More Sustainability

In addition to attending monthly climate briefings, other projects have derived from my early work drafting a  sustainability plan.  These projects include participating in Sustainable Cities Network, working on Think Green Pages, and helping complete sustainability surveys. 

Beginning this summer, my supervisor began including me in Sustainable Cities Network meetings to garner a better understanding of the sustainability initiatives occurring in cities across the Phoenix metro area.  Now I regularly attend the Best Practices Committee meetings.  I am learning about the best practices across the Phoenix metro area that helped formulate the draft of Maricopa's sustainability plan.  Furthermore, I can offer value to the committee in the recent research I conducted of sustainability plans and practices across the country and within Maricopa's organization.

 The idea to incorporate "Think Green Pages" to Maricopa's website originated from the Public Information Office around the time I was doing research for the sustainability plan.  I collaborated with the Public Information Office, and the Planning Division to develop content and outline the design of the pages.  In particular I researched existing practices occurring within each city department and division that we could feature in the pages.  In addition, I found links to websites that would help citizens save money while becoming more energy efficient. 

More recent projects that I have undertaken include helping my supervisor complete sustainability surveys for ICMA, Alliance for Innovation, and Sustainable Cities Network. The sustainability practices collected from the Think Green Pages project provided valuable information to accurately complete these surveys. In order to complete this task successfully, I also depended on the relationship I built with the Planning Division during the Think Green Pages project.  Collaborating with them enable the most accurate information to be shared regarding the City's newest solar and green building initiatives. 

Upon reflection of these projects I determine that working on them helped develop the sustainability plan just as much as my work on the sustainability plan helped complete these tasks.  This work enabled me to continuously build on sustainability knowledge that allows me to know have a more worldly understanding of how sustainability can be incorporated in all facets of the organization.