grand outdoors
Clean Air, Sustainable Community, Bright Future
How Walking Mountains Science Center Plans to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 50%
Y
ou may have wondered about those steaming sidewalks in the village that keep the ground snow-free in winter. Sure, it makes it easier to cruise down Bridge Street in ski boots, but can it be good for the environment? The short answer is no, according to Kim Schlaepfer, project manager of the Climate Action Collaborative at Walking Mountains Science Center. She says that greenhouse gas emissions per capita in Eagle County are higher than anywhere else in the state and country.
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“The biggest issue that we are faced with is the snowmelt systems in Beaver Creek and Vail. They run off natural gas using enormous boilers that don't have a good clean replacement option, and there is no stopping new development from putting snowmelt in,” says Schaepfler. Though talks are in place to make the systems more environmentally friendly, this otherworldly luxury, our high inventory of second homes and tourism traffic were the chief culprits contributing to a whopping 1.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent released into the
environment in 2014. This prompted the county to contract Walking Mountains to draft the Climate Action Plan, which aims to revamp our buildings, transportation, energy supply and materials management, and provides education with the goal of cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. A tall order, but one that will improve all of our lives. “When you build a community with sustainability as the lens, you end up building a community that’s more resilient to the future impact of climate change,” Schaepfler explains. While we
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PHOTO COURTESY OF WALKING MOUNTAINS SCIENCE CENTER
By Julia Clarke
