King County Parks is preparing for their 2025 levy vote. Taking their survey made me change my mind about how I prioritized things — defining success for something as big as a park system was an interesting thought experiment. I like that they didn’t provide any examples, but simply listened.
Prioritization of themes
Respondents are asked to select their top three priorities for Parks from these options:
Safety and belonging
Equity, representation, inclusion, and access
Maintenance, repairs, and staffing
New parks, trails, recreation opportunities, and infrastructure
Information, education, outreach and engagement
Five feels like a reasonable number of options to choose between. There’s also a space for folks to answer if they “don’t relate to any of these themes.”
King County now offers a Goods & Services Supplier Orientation. During this 2-hour session, we’ll discuss:
Registering as a King County supplier, opting-in to County rosters, and certifying as a small firm
How King County buys goods & services
What to expect when submitting a bid or proposal to King County
Best practices for maximizing your opportunities
E-Procurement Supplier Portal introduction
From more intense wildfires and harmful smoke to increased drought and less snowpack in our mountains, we are already experiencing climate change in King County. We have an urgent need to act boldly as a collective to create a healthier, more just, and resilient region. That’s why the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration, or the K4C, exists. We’re a partnership of local governments of all sizes working together to accelerate climate action. We combine our knowledge, resources, and advocacy power to shape policy and programs that cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions to our region can thrive in a changing climate.
emissions estimates for carbon footprint by consumption
local climate action plans
adoption of energy and related codes
cities and counties can influence MF and commercial energy codes – City of Shoreline adopted City of Seattle’s code – King County Council will consider also adopting this summer
SF and townhome residential energy code at state level
local climate preparedness
pedestrian and bike safety
K4C: how do we promote road and trail safety for non-vehicle travel?
low GHG emission transportation strategies
funding for local climate action
integrating climate into local comprehensive plans
County and K4C working on system change.
K4C collaboration:
monthly steering committee meetings with partner staff
staff events a few times a year
elected official outreach committee – weekly during legislative session, monthly the rest of the year
elected official retreat twice a year
Participating cities don’t work on every action item, but do work on some joint commitments
Embodied carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions that result from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials. Embodied carbon is a significant percentage of global emissions and requires urgent action to address it.
Please join Stacy Smedley, the Executive Director with Building Transparency, and a subject matter expert on carbon emissions associated with buildings and construction, to learn more about embodied carbon in materials, why it is important and tools to reduce the embodied carbon in building materials and infrastructure. Stacy will also touch on the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator co-sponsored by King County. She will be joined by Karen Hamilton, Environmental Purchasing Program Manager at King County, who will tell us about the commitments in the King County Strategic Climate Action Plan to reduce embodied carbon in King County Projects starting in 2022.
sustainable materials (low embodied carbon building materials & build markets for recycled content materials)
Climate Change Current State
2041-2060: do everything right > 1.6 degrees C; business as usual > 2.4 degrees C
In 2019, atmospheric CO2 concentrations higher than any point in the last 2 million years
Sources of emissions related to construction
Building materials and construction = 11% of global CO2 emissions by sector
Building operations = 28% by sector (“operational carbon”)
Manufacturing = 31% of GHG from human activities (of that, cement = 19%, iron and steel = 19%)
Embodied Carbon
Building Transparency – non-profit creating embodied carbon construction calculator (EC3)
Embodied carbon = materials extraction, transportation, replacement during building life, end of life use
Embodied carbon = about half a building’s carbon footprint
Embodied carbon can’t be reduced like operational carbon can be — it’s locked in once used
Whole building lifecycle analysis – compare materials at high level before building – then use the calculator once you’ve chosen materials to get the lowest carbon
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) = 3rd party verified enviro impact for a material or product