Salt Lake City officials urge global United Nations attendees to pursue sustainable policies around food production
Source: www.sltrib.com - Monday, August 26, 2019
A panel of Utah elected leaders and government officials at the United Nations Civil Society Conference on Monday urged attendees from across the globe to follow their lead in pursuing aggressive policies to stem climate change. While they offered tips on how to leverage local partnerships to increase renewable energy offerings and ways to reduce transportation emissions, panelists also outlined opportunities around a less-considered area for sustainability efforts: food production. When Salt Lake City formed its sustainability office in 2008, “we started focusing on traditional environmental issues like environmental compliance,” calculating municipal and community carbon footprints and working “on traditional waste and recycling programs,” recounted Debbie Lyons, the department’s program director. But because food production makes up about 25% of a household’s carbon footprint in Utah, “we were also asked to start looking at our food systems and food production,” she told a group at the Salt Palace Convention Center. The city created a food policy task force to look at city code and evaluate barriers for growing food in Salt Lake City’s urban landscape. That led to the revision of many of the city’s zoning codes to allow for urban agriculture in more areas and enable urban farms and community gardens to sell on-site, Lyons said. The city also relaxed its chicken-raising and beekeeping rules and looked to differentiate greenhou
Source: Breaking News
A panel of Utah elected leaders and government officials at the United Nations Civil Society Conference on Monday urged attendees from across the globe to follow their lead in pursuing aggressive policies to stem climate change. While they offered tips on how to leverage local partnerships to increase renewable energy offerings and ways to reduce transportation emissions, panelists also outlined opportunities around a less-considered area for sustainability efforts: food production. When Salt Lake City formed its sustainability office in 2008, “we started focusing on traditional environmental issues like environmental compliance,” calculating municipal and community carbon footprints and working “on traditional waste and recycling programs,” recounted Debbie Lyons, the department’s program director. But because food production makes up about 25% of a household’s carbon footprint in Utah, “we were also asked to start looking at our food systems and food production,” she told a group at the Salt Palace Convention Center. The city created a food policy task force to look at city code and evaluate barriers for growing food in Salt Lake City’s urban landscape. That led to the revision of many of the city’s zoning codes to allow for urban agriculture in more areas and enable urban farms and community gardens to sell on-site, Lyons said. The city also relaxed its chicken-raising and beekeeping rules and looked to differentiate greenhou
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Source: Breaking News
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