Sacramento Sustainability Forum 2.0

SSF 2.0 is a public engagement & education platform empowering the community to create a more sustainable society.

PRESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2014

SUSTAINABLE SACRAMENTO HOSTS SMARTWATER FORUM AS CALIFORNIA FACES WORST DROUGHT ON RECORD: CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IS KEY

Sacramento is leading the nation in sustainable community action. It is also a city struggling to meet the State’s mandatory water conservation goals. We know water is the source of life and it makes up over 70% of the planet and the human body. We know the City of Sacramento has adopted a Stage 2 Water Shortage Contingency Plan and that globally climate impacts and drought adaptation are topics at the forefront of everyone who depends upon water for their livelihood and survival. But do we know how to make a difference as an individual?

In California and Sacramento, which is the heart of California’s ag-economy and the Farm to Fork Capital of America, all of us are water-interdependent. It’s about everyday people—all of us must have the knowledge about what’s happening to our water supply and how we can take individual actions in our everyday lives to conserve, reuse, and adapt to the new age of SmartWater.

This month on August 21st, at McKinley Park and the Clunie Community Center, the SmartWater festival will deliver answers, and mobilize citizens into water conserving action. SmartWater is a family-friendly festival that takes on the subject through art displays, demonstrations, exhibits, and engagement activities to inspire us to think differently about water and to take SmartWater actions. At these events, participants are a living expression of our region's best and brightest ideas for a smarter, greener, more sustainable city.

  • Where does my/our water come from & go to?
  • How much water do I/we use?
  • What is my/our water quality?
  • What is watergy and how does it relate to me/us?
  • What can I/we do?

SmartWater is organized by Sustainable Sacramento Forum 2.0 and supported by ongoing sponsors including Commerce Printing, Uptown Studios, Soil Born Farms, the City of Sacramento Department of Utilities, SMUD, the Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition, AtlasRefuel, and CleanWorld. More than 3,000 people are actively attending and participating in their regional efforts online and in the community. That number is growing, now in their third official month as SSF2.0 aims to use technology and community engagement to help people green their lives in the Capital region.

In June the group worked on a SharedVision effort, which was captured in an infographic project, the heart of a visual education campaign with plans for use as an interactive tool in both a mobile application and high-traffic zone kiosk display that will give visitors and residents a way of engaging in teachable, sustainable “bites” about Sacramento in topics including SmartFuel, SmartWater, SmartFood, and SmartReuse. These infographics set the stage to inspire individual action and progressive learning. The group plans to deliver at least 8 more monthly campaigns with additional topics including SmartBiz, SmartEd, SmartLiving, and SmartEnergy.

Their activities are currently also focused on creating a new financial support model for this community-inspired organization that proposes to fund the community side of programs and activities through the development and delivery of innovative mobile, social and web technology centered on consumer green behavior and carbon-tracking software. They hope to deliver a beta version of the first mobile application and at least one standing kiosk display at a high traffic location in the first quarter of 2015. They have more than 50 active volunteers and are led currently by advisors from informing business, technology, financing, government, academic, and community sectors.

This month, the SmartWater festival begins at 5:00 pm with art and family activities, and food and live music, featuring the local nonprofit Chalk it Up to inspire water-fueled sidewalk art. An interactive panel begins at 6:30 featuring panelists Roger Dickinson, CA Assemblymember, 7th District, Colin Bailey, Executive Director, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Terrance Davis, Sustainability Manager, City of Sacramento Department of Utilities, Todd Manley, Director of Government Relations, Northern California Water Association, and Tom Gohring, Executive Director, Water Forum. John Woodling, Executive Director, Regional Water Authority will be the guest keynote speaker.

The pre-festival community event is free. The group charges $10 a ticket to attend and participate in the educational forum, which goes to pay for all the monthly event costs. Tickets are available at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sacramento-sustainability-forum-20-smart-water-tickets-12356499623

EVENT/ORGANIZATION CONTACT: Yeshua Adonai, 916.342.5102. yeshua@ssf2.org

PRESS CONTACT: Tracy Saville, at 916-717-3250 or TKsaville@me.com

ssf2.org/smartwater

About SSf2.0

Sustainable Sacramento is all about making the Sacramento region a SmartCity. SmartCity Sacramento should be filled with SmartPeople making SmartChoices that makes their lives greener. SSF2.0 is a re-mixed version of an effort begun a few years ago by local community organizer Rick Noss. Re-energized with the latest in technology and a very active, regional millennial demographic of designers, technologists, community activists, and start-up enabled young leaders, this new, growing movement, a millennial-led effort of the sustainable-minded in our region is gaining growing support from the business and government community. They are bringing people from all walks of life together with leading policy makers and the business community to energize individual citizens in relevant, practical actions to help green their lives and make our community more sustainable and climate resilient.

This is the third major community outreach event of Sustainable Sacramento Forum 2.0, a new and growing organization dedicated to making Sacramento a zero waste, fully green and sustainable community.

In June the topic was about the overall shared vision of a sustainable region; SmartFuels, was held in July and was covered by CBS’ The Car Czar; August is SmartWater, September is SmartFood with the Farm to Fork festival as the backdrop, and October is all about Smart ReUse.

Watch July’s Car Czar Episode SmartFuels below: