Guardian Green Awareness Month 2014

Each year Guardian communities celebrate Green Awareness Month, dedicated to educating ourselves and our residents about all the ways we can reduce our impact on the environment.

We found that many of our managers were able to make a huge impact in very small ways, like installing energy efficient light bulbs in apartment homes and showing residents how to eliminate junk mail and the paper waste it creates. These steps are small but over time will significantly reduce energy consumption and waste of valuable resources. Congratulations to all who worked hard to make your community more environmentally friendly - and thank you for your efforts!

Here is a recap of the winners of four weekly drawings and the activities they entered:

Week 1: WINDSOR SQUARE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY (Marysville, WA) "We hosted several craft activities for our senior residents focused on "upcycling" - we especially liked the idea of using old sweaters to make beautiful new throw pillows!"     Week 2: OAKMONT (Tigard, OR) "The team at Oakmont worked with Washington County to update recycling information and provide bags to residents with recycling information and goodies! We also instructed residents on how to reduce junkmail by using Catalog Choice in the Portland Metro area! Week 3: EAST FAIR TERRACE (Gresham, OR) "East Fair Terrace hosted lots of Green Awareness Month activities including a Spring Cleaning Free Table event and a drawing for a gift card that rewarded residents who used Trimet and entered their ticket stub!" Week 4: AMBER COURT (Aloha, OR) "When residents come in to look at our new recycling display, they receive a free reusable shopping bag when they tell us something new they learned!" Additionally, the Portland General Electric Renewable Energy Program reached out to many Portland-area Guardian communities to assist with getting residents signed up for the program. The goal of the program is to increase the number of homes relying on clean energy rather than sources that pollute the environment. This year, 196 new residents enrolled in the program, meaning that 24% of Guardian community PGE customers are now getting their electricity from clean sources. Here's a snapshot of our impact: Total pounds of CO2 avoided: 7.4 million This is equal to avoiding as much CO2 as: - Not driving 8.2 million miles - 782,119 young trees could absorb in a year - Recycling 7.9 million newspapers

Enjoy these photos we received throughout the month!