the simple world through their young eyes and minds.  Though something feels wrong about driving alone to work when it was avoidable, something also feels very right.