Neighborhoods Team Up for Sustainability Efforts

A new coalition focused on bringing together disparate sustainability efforts is underway in North Denver. The Northside Sustainability Alliance isn’t another new organization, but an effort to bring together smaller efforts to enact more meaningful change. Several registered neighborhood organizations (RNOs) have members working on environmental sustainability efforts.

Ernie Diedrich, a seven year Highlands resident and current member of the Highland United Neighbors Inc (HUNI) described the new effort’s purpose: “Acting locally in our own neighborhoods is good, but resilience and sustainability transcend traditional boundaries… so scaling up and out of our silos is better. We can and ought to do both!” 

The new organization has set three main goals:

• Serving as a communications network between different community and RNO efforts 
• Creating long-term planning for sustainability and smart growth on Denver’s Northside
• Coordinating larger cross-neighborhood sustainability efforts through pooling resources 

Some of the groups wanting to work together have already accomplished efforts independently. One such effort was the Highlands Food Waste Pilot Program, which worked with eight local businesses to reduce food waste by encouraging more donations of unused food, composting and other efforts.

The coalition is hoping to identify more businesses, churches and community groups to join their efforts. Anyone interested is invited to join the inaugural meeting from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 25 at Locavore, 2630 W. 38th Ave., or contact Lisa Bardwell at lisa.bardwell55@gmail.com. You can also find them online at facebook.com/thenorthsidealliance.

Photo courtesy of Northside Sustainability Alliance.