Earth Share of Washington

Earth Share Notes - October 2005

Monthly perspectives from Earth Share of Washington staff members on activities and trends.

Lessons from a Hurricane

As these words are written, much of America’s Gulf Coast remains uninhabitable. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s web site currently advises, “Cleanup activities related to returning to homes and businesses after Hurricane Katrina can pose significant health and environmental challenges. People may be exposed to potentially life-threatening hazards posed by leaking natural gas lines, and carbon monoxide poisoning from using un-vented fuel-burning equipment indoors.” We’ve read much recently about immediate, intermediate, and long-term responses.

Can we actually prevent recurrences of the New Orleans flood? If we protected more marshlands in the Louisiana delta, would that have saved more lives? Will global warming contribute to more fierce storms, as climatologists predict? Most major magazines, from the New Yorker to Fortune, have devoted articles to this important topic. According to Grist.com, European countries have begun building sturdier dikes and planting warmer-weather crops.

Our staff is frequently asked, “What can one person do to reduce the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming?” On its web site, the group Climate Solutions offers 15 ways families can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 15,000 pounds per year (see www.climatesolutions.org).

While we may agree or disagree about humans’ influence over our climate, we do know this: climate change is occurring. During workplace giving season, Earth Share of Washington encourages each of us to reflect on the long-term responses to Hurricane Katrina. Closer to home, has global warming affected Washington State? How will it affect your life? Ask questions; talk to neighbors and family members; share your opinions and start a dialogue.

Regarding the Gulf Coast, we are less interested in blame and more interested in thoughtful re-building, the kind that requires imagination, foresight and restoring both human and ecological dignity.

William Borden
Executive Director

What is an environmentalist?

- By Louise Alexander

Guest author Louise Alexander contributes regularly through Earth Share’s Journalism/Creative Writing Program. Check out her other stories on the spring water shortage and the life of an international EarthCorps volunteer.

Challenging the popular stereotype

Anger almost made me kill my brother. In the clean, whiteness of my mother’s kitchen, I wanted to strangle him. In the time honored tradition of sibling rivalry, my brother and I have faced off in the center of all domestic drama, the kitchen, slapping each other with insults many times before. We enjoy arguing, not only for the sake of it, but because arguing is a loving family pastime. But on this occasion, the fight had crossed the fine line of taunting into the territory of murderous intent. The name he called me hung in the air, shameless and shocking; he called me an environmentalist!

I would like to know when ‘environmentalist’ became such a dirty word. My brother uses the term as a synonym for someone laughably foolish, a tree-hugging hippie protesting productivity and the national economy. They also wear Birkenstocks, apparently. And the stigma this name carries is universal. While at a barbeque, a friend of mine, working for the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, told me that whenever asked what he did for a living, he always replied, “I work for a conservation organization”, and shied away from the term “environmentalist”. But what is an environmentalist? Are people who innocently commute to work via bike environmentalists in spandex clothing? After all, one of the number one contributions to air pollution is car exhaust. But maybe these cyclists just want to exercise more and don’t like sitting through morning traffic, or maybe they just can’t afford the gas. Maybe perhaps, there is some link between health and the environment.

I am left perplexed, aren’t most of us environmentally conscious when it comes to our health? I do not know anyone who doesn’t take for granted either the luxuries of clean drinking water or air. Most of my friends and family take pleasure in a healthy environment that offers them the opportunity to experience the great Northwest outdoors, or swim in a lake. Would any of these folks call themselves environmentalists? Not likely.

Dr. Phillip Dickey, staff scientist for the Washington Toxics Coalition believes that, “health and the environment are inextricably linked”. And while he does consider himself an environmentalist, he recognizes that the term has a side to it that is not effective in communicating to people. However in his organization, the relationship between environmentalism and health is interchangeable.

The Washington Toxics Coalition is mainly focused on protecting public health and the environment by eliminating toxic pollution, such as the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides. Although Washington Toxics Coalition is concerned about pesticide use in general, and would like to see it minimized, they admit that they can’t claim to know if people are misusing pesticides or not because no one is looking over the public’s shoulder when they use those chemicals.

