Earth Share of Washington

Living with Toxins - Real Stories

- submitted by Kari Mosden from ESW member Washington Toxics Coalition

Washington Toxics Coalition intern Kari Mosden is a graduate student in the Environment & Community Program at Antioch University. She has been traveling around the state this summer to talk to folks about their experiences with toxic pollution and chemicals. The Stories Project, sponsored by the Washington Toxics Coalition, is aimed at putting names and faces on the pollution problems facing Washington State by telling the stories of people who have suffered health impacts from toxic chemicals and pesticides, and highlighting successful and innovative alternatives to chemical use and toxic pollution. Washington Toxics Coalition promotes alternatives, advocates policies, empowers communities, and educates people to create a healthy environment through the elimination of toxic chemical use. Go to www.watoxics.org to learn more.

Pesticide Free Zone
As a Pastor in south Seattle's Georgetown, Leroy Hedman has his hands full. Years of industry and its pollution have left the Duwamish basin a hodge-podge of toxic chemicals and health hazards. The soil is contaminated with the heavy metals like lead and arsenic, indicative of years of industry pollution and constant jet traffic. This is the kind of stuff that the EPA measures in parts per billion and warns us to stay far, far away from. The pollution in the soil hasn't stopped Leroy, though. It has just made him work harder and smarter. He built raised-bed gardens, added compost and soil, and started planting.

Today, the simple raised-beds have turned into beautiful, lush gardens covering every available space on the property around the chapel. "We 'graze' on Sunday mornings," he tells me with a chuckle as we wander through the gardens.

A "pesticide free zone" sign hangs prominently in one of the beds, and Leroy is a champion of not using pesticides on his plants. There are enough chemicals in the soil around him, he tells me, and he knows he does not need to use pesticides to have beautiful, healthy gardens. Seeing the health effects of toxic pollution, Leroy does what he can to help others learn to reduce their use of chemicals in the garden. He tells folks, "do the best you can with as few chemicals as you can."

One of Leroy's favorite activities is giving a tour of the garden, much like the one he gave me. He's proud of the garden, but he's not showing off--he just likes to share, and he understands that sometimes it's best to show people what can be done, rather than tell them how they should do it. "We started a planting program; we had 45 pots along the wall here. And [the kids] took them home, and the neat thing is that they [come to see me, and] say 'hey, we've got cilantro growing... and peppers! For most of them, it's the first time they've ever planted anything. It gets them involved, and they learn."

Leroy picks a gorgeous ripe, red tomato and plops it into my hand. It is warm from the sun, and it is delicious. One of the greatest things about Leroy is that he does not preach. He uses common sense to get around problems that he cannot solve, he shows how instead of telling, and he leads in the best way possible -- by example.

Earth Saving Tips for Fall 2003 - Part 1 (Part 2 in the November Earth Page)

BACK TO SCHOOL . . . WITH A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
School days are back. Many parents are breathing a sigh of relief . . . and many of their kids are breathing dirty air. Most people know that outdoor air pollution can damage their health, but many do not know that indoor pollution can also have harmful effects. Government studies indicate that pollution indoors may be 2 to 5 times, and sometimes more than 100 times, worse than outdoor pollution. Children are especially susceptible because they breathe more air relative to their body weight.

What causes air problems inside schools? You'd be surprised at the variety of sources: outdoor air pollutants, such as pollen, dust, industrial emissions, and vehicle exhaust, faulty or inefficient ventilation and air conditioning equipment, emissions from office equipment, shops, and labs, cleaning processes and supplies, emissions from carpet and furnishings, pesticides and other landscape chemicals, and more.

Untreated, indoor air problems can have serious consequences at school, such as:

• increasing health problems for students and staff,
• negatively affecting student learning, comfort, and attendance,
• reducing staff performance due to discomfort, sickness, or absenteeism,
• accelerating deterioration of school buildings and equipment,
• straining relationships between school administrators and parents and staff,
• damaging a school's public image, and
• creating potential liability problems.

What can you do to reduce the risks of indoor air problems at school? Here are some actions to take:

Identify the symptoms of indoor air problems. They can include: irritations of eyes, nose, and throat; dry mucous membranes and skin; mental fatigue, headache, and sleepiness; airway infections, cough, hoarseness, and wheezing; nausea; dizziness; redness, flushing of the face or skin rashes.

