Mayor Nickels' Environmental Action Agenda
(EAA)
In April 2002, Mayor Greg Nickels released his Environmental Action Agenda (EAA), a framework for integrated environmental action and investment by the City. The EAA, which builds on the citywide Environmental Management Program is a system for making and measuring improvements in both the City's environmental performance, and in environmental quality and livability in the City and region. The EAA establishes three integrating themes for environmental action:
The Environmental Action Agenda establishes measures and targets for tracking progress over time and reports annually on Earth Day.
Environmental Action Agenda Targets/Indicators
LEAN GREEN CITY GOVERNMENT
Reduce human and environmental risks -- and lower operating costs - through resource efficiency and waste reduction.
As a major landowner, employer, building manager, fleet operator, utility owner and operator, consumer of goods and services, and service provider, the City of Seattle has both the opportunity and the capacity to bring about significant improvements in environmental quality in and around the central Puget Sound region. The goal of the Lean Green City Government component of the Mayor's Environmental Action Agenda is to maximize that leverage by transforming City government into a model of clean, healthy, resource-efficient, and environmentally responsible practices.
Targets/Indicators
- Resource Use
- Energy and water use decreases in City buildings
- City fleet's use of fossil fuels decreases by five percent by 2005
- City operations emit no net greenhouse gas emissions
- Achieve LEEDTM silver rating in all City construction projects of 5,000 square feet or greater
- City's five largest departments develop their own environmental management systems
- City operations maintain compliance with environmental requirements
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HEALTHY URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
Restore ecological function and promote environmental justice through more sustainable approaches to managing the built environment, urban forest and green spaces.
A key to a more sustainable Puget Sound region is to channel the increasing numbers of people, jobs, and households into already urbanized areas and away from rural areas, farms and forestlands, and other green spaces. For this growth management strategy to succeed, we must keep our urban environments clean, attractive and livable. The goal of the Healthy Urban Environments component of the Mayor's Environmental Action Agenda is twofold: protect what's left of Seattle's natural systems, including the urban forest, creeks and watersheds, green spaces, and wildlife habitat; and look for opportunities to restore these natural systems as neighborhood plans are implemented, urban infrastructure is updated, buildings are erected or remodeled, and large areas of the city are redeveloped.
Targets/Indicators
- Over 1 acre open space "breathing room" per 100 residents
- Urban forest canopy quantity and quality improves
- 30% sustained decrease in City operational pesticide use
- Increasing numbers of juvenile salmon migrating out of Seattle's fish-bearing creeks
- Protect and where possible emulate and restore natural systems
- Promote environmental stewardship and environmental justice
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SMART MOBILITY
Improve mobility, environmental quality and social equity through smart transportation services and solutions.
Motor vehicles are the primary source of air pollution in the central Puget Sound region. About 60 percent of the region's emissions of the greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming come from tailpipes, and about 70 percent of the toxic air pollution is from diesel emissions from trucks, buses, ships, and other sources. The goal of "smart mobility" is to provide more mobility of people and freight with less hostility toward the physical, environmental, and economic health of our community. The City's efforts to promote "smart mobility" fall into three broad categories: 1) growth management strategies that result in more people living closer to their jobs, services, and amenities - so they are less-dependent on car travel; 2) transportation demand management (TDM) programs; and 3) major investments in transportation system improvements, such as bicycle trails and the monorail.
Targets/Indicators
- Reduce the percentage of City employees who drive alone to work by 35 percent from 1992 levels
- Increasing number of reduced trips/miles driven and total benefits in $s resulting from Way-To-Go program
- Improve efficient use of our existing street system through signal optimization
- Improve transportation choices
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