To be honest, I am personally afraid of pesticides. I don’t know what they are. I don’t want to apply a chemical, whose ingredients I have never heard of, to a place I spend a lot of time (my yard) with the warning of don’t touch, ingest, inhale, or expose myself to this product. My brother, however, does not share my fear. He sprayed a section of his yard with a weed killer to make way for a garden. Of course, we argued about it, with my fear taking a backseat to his idea that it was the easiest and most effective solution. He had a brand name on his side and I had nothing but distrust and cynicism on mine. Dr. Dickey, says he sees this attitude all too frequently.

According to Dr. Dickey, my brother is par for the course when it comes to using pesticides and herbicides and he has even found recommendations online for using herbicides as a soil amendment. Yet in Dr. Dickey’s opinion, pesticide and herbicide use isn’t really warranted or effective, but because people think it is an easy way to achieve the desired results, there is a prevailing attitude of, “why not do it?”

“People should care about the misuse of pesticides because the purpose of these chemicals is to kill something,” asserts Dr. Dickey, “and they are usually non-specific and affects can occur in other species. These are serious chemicals and they are being used in large quantities. One of my biggest fears is of all the new chemicals being produced in this country every year, and we still don’t have a good system of understanding the impacts or are able to regulate them all. There are so many stories of how we have messed up; lead, mercury, and now there is a new concern with fire retardants. We don’t seem to be learning from our mistakes.”

Perhaps the public image of the environmentalist is ready to evolve. It is no longer a personal virtue to practice conservation or sustainability, it is a community imperative. The more I spoke with Dr. Dickey, the more I realized that most of the people that contact Washington Toxics Coalition are generally concerned about their health and quality of life. Protecting our clean drinking water, limiting pesticide use, and keeping persistent toxins out of our bodies are health issues, but they are environmental issues as well.

Transportation Choices Coalition is gearing up to support high capacity transit

- Submitted by Melissa Briody from Earth Share organization Transportation Choices Coalition

In 1996 voters in the urban areas of King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties approved "Sound Move," a ballot measure to build the first phase of a regional transit system to connect regional employment and population centers in the Puget Sound area.

Sound Transit Phase 1 included Sounder commuter train service from Everett and Tacoma into Seattle and back (with limited runs), Sound Transit regional buses connecting Seattle and Bellevue with Everett, Tacoma and many other cities, Tacoma Link light rail line which began operating in 2003, and the 14-mile Link light rail initial segment, which will connect downtown Seattle to the airport that's now under construction in Seattle.

Right now Sound Transit is in the planning stages for its next round of regional transportation investments for King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, called Sound Transit 2. There is a good possibility that there will be a regional transportation package including Sound Transit 2 on the Fall 2006 ballot.

Transportation Choices Coalition is lending our expertise and support for a Sound Transit 2 that promotes healthy, connected urban centers and real transportation choices. We're working with Sound Transit to include high capacity transit (light rail or bus rapid transit) to the Eastside, light rail to Northgate, more frequent Sounder and Regional Express bus service, bicycle and pedestrian paths, and strong transit-oriented development and commute trip reduction incentives in the next ballot measure.

They're also working to ensure that Sound Transit 2 includes innovative proposals to increase ridership and improve access to Sound Transit stations and services. TCC is advocating for:

• Discounted bus passes for people living near stations.
• Increased development density near park-&-ride lots and transit centers. More people living and working near stations means more riders!
• More local bus service to and from Sound Transit stations, so people can get where they need to go.
• Considerable pedestrian and bike improvements to encourage active transportation choices and facilitate transit use by those who cannot drive.

Stay Tuned! The time for action is near, but not quite here. There will be numerous chances to submit public comments and attend informational open houses around the region on Sound Transit 2.

To be notified of action opportunities and learn more about Sound Transit 2 and the potential 2006 ballot measure, sign up for Transportation Choices Coalition’s email Action Alerts on their website, www.transportationchoices.org.