Consider the health links. Does your child regularly go to school healthy and return home sick or deeply fatigued? Does he/she have more frequent or more severe asthma attacks on school days? Are any of your child's classmates coming home with similar health complaints? Is the school being renovated? Do the air intakes draw in vehicle exhaust or emissions from adjacent industrial facilities?

Ask teachers and staff. Encourage them to describe observations they have about the building environment; sometimes the problem is not an indoor air quality issue at all. Keep a log of all conversations.

Conduct a school audit. Gather a committee of parents, teachers, and staff to inspect the school and grounds for possible problems. An excellent inspection checklist, and many other self-help tools and resources, can be found at www.epa.gov/iaq/schools.

Volunteers Are Lifeblood of Wildlife Center

-submitted by Kip Parker, Wildlife Director, PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Earth Share of Washington member PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center utilizes a large team of highly trained wildlife volunteers to help provide direct care for distressed wildlife at its Lynnwood center. Every year, additional project volunteers are also active assisting staff on a variety of special projects at the center. This year is no exception with several projects underway or nearing completion.

These projects use specific skills - plumbing, electrical, construction, carpentry, concreting, architectural, and veterinary specialty volunteers have all participated in 2003 work.

Most of the current projects are construction and infrastructure projects, replacing old cages and enclosures and extending services, all for our wildlife patients. So far this year volunteers have drawn up architectural building plans, driven backhoes, dug 400 feet of trenches, cleaned brush, laid sewer, water, electrical and computer lines, built a 10' x 12' building, moved fencing and construction materials, and painted and wired a building.

Another ongoing project uses veterinarians with specialized skills to assist the center's two wildlife veterinarians with unusual cases. Veterinarians have volunteered their services to perform bone plating on a bear cub's broken legs, used ophthalmological instruments to look at owls' eyes and endoscopes to remove fish hooks and obstructions from the throats of fish-eating birds such as great blue herons.

Other volunteers allow their private land to be used for the safe release of rehabilitated wildlife as part of our Habitat Conservation Program. One hundred and eighty volunteer landowners with 3700 acres of land now participate in this project. This summer, dozens of rehabilitated wildlife have been released in safety onto these private lands. Just this week, eight raccoons and three barn owls found freedom again on separate properties.

All these cooperative ventures - using land, labor, skills and volunteer time - help Washington wildlife return to the wild. About 4,500 wild animals of 170 different species are treated at the center each year.

For more information, go to http://www.paws.org/help/vol/ and fill out a volunteer application or check back frequently at our volunteer page.

Partnership Leads to Hood Canal Shoreline Protection

- submitted by Reed Waite from ESW member Washington Water Trails Association

Earth Share of Washington members Washington Water Trails Association (WWTA) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) opened a Cascadia Marine Trail campsite on the eastern shore of the Hood Canal on Thursday, September 11. It was the third public campsite opened this year by WWTA on the Hood Canal, the 44th site for the 10-year-old Cascadia Marine Trail, and the first with a non-governmental owner. WWTA and TPL have worked previously on protecting many natural Puget Sound sites.

Laughlin Cove is a secluded, 20-acre waterfront property with a nearly 1,200 feet long shoreline and tidelands. The new camping site is located strategically between Guillemot Cove Nature Preserve and Dewatto Bay, on an 11-mile stretch of Hood Canal that currently has no public pullouts. It is a fine spot for camping and picnicking. The property has spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains and is protected by nearby Chinom Point. WWTA will handle reservations for campers arriving in non-motorized boats for overnight stays and perform light maintenance.

The value of protected shoreline for the public and the environment is becoming more and more apparent. Recent reports of diminished oxygen levels in Hood Canal waters highlight the impact of human development in the watershed. Preserving open space is of vital importance for TPL, WWTA, and everyone in the Puget Sound estuary.

For more information visit www.wwta.org/trails/laughlin.html.

Cool Website - October 2003

Sightline Institute
http://www.sightline.org/

Sightline Institute is an independent, not-for-profit research and communication center based in Seattle. Founded in 1993 by former Worldwatch Institute researcher Alan Durning, Sightline's mission is to promote an environmentally sound economy and way of life in the Pacific Northwest, a bioregion that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and adjoining parts of Alaska, Montana, and California.

Throughout their website, you can research key trends shaping the future of the Northwest, specifically those related to environmental issues. The Cascadia Scorecard serves as an annual report on regional progress; and -- by highlighting communities that are taking innovative approaches to solving problems -- provides a practical vision for a better Northwest.