What is ozone and why do we care about it? Though chemically identical, there is “good ozone”—the kind that is naturally present in the stratosphere (as the Ozone Layer) and keeps Spaceship Earth comfortable—and there is “bad ozone.” Bad ozone is man-made ozone that hangs out at ground level and is a hazard to public...
The newly formed Climate and Environment Council held its first meeting last month to begin the important task of determining its work plan for the year. Each council member will provide input on their top five priority activities that align with the strategies in the Regional Kansas City Climate Action Plan. At the second meeting...
KC Plogtober celebrated its second-ever event last weekend with over one hundred "ploggers" turning out at 13 sites across eight municipalities to pick up litter at their favorite parks and trails.
Congratulations to Team Clay County (pictured), who brought home the "Top Plogger" award, providing almost half of the total cleanup volunteers! Another noteworthy accomplishment was the team from Raytown, MO, who had the largest single-site turnout on the Rock Island Trail.
RideshareKC is a publicly funded program that provides commuter resources to individuals and employers in the Kansas City metropolitan area — helping to create transportation options for area workers. Established in 1980, the program serves commuters from five counties in Missouri and four counties in Kansas. Learn more at RideshareKC.org.
RideshareKC is a publicly funded program that provides commuter resources to individuals and employers in the Kansas City metropolitan area — helping to create transportation options for area workers. Established in 1980, the program serves commuters from five counties in Missouri and four counties in Kansas. Learn more at RideshareKC.org.
September is Disaster Preparedness Month. And even though we’re a little late to the game, don’t worry! We’ll be peppering readers with disaster preparedness and community resilience tips and resources all year long.
As I’m writing this, Hurricane Ian is working it’s way across Florida. Some Floridians have chosen to follow evacuation mandates and advisories, some have not. Hopefully, all will have prepared adequately and will come out unscathed. I’ve seen Florida friends post to social media about their preparations, whether it’s installing the hurricane shutters, stocking up on food or digging out the solar phone chargers. Of course, this brings to mind the question: what prepares us for disaster in the Kansas City region? And what does disaster-preparedness mean in the face of climate change?
Climate change will exacerbate those natural hazards we are all familiar with here in the metro: flooding, heat, drought, winter weather, tornadoes and thunderstorms. The full impact of more extreme versions of these hazards leaves a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is for sure, the impacts could be broad and wide-reaching. We need to think expansively about our risks and vulnerabilities. Disasters in a different area of the country could impact our region — mass migration, food shortages or economic disruptions, as examples. Read on for a few ways you, your household and your city can build climate resilience by being prepared when we are faced with disaster.
MARC Water Quality, and a host of partner organizations will hold this year’s KC Plogtober on Sunday, October 16. The program’s goal is to get local volunteers to appreciate their local watersheds more by realizing that the litter on the heavily-trafficked public-use ground eventually winds up in our streams and rivers. "Plogging" is a Swedish concept that translates to picking up litter while jogging.
Registration for volunteers is open now. Be sure to visit KCPlogtober.com for more information and to sign up. Each county will have multiple streamside trails and public greenspaces to choose from, or volunteers can go solo and pick a location close by for a "virtual plog".
Since the Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan was adopted two years ago, cities, counties and area agencies have adopted the plan to signal support and commitment to take action. The cities and counties who have adopted the plan account for 83% of the total 9-county population! Thank you to the following organizations who have...
“My experience level prior to bike commuting was [that] I knew how to ride a bike, and that was about it.” Tresa Carter, director of community planning at BikeWalkKC, started riding her bike to work in Kansas City in April 2022. Despite some rough first experiences, Tresa stuck with it and now bikes to work...
I first started riding the bus in college to get to an internship in downtown Kansas City, Mo. from a neighborhood south of Waldo. I continued using the bus to commute to work in the Westside neighborhood and to the Historic Northeast when I was learning to use digital fabrication tools and vector drawing software...
