Office of Sustainability and Resilience 2023 Annual Progress Report and Strategic Energy Plan Implementation Year One

campaign, encouraging residents and businesses to “Leave the Leaves” during leaf season. More than 200 residents pledged to leave leaves from nearly 2,300 trees on lawns or to mulch them instead of raking and bagging them. This process reduces carbon emissions from trucking leaves to mulching facilities, creates natural fertilizer for lawns, and provides food and shelter for small creatures. Program participants received a sign to identify their yard as a “sustainable landscape.

participated in or hosted 47 events with more than 3,600 participants. Outreach is the heart of the OSR, and collaboration is the magic key to achieving sustainability goals. We have very little time to secure a sustainable future, which is why we must collaborate to make more long-lasting solutions that are visible and tangible.

Ghoulash in Center City Park

Inaugural Live Green Awards

Climate Resiliency Center Grant At the beginning of 2023, the OSR was invited to collaborate with NC A&T State University on a proposal to establish a Climate Resiliency Center (CRC) in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. The proposal was awarded by the Department of Energy in early fall 2023. The team’s proposal underscored the importance of using GIS and other modeling studies to quantify the effects of a changing climate on air quality and urban heat, and the subsequent undue burden on marginalized communities in these cities. “We’ll be looking at climate impacts on vulnerable communities in the Triad area of North Carolina, primarily Greensboro, Winston-Salem and even Charlotte,” said principal investigator Dr. Solomon Bililign of NC A&T. “We are also trying to investigate the formation of secondary organic aerosols from the interaction of biogenic emissions from plants and trees in the region with anthropogenic emissions (fossil fuel emissions) that can form ground-level ozone, which is a pollutant.” Tree Canopy Grant In September, the City of Greensboro was granted $825,000 by the US Department of Agriculture’s

Live Green Awards The Live Green Awards Program was launched in 2023 as a way to celebrate and recognize the Greensboro businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who apply sustainable practices in their everyday processes and demonstrate ways to create a more sustainable and resilient future. The Award categories are as follows: • Energy Wise Award

• In Touch with Nature Award • Friend of Sustainability Award

• Waste Not Award • Water Wise Award • Quality of Life Award

Six individuals and organizations were honored at the City’s Earth Day 2023 celebration. The City also recognized three NCA&T students who were winners of the Food Waste Poster competition. Community Outreach & Events Community outreach is an integral part of the success of the OSR. We are committed to fostering effective relationships with our stakeholders and collaborators, and connecting our residents to information and resources. During the 2023, the OSR

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