People For Puget Sound is giving free urban watershed walking tours to explain the threat that polluted runoff poses to Puget Sound – and what you can do to help.

Experts will lead the Carkeek tour from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 26. (If you can’t make that one, they’re also offering a tour at 1 p.m. on Sept. 18 beginning at the High Point Branch Library, 3411 S.W. Raymond St.; see examples of low-impact development and how polluted runoff affects Longfellow Creek.)

The Carkeek tour starts at the beach at the Carkeek Park Environmental Center, 950 NW Carkeek Park Road, and includes the SEA Street Project, which uses rain gardens to combat runoff pollution into Piper’s Creek.

“When it rains, water flows off our roofs, down our street and across our parking lots carrying pollutants to the Sound,” said tour organizer John Conway of People For Puget Sound. “Join us for this fascinating tour and learn from the experts what you can do to help address this problem.”

The tours are free, but please RSVP to events@pugetsound.org or call 206-382-7007.

KIRO 7 and The Trust for Public Land are looking for nominations for your favorite “unsung environmental hero” for the Cox Conserves Heroes award. The deadline for nominations for the award (named for KIRO’s parent company, Cox Enterprises) is 5 p.m. Monday.

Cox Conserves Heroes celebrates people from all walks of life who work to create, preserve, improve or enhance the shared outdoor spaces in our communities. These everyday heroes make our communities better places to live, work and play.

Nominees have restored park property, kept lakes and their neighborhoods clean, developed community gardens, taught the benefits of locally grown food, restored salmon runs, protected farmlands and forests, and created an oasis to enjoy nature. After launching in Western Washington, the program has now expanded to include environmental heroes chosen in Atlanta, New Orleans, San Diego and San Francisco.

The top vote-getter in Western Washington will be awarded $5000 to donate to the environmental nonprofit of her or his choice. Four finalists will receive $1250 to donate to their favorite environmental nonprofit.

More information, and the nomination form, here.

You’ve got two more days to submit your trash to the Second Use annual Salvage Art & Design Contests. Submissions are due Friday. Judging for the contests is during Second Use’s annual Fall Festival from 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25. The festival has live music, free food, horse rides, family games for the whole family, and a store-wide sale.

Join artists and salvage enthusiasts from all over the Puget Sound region who have pieced together old doors, toilets, hardware bits, and other found treasures in order to challenge visitors, customers, and neighbors to re-evaluate art, waste, and consumption in construction projects and our everyday lives.

This year, the Salvage Art Show will host two separate contests: Salvage Design and The Art of Salvage. The “Salvage Design” contest provides an opportunity for designers and homeowners alike to show off images from a recent construction, building, or remodeling project that used salvage materials: a home, business, outbuilding, or any design project. “The Art of Salvage” hosts original artwork, such as painting, sculpture, mixed media, and portable functional objects that have been created using salvage materials.

For more information, email Carrie Ferrence at Second Use Building Materials, or call 206-763-6929.

The city of Seattle is launching its “Puget Sound Starts Here” water quality education campaign at Naked City Brewery & Taphouse, 8564 Greenwood Ave. N., Thursday. The campaign features drink coasters with an environmental message about how to reduce the impacts of storm water runoff on Puget Sound.

Thanks in part to a grant from the Puget Sound Partnership, the coasters are being distributed by community partners to restaurants, bars, and cafes in The Piper’s, Thornton, and Longfellow Creek watershed neighborhoods. These fun and colorful messages will provide an opportunity for Seattle residents to learn what they can do to improve the health of local waterways and Puget Sound every time they lift a glass.

30,000 coasters will be distributed; they describe four actions that will help reduce pollution: picking up after your pet, preventing automotive leaks, not using pesticides and fertilizers in your yard, and planting more trees. All the coasters share the same message on back: In Seattle, 46,000 storm drains carry untreated runoff directly to our waterways.

The coasters will be available at other participating restaurants after August 5, including these Greenwood businesses: Pig N’ Whistle, Gainsbourg, Sip & Ship, Wheatless in Seattle, 74th Street Ale House, Prost!, Pillager’s Pub, Pub at Piper’s Creek, and Bleacher’s, just to name a few.

Thursday’s event is from 6-10 p.m. Naked City is family-friendly until 10 p.m. Limited edition I “heart” Puget Sound T-shirts will only be available at the kick-off event.

Now that Seattle allows backyard cottages as an alternative living arrangement, you might have some questions about how to go about building one. The Backyard Cottage Design Challenge Showcase by Method Homes and Infiniti RED (a Seattle-based real estate and consulting firm with an emphasis on next generation efficient green housing) aims to help you out. The free event starts at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 24, at SPACE: A Design Build Collective, 7601 Greenwood Ave. N.

This event will showcase the work of over 35 local architects and designers who are combining good design with livability and sustainability. Event goers will have the opportunity to view all design challenge entries, meet the designers, participate in the awards ceremony, and enjoy food and drink. Design challenge winners will be selected by a jury of public and professional designers.

