Dear fellow employee,

King County Executive Dow Constantine

Earth Day offers us a chance to stop and think about the decisions we can make to protect and sustain our environment, economy and quality of life.

At King County many of us get to work on actions to confront climate change not just on Earth Day, but every day: creating walkable and healthy communities, protecting and restoring our forests and farms, providing affordable and convenient commuting options like transit and trails, or supporting waste reduction and recycling. Many work behind the scenes to create energy efficiencies by monitoring and adjusting the operations of our buildings, facilities, and vehicles.

All of these actions are vital to the future of our environment and our communities.

Overall, we’ve reduced energy use in our buildings by nearly 10 percent since 2007, and with continuous improvement, we’re on a path to reach our goal of 15 percent improvement by next year. Across the County, we’re seeing per-capita greenhouse gas emissions stabilize and some sources start to decline – but there’s more work to do.

To learn about the cumulative impact of our individual choices and actions, check out the It’s Easy Being Green website and the Solid Waste Division’s EcoConsumer Program. You can see the local impacts of climate change and what we’re doing about it in our Confronting Climate Change website, and learn more about our overall County effort at www.kingcounty.gov/climate.

Happy Earth Day. Thank you for all you do to make a difference on this and every day.

Sincerely,

Dow Constantine
King County Executive