Puget Sound Energy & the Environment - An Interview with Phil Bussey

- Featured in Green Business: Corporate Initiatives In Focus at esw.org

Phil Bussey is Vice President of Regional and Public Affairs at Puget Sound Energy, a Bellevue-based energy utility. Earth Share of Washington (ESW) recently interviewed Mr. Bussey about the present status of renewable energy, its future direction, and Puget Sound Energy's role in expanding this fast-growing industry. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

ESW: Let's talk first about renewable energy. Excluding hydropower, how heavily does Puget Sound Energy (PSE) rely on renewable energy like wind, solar and biomass as a resource?

Phil Bussey: Beyond hydropower, renewable resources currently compose about 1 percent of our power-supply portfolio. I believe you'd find a fairly similar percentage at most other Northwest utilities. Puget Sound Energy's use of renewables, however, is increasing - in a very big way. In addition, we have one of the most vigorous and comprehensive energy-efficiency programs in the region.

Puget Sound Energy is Washington state's largest and oldest energy utility, serving nearly 1 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers, primarily in the vibrant Puget Sound region.

Read the interview in its entirety on the Earth Share of Washington website:
http://www.esw.org/giving/puget_sound_energy.html

Puget Sound Communities Make Wildlife a Priority

- Submitted by Jeanie Boawn of Earth Share organization National Wildlife Federation

Through National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Community Wildlife Habitat (CWH) program, communities throughout Puget Sound are coming together, forming habitat teams, and reaching out to others to promote the creation of wildlife habitats in their yards, schools, businesses, churches and community centers, as well as undertake a variety of restoration projects that benefit their neighborhoods and the wildlife that live in them. The CWH is an extension of NWF’s popular Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, which certifies homes and other private or public spaces which provide wildlife with the basic necessities--food (native plants & feeders), water, shelter, and places to raise young.

Three years ago, Tukwila became the first certified Community Wildlife Habitat in Washington, and only the fourth in the nation. Tukwila’s efforts generated a lot of interest, and the following year, Camano Island and Alki (in W. Seattle) registered their communities in the program. In August of this year, Camano Island was officially certified as a CWH, after certifying over 500 homes, three businesses, one school, and several demonstration sites as wildlife habitats in their community. The group plans to continue its work in hopes of preserving the island’s natural and open spaces.

Most recently, Lake Forest Park and Bellingham have registered in the program, with Bainbridge Island not far behind. There are several more communities who have expressed interest and will soon be forming habitat teams and defining their goals.

Gretchen Muller, NWF’s Regional Education Program Manager says, “The Puget Sound region has really taken to this idea, particularly in areas near shorelines, where sustainable gardening practices help wildlife and our region’s water quality. If the program continues to get people as involved as we’ve seen, Puget Sound will become the first eco-region in the nation.”

School Reunion

- By Naturalist Kevin Mack, from Earth Share organization PAWS Wildlife

At 7:30 pm on August 26th, I was standing in Monroe looking up. A complex ballet was taking place in the sky above me. Hundreds of small, cigar-shaped birds were circling the tall chimney of the nearby Monroe Elementary School. They would periodically disperse and feed above the surrounding parking lot, playground and neighborhood as if they had collectively decided to catch just a few more mosquitoes before calling it a night. The 1,000 or so Vaux’s Swifts that were circling overhead would soon be retiring to the chimney for the evening, but before they did, they would be welcoming eight new members to their flock.

The swifts I was seeing were congregating in the Monroe area in preparation for their fall migration. Swifts roost and nest inside hollow trees. In the absence of a suitable tree, a chimney is often used as a substitute. A swift nest is a shallow cup of small twigs held together by a sticky mass of saliva. Saliva is also used to attach the nest to a vertical surface, be it the inside of a tree or inner wall of a chimney. Occasionally the nest gives way under the weight of the young, and topples to the bottom of the nest cavity. If this happens inside a hollow tree, the young swifts are able to climb back up the tree to a point at which their parents can continue to feed them; however, when a nest falls inside a chimney the young often tumble down into the fireplace where smooth walls prevent them from gaining any foothold. Such was the case with the swifts raised at the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center this summer.

