Did you know that the Park City Library has a “Unique Items” collection made up of a wide variety of items beyond books? It’s part of a shared economy that expands on the traditional concept of libraries lending books. We offer items that can be borrowed, used and returned for other community members to enjoy.

Save money and reduce consumerism by borrowing items for free instead of purchasing something you may only need once or a few times. These items range from technology like GoPros and internet hotspots to tools that can help you plant your garden through our seed library.

To check out a unique item, all you need is your library card. You can check out items for one week at a time. Stop by the Park City Library at 1255 Park Ave. to check out an item yourself.

Browse through some of the “Unique Items” available below and check out the Park City Library website for more:

• Sustainability: Waste audit kit, energy detective kit, solar power banks, Radon detector, portable induction cooktop, gardening tools and indoor air quality monitor.
• Entertainment: Telescope, record player and projector.
• Technology: Converters, green screen kit, GoPros, internet hotspots and Rokus.
• Outdoor recreation: Hiking kits, hiking child carrier, binoculars, outdoor games, bike pump, portable power stations.
• Lifestyle: Sewing machine, Pack ‘N Play, musical instruments, crochet and knitting supplies, stud finder, karaoke machine, tools, video lighting kit, metal detector, bubble machine and board games.

Rylee Broach is the adult services librarian at Park City Library.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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With ski season upon us and the holidays in full swing, Park City’s environmental impact is reaching its peak. While tourism, winter sports, and celebrations bring joy to our community, they also affect our local ecosystems. A commonly overlooked contributor to this impact is also an essential tool for winter sports enthusiasts: ski wax.

Traditional ski wax formulas contain fluorinated compounds, also known as PFAS, which are among the most damaging environmental pollutants. As ski or snowboard, small amounts of wax are deposited in the snow, where they persist long after the spring snowmelt and contaminate soil and water. PFAS are nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down, but instead accumulate in the environment and the bodies of animals exposed to them.

The harm isn’t limited to the slopes. When fluorinated waxes are heated during application, they release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. This could jeopardize our beloved clean mountain air and contribute to unsafe indoor conditions for those applying the wax, particularly in poorly ventilated ski shops and homes.

Fortunately, we can all take meaningful steps to minimize this impact.

First, purchasing eco-friendly ski waxes that are biodegradable and plant-based can make a significant impact! These products are readily available at your local ski shop and can effectively replace any old fluoro wax you may still have in your home. Second, make sure you are waxing your skis and boards in a well-ventilated space to avoid inhaling any airborne byproducts. And lastly, although many ski shops have stopped selling waxes containing forever chemicals, PFAS are still circulating in a variety of consumer products such as cookware, food packaging, and cleaning supplies.

With this in mind, we encourage you to support any legislation that aims to prohibit the use and sale of all products containing PFAS.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information — www.recycleutah.org.

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Bitcoin trading has become increasingly popular in the past 10 years. Today, one Bitcoin is worth about $87,000, and the global cryptocurrency industry’s worth is estimated at around $2.6 trillion.

Bitcoin operates as a digitally “mined” currency. Rather than gold being pulled from the Earth and valued based on its rarity, bitcoins are “mined” by servers from blocks (long sequential number chains), which equate to a complex mathematical equation. Bitcoin “miners” are then tasked with solving these block equations in order to earn bitcoins.

Mining one bitcoin consumes approximately 155,000 kWh of energy. Comparatively, the average U.S. household consumes approximately 900 kWh of electricity in one month.

Recent research done on the effects of bitcoin mining on air quality found that 34 Bitcoin mines used about 33% more electricity in a day than the city of Los Angeles. Similar to how AI data centers work, Bitcoin servers require high energy input to run and large amounts of water to cool computers and data centers.

The energy demand from these data centers is so great that it is currently difficult to run them without fossil fuels. The use of renewables is increasing within the industry. However, fossil fuels are still heavily used to supplement energy usage:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58287-3

Mining for gold can also be a very environmentally taxing endeavor. Pulling gold and other precious metals from the Earth consumes significant amounts of energy in different ways and presents several more ethical concerns, such as fair labor and trade issues.

The gold and cryptocurrency industries are estimated to each produce around 100 million tons of CO2 in a year (based on research done in 2023). However, the gold industry is worth vastly more than cryptocurrency, being valued at around 14 trillion. Additionally, gold is less variable a currency, meaning that in general its value holds steadier than we have seen from cryptocurrency.

When executed sustainably, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies do present positive environmental opportunities as alternatives to precious metal mining. But sustainable mining practices are developing faster than sustainable data and server technologies. Until we can switch to reliable and consistent renewable energy sources for our quickly evolving tech needs, we are faced with a world that is becoming more and more reliant on fossil fuels and uses more energy each passing year.

Bitcoin and AI data centers are at the forefront of discussions on regulations for companies producing large amounts of pollution or consuming large amounts of resources. Ensuring that these companies are held accountable and that resource use is regulated is the most promising path forward for the future of cryptocurrency. 

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information — www.recycleutah.org.

Editor’s note: This column was clarified and a typo in average household energy use corrected.

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