Utah Climate Week starts on Oct. 8 and includes a series of events in Park City. Photo courtesy of Utah Climate Action Network.

Park City in October plans to spend a week highlighting, and combating, climate change, putting a spotlight on an issue that City Hall, not-for-profit organizations and rank-and-file Parkites years ago deemed important to the community’s future.

An organization known as the Utah Climate Action Network has scheduled Utah Climate Week starting on Oct. 8 and running until Oct. 14. City Hall is a part of the Utah Climate Action Network. The schedule for the week in Park City includes a diverse set of events stretching from Recycle Utah to the Santy Auditorium.

Recycle Utah will be especially busy holding the twice-annual Dumpster Days. The Dumpster Days start on Oct. 9 and run until Oct. 14 at the Recycling Center on Woodbine Way. Dumpster Days are held in the spring and the fall. Two dumpsters will be placed at the Recycling Center, one for green waste like garden clippings and the other for larger items that are not recyclable.

Carolyn Wawra, the executive director of Recycle Utah, said offering the dumpsters reduces the number of trips people will make to a landfill to drop the items off there. That, she said, reduces vehicle emissions.

“If you have a sustainable life, you’re having a lesser impact on climate change,” she said.

Some of the other events planned in Park City during Utah Climate Week include:

• a collection of hard to recycle materials, dubbed a CHaRM event, at Recycle Utah from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Oct. 14.
• a screening of “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” a documentary featuring environmental activist and former Vice President Al Gore that centers on fighting climate change. The free screening is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 in the community room on the third floor of the Park City Library.
• an event designed to provide information about composting starting at noon and running one hour on Oct. 11 at Recycle Utah. Attendees are encouraged to bring their lunch.
• a building expo highlighting environmentally friendly practices at the Park City Library from 2 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 10 in the community room of the third floor of the library.
• a presentation by City Hall staffers about climate change’s impacts on health starting at 5 p.m. on Oct. 9 in the community room of the third floor of the library.

Park City leaders years ago made combating climate change a priority, arguing that a warming planet could someday threaten the ski industry that is critical to the local economy. City Hall has won widespread support for its environmental programs, which include a bus fleet that runs on clean-burning fuels and numerous green upgrades to municipal buildings.

More information about Utah Climate Week is available here.