Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality is launching a blog this week. It’s first posts focus on what they call the 12 days of Earth Day, leading into April 22. Amanda Smith is director of DEQ, and she’s kicking off the campaign.
“We’re really excited about the blog because it’s the way people seem to be communicating now,” says Smith. “And it also is a way more informally discuss issues we know are important to our constituents: the general public, those who are regulated, the Legislature and other public officials.”
DEQ’s Earth Day posts will include tips from the regulators themselves. Smith says she hopes Utahns will chip in their own ideas, share their concerns and pose their questions.
“What we’re looking for,” Smith says, “is kind of a more informal way for the public to reach out to us and ask us about issues that are concerning them, large or small, and for us to be able to reply in a less formal way, a more personal way to those issues. Hopefully, we’ll have a dialog.”
The DEQ has a YouTube video describing its 12 Days of Earth Day campaign. Other Earth Day activities are already in the works. The Earth Day Network has tallied more than 1 billion “acts of green.” It’s pushing to double that by April 22. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been promoting Earth Month, with a new tip every day.