Awards will be given for the following 5 categories:

1. Overall Best Design
2. Honorable Mention for Overall Best Design
3. Most Innovative
4. Most Sustainable
5. Most Adaptable (to different sites and programs)

Backyard cottages can be built on city lots over 4000sf and are a more sustainable infill option for adding density to the urban landscape. Many homeowners are now exploring constructing these for additional income, extended family or downsizing. We encourage those interested to come & meet the top designers of Seattle’s backyard cottages.

Join a group of Sandel Park neighbors to stencil storm drains in honor of Earth Day this Saturday. The Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project wants to stencil every storm drain that leads to Piper’s Creek.

Fact: There are over 100 storm drains on the streets of Greenwood, Broadview, Blue Ridge and Crown Hill.

Fact: Each of these storm drains leads to Piper’s Creek and Piper’s Creek drains to Puget Sound.

Fact: Runoff from roads contributes millions of gallons of oil to Puget Sound every year.

Fact: Studies show that marking storm drains with the message “Dump No Waste, Drains to Stream” doubles community awareness.

Join a group of neighbors at 9 a.m. at Sanel Park, at 9053 1st Ave. N.W., to stencil all the surrounding drains. Bring your own coffee mug; they’ll provide coffee.

This would be a great project for kids, too. With a short lesson on where the rain goes and how pollution on the street gets washed into the salmon’s home, kids could feel a great sense of accomplishment knowing they are helping by painting! So join us in the morning before the day gets too busy. Meet some neighbors, get a morning walk and make a difference.

Can you cut your carbon footprint to have absolutely no impact on the planet? One man tried, and you can see the results at the pre-DVD release community screening of “No Impact Man” at 7 p.m. Friday at the Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N. 85th St.

Studies show that 70% of us are unhappy with the shopping frenzy that surrounds the holidays but most of us don’t know how to get off the treadmill. What if we worked together to find another way to celebrate? During the days of the historic UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, we’re bringing people together to talk about shopping. Join the No Impact Project (NIP) and Center for a New American Dream (CNAD) for a nationwide pre-DVD release community screening of the documentary, “No Impact Man.” A $5 donation or 3 items of non-perishable food are encouraged. All proceeds will go to the No Impact Project and or local food banks. Questions? Contact Emily at the Greenwood Senior Center: (206) 297-0875, or emily@greenwoodseniorcenter.org.

Greenwood Elementary turns 100 years old this weekend. All alumni and neighbors are invited to join the celebration from 12-5 p.m. on Saturday at the school, on the corner of NW 80th St. and 3rd Avenue NW. A big part of the celebration is the Green Greenwood Environmental Fair, and bike fest.

People of all ages have spent the last couple of months creating centennial commemorative art at weekly workshops. It will all be unveiled at the celebration, including tiles, mosaics and fused glass works.

Here’s the schedule:

12-3:30 p.m. Green your ride – Walk or bike. Family bike fest with low-cost helmet sale and a kid’s bicycle rodeo hosted by Cascade Bicycle Club. Join Spokespeople to ride from Wallingford Playground to Greenwood.

Birthday Celebration and Open House (ceremony at 3:30) with Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn and School Board Rep. Sheri Carr, mayoral proclamation, music, alumni interviews, time capsule, historic displays and class photos, and commemorative art unveiling.

2- 5 p.m. A Green Greenwood – Environmental Education Fair. Participate in interactive fun and learning for all ages. Exhibits and activities by Top Ten Toys, Seattle Tilth, REI, Sustainable Greenwood-Phinney, RE-Store, The Bubble Man (show at 2pm), and many more.

Eco Encore is raising funds for environmental organizations in the Pacific Northwest by collecting books, CDs, DVDs and recent software, then reselling it online. The organization hopes to cut down on waste and promote the idea of reuse to conserve resources.

For their November Community Book Drive, Eco Encore hopes to gather one ton of books by Nov. 30. The organization sells the items through their online store at amazon.com, then distributes the profits to 15 partner organizations, including the Nature Consortium and Washington Trails Association.

In our neighborhood, you can drop off donations at Avanti Art & Design at 7317 Greenwood Ave. N. Here’s a list of all drop-off locations in the region. Be sure and check out this list of items they can and can’t accept.

“Mission: Sustainable” is a new Seattle-based green-theme reality show that is looking for its pilot episode’s makeover candidate. The show is seeking nominations of a family, couple or individual in the Seattle area.

“Those chosen to receive a makeover will receive personalized advice and products from our experts to dramatically reduce their carbon footprints,” says creator Rose Thornton. “Our experts will make over the candidate’s lifestyle in a way that saves money, improves health and contributes to overall happiness.”

“Mission: Sustainable” cast members include co-host Megan Hilfer, who works for Parsons Public Relations in Phinney Ridge, and Eric Kocaja, the show’s transportation consultant, who lives in Greenwood. The show features a cast of green consultants in landscaping, home interior, food, personal care, transportation and business. Everyone is currently working pro bono.

Since the show is just getting off the ground, they’re also asking for community support, especially a broadcast quality camera and operator, as well as editing suite support, to complete the pilot episode. If interested, contact Thornton. (Update: Thornton reports in comments that they’ve already received a camera and editing help.)