Green Up!

The Green Up program www.greenupseattle.org gives Seattle City Light residential and business customers the option to purchase wind power at the source and support development of new, renewable energy resources in the Northwest. Residential customers can purchase green power for 25, 50 or 100 percent of their electricity use at flat rates of $3, 6 or 12 per month. Business customers can participate based on their kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption and earn Silver, Gold or Platinum Partner recognition. There are more than 7,000 customers participating in Green Up to date.

Special Limited Time offer: Join Green Up now with a one-year committment and recieve an organic, Fair Trade certified THEO Chococate bar and a two-for-one admission coupon for the THEO Chocolate factory tour in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle. THEO Chocolate is a Platinum 100 percent Green Up Business Partner. Sign up at www.greenupseattle.org Offer good for residential customers through July 31, 2008.

Way to Go Seattle

Car emissions are the single largest source of global warming pollution in Seattle. For every mile driven, a pound of greenhouse gases are released into the air. For an average car, that’s more than 200 pounds of global warming pollution every time we fill up the tank. Finding a better way to go greatly reduces this pollution, saves time and money and improves our quality of life. Seattle Department of Transportation's Way to Go Campaign offers money and other rewards to Seattle residents who commit to drive less or sell their cars for good. Way to Go can help you plan a transit trip, connect you with biking resources and help you make your walk more enjoyable.

The Bags Are A'Changing

On April 2, Mayor Nickels and Council President Conlin announced a proposal to encourage reusable shopping bags by putting a 20-cent fee on both paper and plastic disposable bags at the city's grocery, drug and convenience stores. They also unveiled a plan to ban foam containers in the food service industries. If passed by the City Council this summer, both measures would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009 and restaurants

would have until July 2010 to convert to recyclable and compostable packaging. Seattle would be the first city in the nation to put a fee on both plastic and paper, which has been found to be four times as environmentally harmful as plastic. For more information, click here

Tracy Wolpert, CEO of PCC Natural Markets: "Seattle's proposed policy reflects the growing awareness about the impacts of single-use bags and will help to enable shoppers to act on their good intentions."

Twist & Save

Seattle is making it easier to Twist & Save. City Light has teamed up with area retailers to offer compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs at deeply discounted prices.

» read more