Sustainable Atwood

OUR GOALS
• A resilient urban forest supported by a robust urban forest economy
• A carbon neutral neighborhood
• Growing all of our own food–including our pantries’–on our public and private land
• A convenient and comfortable place to live and travel without a car and safe for everyone
• A pedestrian, bicycle based community
• A vibrant destination for arts and cultural events
• A nexus of creative, accessible, and responsive communication
• A fully networked and interdependent community
• A politically relevant organization of neighbors
• A zero garbage community
• A maximum organic matter composting community

Through education, outreach and collaboration, we discover, expand and create sustainable practices, designs and systems in our neighborhood of 6,000 residents, making replicable models for our neighborhood, city, and state.

The SA Metro Commute Card—a low cost, low carbon travel alternative to cars allowed cardholders to ride the Metro buses 8,506 times in 2012 alone, and saved an estimated $4,616 collectively in 2014. This year’s change to an electronic funds transfer system will enable our administrator to double our ridership this year.
Our Solar program developed with SolarConnections helped add over 23 kiloWatts to our neighborhood solar power plant. The new solar arrays are on our host’s roof (Zion) and that of another neighborhood church—Trinity Lutheran on the corner of Winnebago Street and Atwood Avenue.
The Atwood Tool [Lending] Library (ATL) is a dream come true for neighborhood residents and our tool librarian, Jessica Ray. Pinney Branch Library and University of Wisconsin Badger Volunteers have helped inventory our tool collection, neighbors have generously donated tools, and tool libraries across a nationwide network have offered their advice and encouragement. The ATL builds social capacity, encourages self-sufficiency, and makes tools affordable and accessible to people of all income levels. Grand Opening is May 2, 2014. Ongoing workshops are planned to teach library members how to use tools and learn new skills.
Our succession of DNR Urban Forestry grants has improved the resilience of our neighborhood forest through a variety of educational events including the urban forest fest in July that demonstrated the sawing of a local storm damaged tree, and provided exhibits by local wood workers and organizations. In 2014 we founded a statewide network of urban wood service and processing professionals who work to divert wood from the waste stream and use it instead for furniture, flooring art and architecture in their local communities. Wisconsin Urban Wood has created jobs, educates about the benefits of trees, and now has 30 partners in 16 towns and cities in Wisconsin.

2014 was an exciting year in many ways. A local church donated their lightly used solar panels to us, which we in turn traded for office and tool lending library space at Zion Lutheran Church just around the corner from our original home office. Kurt Reinhold of SolarConnections installed the solar panels and upgraded Zion’s lighting system. These improvements made our new workspace energy efficient and gave us the room we needed and an accessible presence in the community we serve. We are grateful to each of these people and organizations that made it possible to improve all four of our programs in 2014.