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Sustainable Los Altos Presentation for IE
1. Living Sustainably
in
Los Altos, California
Presentation by Kathryn A. Stern
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2. Sustainable Development
The 1983 World Commission on Environment &
Development defined sustainable development as:
"development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs."
I used this lens to determine if the residents of my
hometown, Los Altos, California, live sustainably.
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4. Bronze Bike Friendly Community Designation
Bicycle- Friendly
Many Los Altos residents are avid cyclists
and prefer getting around town without a
car. In fact, it is not unusual to see a
group of local executives commuting
together by bike. In 2011, Los Altos
received the Bronze Level award for being
a Bicycle Friendly Community.
Local Los Altan Commuting to Work
Bike-Friendly Initiatives include:
• 10+ miles of bike paths
• $30,000 in funding for K-8 cycling
education
• Creation of a pedestrian and bicycle
bike bridge
• Clear bike signage
• A city-wide Bicycle and Pedestrian
Advisory Board (BPAC)
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5. Bike-Friendly- Silver Bike Friendly Business Award
Businesses
Sustainable development in Los Altos
also encompasses sustainable business
practices. While working at Passerelle, I
established a Bicycle-Friendly-Business
(BFB) initiative that was designated with
a Silver Award by the League of
American Bicyclists.
BFB Highlights:
• 1/3 of the employees commute to work by bike
• On-site shower and locker facilities for those employees
• Sponsorship of local bike-friendly-community events
• Collaboration with the City Council to ensure that the
Passerelle Investment Company
downtown becomes more accessible to pedestrians and
cyclists
• Installation of more bike parking than required by the
city for our guests
Other business owners have followed suit
and also encourage their employees to
commute by bike instead of by car. There
is even a Bicycling Baker who delivers
her baked goods to local residents and
businesses by bike.
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6. Safe Routes to School & Safe Routes to School Project
Bicycle Infrastructure
Sustainable development also means
maintaining infrastructure for bicycles.
BPAC is in the process of replacing a
deteriorating bicycle path that is
heavily traveled by local school
children.
Los Altos has even implemented
sharrows (bike arrows) that alert cars
to share the road with cyclists.
Unfortunately the city did not place Sharrow in Downtown Los Altos
the sharrows in the middle of the lane.
This can lead to a dangerous situation
where a cyclist does not have enough
room to ride safely.
Another city-wide effort is the annual
bike rodeo where students learn about
bicycle safety and they can trade in
their old bicycle for one that fits them.
Reusing old bicycles reduces the need
to consume new ones.
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7. Bike to Work Day & Bike to Work Day 2012
Drive Less Challenge
Each year during Bike to Work Day,
BPAC hosts a breakfast energizer
station along our major bike route.
This encourages more Los Altans to
commute by bike instead of by car.
Los Altos Bike to Work Day Stats*
• 2011--350 bicyclists passed through the energizer
station between 6:30 – 8:30 AM.
• 2010—385 bicyclists passed through in 2.5 hours
• 2009—463 bicyclists passed through in 2.5 hours Drive Less Challenge 2012
The Drive Less Challenge is a
regional competition to see how
many pounds of CO2 can be offset by
using sustainable means of
transportation during a two week
period. In 2012, Los Altos residents
won 1st place in the regional
competition.
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8. Pay-to-Use Charging Station at Town Hall
Electric Vehicles
The electric vehicle company, Tesla,
is located in the next town, and
many Los Altans are proud Tesla
owners.
Recently, there has been a surge in
EV popularity and our town hall
installed a pay-to-use charging
station to cater to its citizens. There
are other charging stations located at
the local baseball field and at several
downtown businesses. The
implementation of EV charging
stations around Los Altos
symbolizes the growing popularity
of sustainable means of
transportation.
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9. Sustainability Me at the Water Exhibit
Education
Los Altos is serious about
educating its citizens about
sustainable water practices. The
local history museum even curated
an exhibit on how much water Los
Altans consume and how they can
stop wasting water.
Another aspect that Los Altans
care about is the protection of
native plants. The town has has a
native plant demonstration garden Native Plant Garden
in order to teach school children
and residents about how to grow
local plants.
These educational efforts inform
Los Altos residents about the
importance of sustainability and
how they can make a positive
difference in their own community.
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10. Water Packard Foundation Bioswales
Conservation
Storm water mitigation is another
important step in sustainable
development. The Packard
Foundation, located in Los Altos,
recently introduced bioswales as
part of our city infrastructure.
Bioswales enable storm water to
feed into streetscaping instead of
being wasted down a drain. They
are becoming popular in both Zero-scaping in Downtown Los Altos
residential and commercial projects
in Los Altos.
Local business owners have also
taken strides to become water saavy.
New planter boxes downtown
contain native plants that require
little to no water.
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11. Sustainable Energy
Town Hall Solar Panels and Native Plant Garden
Many Los Altans are solar panel
advocates and use them to either heat
water or to mitigate their use of
electricity sourced from coal. City
Hall has installed solar panels in
order to offset their use of electricity.
You can track their electricity
consumption by visiting their site :
(www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/
sustainability/solar).
Another major sustainable Solar Panels in the High School Parking Lot
development effort was the
implementation of solar panels in the
high school parking lot. This energy
upgrade was made possible due to a
ballot measure that was passed by
Los Altos residents. Unfortunately
though, as you can see from the
image, most Los Altos high school
students commute to school by car
instead of by foot or bike.
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12. Age-Friendly City Certificate from the WHO
Social Equity
Social equity is another
important sustainable
development factor. Los Altos is
a multigenerational community
that ensures that all citizens have
a healthy, vibrant, and safe place
to live.
The World Health Organization
recently inducted Los Altos into
its Global Network of Age-
friendly Cities. We take pride in
the fact that our community can
sustain and enrich the lives of
people from multiple age-groups.
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14. Over-Consumption
This Los Altos home has several unsustainable features:
• Three cars for one household equates to a large carbon footprint.
• An unnecessarily large home requires more energy to heat, cool, and
illuminate at night.
• The landscaping consists of vegetation that requires a lot of water and
maintenance.
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15. Over-Consumption
Sustainable development, as
discussed earlier, is development
that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their
own needs.
Unfortunately, Los Altans fall into
the trap of needing to purchase the
latest gadget, have the newest car,
or own the nicest house. All of
these material items that we
consume destroy natural resources
and negatively impact future
generations. By using more than what we actually need, we rapidly decrease our ability to
provide future generations with clean water, fresh air, and healthy food. The residents of my
hometown need to refrain from over-consumption and instead be grateful for the things they
have.
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17. We are working
on it!
Most Los Altos residents are
environmentally conscious. We An Efficient Prius next to a Gas-Guzzling Yukon XL
promote the use of sustainable
transportation, we practice water
conservation, we are starting to
mainstream the use of solar
panels, we teach sustainability to
our community members, and
we promote social equity.
Although we still need to work
on reducing our levels of
consumption, we have made
great strides as a community to
ensure that future generations
inherit a beautiful and healthy
planet.
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