News

December 2020 We Are OneSTL - Emily Andrews

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Published on Wednesday December 30th, 2020

To wrap up 2020, we were happy to feature Emily Andrews as our We Are OneSTL December spotlight!

Emily is the Executive Director of the U.S. Green Building Council Missouri Gateway Chapter,  co-chair of  the OneSTL Energy and Emissions Working Group, and a native St. Louisan. In December, we shared how she got involved in sustainability, the importance of collaboration, her vision for the St. Louis region, and more.

Many thanks to Emily! 

Here is your sneak peek of her story… all her posts can be seen on our Instagram.

“In the next year, the U.S. Green Building Council - Missouri Gateway Chapter and the City of St. Louis will launch an Energy Resource Hub for the region, which will help building owners and operators make energy improvements. I hope there will be opportunities to expand the work beyond the city limits. The City of St. Louis has led the way, but now it is time for the rest of the region to step up and follow their lead…”

#energyefficiency #GreenBuildings #ClimateChange #ReduceEmissions #collaboration #climateleader #OneSTL #STL #StLouis #sustainability

Holiday Recycling with Elysia Musumeci

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Published on Wednesday December 23rd, 2020

Thanks to KTRS for the feature on OneSTL’s new campaign - Return Plastic Bags and Wraps. Elysia Musumeci from Brightside St. Louis (an OneSTL partner) shared some timely recycling tips for the holidays and beyond. Give the segment a listen today!

"Green Jean" Ponzi Spotlight on We Are OneSTL

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Published on Monday November 9th, 2020

This month, our We Are OneSTL feature is Jean Ponzi. If you are involved in sustainability in St. Louis, you likely have heard of or met Green Jean!   

Jean grew up in Wisconsin and  has a love for and connection with the natural world, which continues to inspire her work. She has dedicated 30+ years to living and teaching sustainability skills and lessons. Jean’s passion and energy emanates from every presentation and relationship she builds and nurtures within the community.   

In the coming days, we will be sharing posts on our Instagram and Facebook about Green Jean Ponzi. Here is a sneak peak.   “...My roots as “Green Jean” Ponzi are absolutely sunk in the soil of the Missouri Botanical Garden. I am deeply grateful to the garden for cultivating the interest and skills that have become my life’s work.”

We Want You to Recycle Your Yard Signs

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Published on Sunday November 1st, 2020

Campaign/Yard Sign Disposal

Campaign signs are a recycling challenge because they're made from mulitple materials, such as paper, plastic and metal. Diposing og them requires taking them apart and disposing of each protion based on its material.

Here's what you can do:

• Break down the sign by detaching the metal wire stand from the sign itself. The metal wire is made of steel. Steel wire isn't recycled curbside, but it can be recycled with other scrap metal.
• If the sign is made of paper or cardboard, the paper or cardboard can be recycled curbside, as long as it isn't laminated.
• If the sign is sturdy, corrugated plastic, it CANNOT be recycled curbside. Drop off your corrugated plastic yard signs to be recycled at one of the drop-off locations below.
• If the sign is a very thin, flexible plastic (like a plastic bag), that means it's made from film plastic. This CANNOT be recycled curbside, but it can be recycled with plastic bags.

Before tossing your campaign sign consider saving it for reuse. You could attach a new message to the board and use it to promote a special event. A lcal school or nonprofit organization may be able to use the sign, too. If you don't want to save the entire sign, you may be able to reuse the wire stand for future signs!

Below is a list of locations where you can take your yard signs for recycling.

Information brought to you by OneSTL's Materials and Recycling Working Group!

We Are OneSTL Kicks off with Lacy Cagle

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Published on Sunday October 18th, 2020

OneSTL is proud to present our first "We Are OneSTL" spotlight, featuring Lacy Cagle! We Are OneSTL (WAO) is a series of stories about the many community members collaborating to make the St. Louis region more sustainable. By telling inspirational stories about the people who live and work here, we hope to show what OneSTL is, how everyday people are making a difference, and why working together is essential for increasing regional sustainability.

We spoke with Lacy Cagle about how she became interested in sustainability, her dreams for a brighter future for St. Louis, and how she strives each day to live more sustainably. Of course, we also asked her what OneSTL means to her and why she thinks regional sustainability is essential. Lacy is one of the many volunteers who has been instrumental in planning and promoting the monthly OneSTL Sustainability Lab and is a member of the OneSTL communications strategists team. We are grateful that Lacy spared some of her precious time since she recently welcomes a new baby girl, Ursula Jubilee, to her family.

Here is a sneak peek from our chat with Lacy. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Photo credit: Jenn DeRose

"I grew up in southern Illinois near the Shawnee National Forest and spent lots of time hiking and exploring. My father was a coal miner, and even if professionally he was not an environmentalist, he cared about conserving energy and water in our home. Both of my parents cared about not wasting resources, and conservation values were part of growing up. My whole life, I saw that things were connected..." read more and follow #WAO on instagram @onestl_sustainability.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 Virtual Sustainability Lab

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Published on Wednesday October 14th, 2020

The Lab will be held virtually this month!

Virtual Sustainability Lab via Zoom - 

Clean Energy Updates and Opportunities

3:35 - 3:45: Check-in join the Zoom webinar

3:45 - 4:45: Program

"We are squarely in the middle of the greatest energy transition in history. The era of fossil fuels is over, and the only question now is when the new era will be fully upon us." - excerpt from Project Drawdown

Join us as we explore this energy transition in the St. Louis region. Members of the OneSTL Energy and Emissions Working Group plus a couple of guests will discuss what's going on locally around clean energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency and how you can get involved.

Emily Andrews, USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter and co-chair of the OneSTL Energy and Emissions Working Group will highlight recent successes including Building Energy Performance Standards, Grow Solar STL statistics and more.

Sal Martinez, from Employment Connections will talk about their partnership with the City of St. Louis on a Solar Workforce Development program.

Tori Cheatham of Renew Missouri, will give a state of Clean Energy Report in our region (beyond renewables).

Rex Jenkins from Ameren Missouri will discuss their current renewable energy projects as well as a forecast on what's next related to their recently released "Committed to Clean" Integrated Resource Plan.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94947602435

Presenters: Emily Andrews, Executive Director of USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter, Sal Martinez, CEO of Employment Connections, Tori Cheatham, Policy and Outreach Coordinator for Renew Missouri, and Rex Jenkins, Lead Analyst Corporate Planning from Ameren MIssouri