CLIMATE SMART MISSOULA

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Story
    • People + Partners >
      • Smarty Pants Awards
    • Annual Report
    • In the News >
      • Missoula Current Column
      • Press Releases
    • Podcasts
    • Jobs and Opportunities
    • Blog
  • Resiliency
    • Overview >
      • Climate Ready Missoula Plan
    • Heat >
      • Heat + Health Risks
      • Staying Cool
      • Shade
    • Smoke + Wildfires >
      • Health Risks
      • Clean Indoor Air
      • Fire Ready
    • Urban Forestry
    • Health >
      • Mental Health
    • Water + Ecosystems
  • Mitigation
    • Overview >
      • Community Action Plan
    • 100 % Clean Electricity
    • Solar
    • Buildings 4 the Future >
      • Electrify
      • Workforce Coalition
      • The IRA & Federal policy
      • Energy Smart
    • Transportation + Smart Growth >
      • Land Use Planning
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Bikes
      • Electric Buses
    • Financing
    • Water + Energy Nexus
    • Zero Waste
  • Get Involved
    • Calendar + Events >
      • Full Calendar
      • Electrify Homes Tour
      • Climate FEST
      • Climate Solutions Week
    • What Can I Do?
    • Connect with us >
      • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Act, Advocate, Invest
    • Footprint Fund
  • The Science
    • Overview
    • Climate Justice >
      • Justice and Indigenous Knowledge
    • Local Impacts
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Story
    • People + Partners >
      • Smarty Pants Awards
    • Annual Report
    • In the News >
      • Missoula Current Column
      • Press Releases
    • Podcasts
    • Jobs and Opportunities
    • Blog
  • Resiliency
    • Overview >
      • Climate Ready Missoula Plan
    • Heat >
      • Heat + Health Risks
      • Staying Cool
      • Shade
    • Smoke + Wildfires >
      • Health Risks
      • Clean Indoor Air
      • Fire Ready
    • Urban Forestry
    • Health >
      • Mental Health
    • Water + Ecosystems
  • Mitigation
    • Overview >
      • Community Action Plan
    • 100 % Clean Electricity
    • Solar
    • Buildings 4 the Future >
      • Electrify
      • Workforce Coalition
      • The IRA & Federal policy
      • Energy Smart
    • Transportation + Smart Growth >
      • Land Use Planning
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Bikes
      • Electric Buses
    • Financing
    • Water + Energy Nexus
    • Zero Waste
  • Get Involved
    • Calendar + Events >
      • Full Calendar
      • Electrify Homes Tour
      • Climate FEST
      • Climate Solutions Week
    • What Can I Do?
    • Connect with us >
      • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Act, Advocate, Invest
    • Footprint Fund
  • The Science
    • Overview
    • Climate Justice >
      • Justice and Indigenous Knowledge
    • Local Impacts
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Climate Smart Missoula's Blog

Sunday Streets Festivities

7/18/2016

0 Comments

 
We were thrilled to be part of Sunday Streets Missoula yesterday! What could be a better way to celebrate community connections and promote healthy, active transportation? With Higgins Avenue closed to cars from 5th Street all the way to the XXXXs, Missoulians young and old came out to walk, bike, skate, scooter, and dance along the downtown corridor. Climate Smart Missoula was there to share tips on how to be Summer Smart, and provide a fun, refreshing cool-down with our DIY sprinkler! (Plenty of ideas out there for how to build your own - try Googling “DIY PVC kids sprinkler/mister”.) Check out some of our favorite photos below.

We loved seeing kids and adults alike having fun with water. It’s an easy (and cheap) way to stay cool when the heat rolls in! As much as we know the importance of water conservation, using some water can be a good thing – not just for us, but for our trees, too. When it gets hot and dry out, it’s ok to neglect your lawn (brown is the new green!) but don’t forget to water your trees! They shade our homes and streets and help make our whole city cooler and healthier.

Interested in continuing the conversation about water? Maybe you’ve tried to cool down by jumping in the river, and wondered about all the green algae. Join us for our next monthly meetup, Thursday, August 4th from 5-7pm at Imagine Nation Brewing Company. Folks from the Clark Fork Coalition will be on hand to chat about water quality and conservation in our changing climate. We provide snacks, INBC has delicious beer on tap - all are welcome!
0 Comments

Bikes, Buses, and Pedestrians, Oh My! Sustainable Transportation in Missoula

7/8/2016

6 Comments

 
Picture
PicturePhoto: City of Missoula
Did you know that the transportation sector is responsible for over 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States? And more than half of those emissions come from passenger vehicles! That’s the bad news. Building a climate smart community has to include sustainable transportation that is affordable and accessible to everyone.
The good news is that the wheels are turning here in Missoula and there is healthy movement happening – quite literally! At our July monthly meet-up last night at Imagine Nation Brewing Company, we were joined by advocates of sustainable transportation, including Jim Sayer, CEO of Adventure Cycling, Lisa Dworak with Missoula in Motion, and Caitlin and Julia, Missoula’s Bike Ambassadors, who shared their insights and ideas about how to keep momentum going. Here are just a few of our takeaways from the conversation. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
​
Bicycle Boulevards and Barriers
Missoula has been praised for being a bike-friendly community; among other accolades, the Travel Channel recently ranked Missoula among the top ten cycling cities in the U.S.! But biking isn’t just a popular pastime - for many Missoulians, their bike is the primary way to get around town. According to one survey, about 6 percent of us are bike commuters, good enough to earn us a rank of 11 out of US cities over 65,000 people. And we’ve got great organizations like Freecycles, Women Bike Missoula and Bike Walk Alliance Missoula - BWAM getting more bikers out riding.

These are great accomplishments, but we can do even better! 70% of Missoulians still drive solo to work. Initiatives like Missoula In Motion’s Commuter Challenge prove it’s possible for more of us to bike, walk, bus, or carpool instead: during the most recent challenge, the number of people commuting by car every day dropped from 40% to 11%!

Bike Ambassadors Caitlin and Julia reminded us that perceptions about safety are often the biggest barriers preventing more people from hopping on a bike. Group rides like Bikeapalooza (Sunday July 17th – meet downtown at 12pm!) are a great way to build bikers’ confidence and learn more about city bike routes. And when people get on a bike, they are more likely to be a bike-aware driver when they get behind the wheel of their cars. You might say it’s a positive cycle of safety!

Transit: Smart Growth, Focus Inward
Biking is great, but it’s not for everyone. And in the middle of winter, even the most dedicated bikers (and walkers!) can be deterred by snow and slush. We’re thrilled that Mountain Line’s zero-fare bus service has been so popular, and the new 15-minute frequent service on lines 1 and 2 is super convenient. We’d love to see expanded hours and Sunday service – maybe someday! In the meantime, the Our Missoula Growth Plan’s focus inward is a great start to planning more centralized development and better integrating transit into our neighborhoods, which will help make sustainable transportation more accessible for everyone.   

Join us in Being a Sustainable Transportation Advocate!
Here at Climate Smart Missoula, we try to walk the walk. We’re proud to have won Missoula In Motion’s Transportation Best Practices Award for our commitment as an organization to sustainable transportation!
Do you bike, walk, or take the bus? Do you wish it was even easier to do all three? Your voice matters to our community, and there are lots of ways to get involved!
  • Learn more and comment on Missoula’s 2016 Long Range Transportation Plan Update
  • Join Bike Walk Alliance Missoula!
  • Support Freecycles while checking out sweet backyard chicken coops for the Tour de Cluck – Sunday July 10th!
  • Participate in the Montana Bicycle Celebration, July 15-17!
  • Volunteer for Sunday Streets, or just come on down to Higgins on the 17th to enjoy fun activities and car-free streets! 

6 Comments

    Authors

    Abby Huseth
    ​Amy Cilimburg
    Caroline Lauer
    Mason Dow
    ​Kelli Littleton
    Hailey Jorgensen
    ​Terri Nichols
    ​Max Longo
    ​Mattie Lehman
    Anna Weinberg

    Archives

    October 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    November 2023
    August 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016

    Categories

    All
    Bicycling
    Clean Energy
    Climate Change
    Climate Resiliency
    Community
    DearTomorrow
    Earth Day
    Electrification
    Energy Efficiency
    Food Systems
    Forestry
    Health
    Heat
    Inflation Reduction Act
    Local Food And Agriculture
    Monthly Meetups
    Policy
    Recycling
    Renewable Energy
    Shade
    Smart Growth
    Solar
    Summer Smart
    Transportation
    Trees
    Urban Forests
    Volunteer Opportunities
    Water
    Zero Waste

    RSS Feed

Picture

Connect with us! 

Picture
Picture