Six of the swifts that PAWS received were siblings that had been found in a Seattle fireplace. A seventh nestling swift came from an Olympia fireplace, and an eighth came from Snohomish. After spending a few weeks in a darkened cage that simulated the conditions that would be present at their nest sites, the swifts were moved to an outdoor aviary to begin strengthening their flight muscles for release. In the aviary, they began to fly, and their stamina and skill quickly increased. Since swifts are only able feed themselves while in flight, the young birds continued to require regular hand feedings during their entire stay at PAWS. At 6:30 pm on August 26th, a bird nursery caretaker gave them the last meal they would have to eat in captivity. I then placed them in release carriers and headed to Monroe.

In Monroe, wildlife intern Tamara Hollinger and PAWS wildlife director Jennifer Convy opened the carriers to set the swifts free. One by one, the young birds exited the carriers, and as soon as they were airborne they rapidly circled upward to join the congregation of swifts overhead. Within seconds they were absorbed by the flock, and became indistinguishable from the others. We continued to watch, looking at the flock with a much different feeling now that our former charges were a part of it.

Around 8 pm, as the light really began to fade, the swifts began to make tighter and tighter circles around the school. A swift or two periodically dropped down the chimney and out of sight. Soon a steady stream of birds was funneling downward into the dark opening. The large flock began to shrink in size as more and more of the swifts disappeared into their brick sleeping chamber. As quickly as it had started, it was over. The last of the swifts entered the chimney, and the sky was empty. We stood for a few more minutes, excitedly discussing the spectacle that we had just witnessed, and then we headed home.

Upcoming Events & Volunteer Opportunities

• October 8 - Fall Native Seed, Bulb and Plant Sale - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM - Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle - Washington Native Plant Society presents their annual Fall Native Plant Sale. The sale includes a great selection of native plants including native trees, shrubs, herbs, native bulbs and native seeds. They’ll also feature botanical and gardening books, as well as experts to consult on the best plants for your space. For further directions and a list of plants, please visit www.wnps.org.
• October 8 – Hitt’s Hill Restoration Site Stewardship - 10:00 to 2:00 PM - Join EarthCorps, Seattle Department of Parks, and Recreation, Seattle Works, United Way of King County and the Friends of Hitt’s Hill as we continue to restore one of Seattle’s newest open spaces located in Rainier Valley. Fall work parties will consist mostly of planting native trees, shrubs and ground cover as well as the removal of non-native plant species. For more information about this event, please contact Chris LaPointe at 206-793-8030 or email chris@earthcorps.org.
• October 15 - Seward Park IvyO.U.T. - 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Work with EarthCorps and Friends of Seward Park as they continue to remove English ivy from the Park. English ivy is non-native invasive species with no natural predators or pests to keep it under control. The ivy poses a threat to places like Seward Park two ways, by creating “Ivy Deserts” - areas so dominated by ivy that no other vegetation can survive and by adding weight to trees, making the trees more susceptible to toppling over and to disease. By manually ripping ivy out of the park, they are helping to prevent this invasive species from taking hold and spreading. For more information about ivy removal, go to: www.ivyout.org. For more information about this event, please contact Chris LaPointe at 206-793-8030 or email chris@earthcorps.org.
• October 19 - Washington Toxics Coalition's Auction for Action - Washington Toxics Coalition cordially invites you to their fifth Annual Auction for Action Celebration and Dinner. Please join them in celebrating their recent victories and 24 years of protecting public health and the environment! The festivities will be held at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club. For more information about the Auction for Action or to RSVP, please visit the Washington Toxics Coalition website: www.watoxics.org. They also have volunteer opportunities available the evening of the auction. For more information about volunteering for this event, please contact klogsdon@watoxics.org.
• October 22 - Hamm Creek Habitat Restoration - 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM - Join People For Puget Sound and Sound Stewards at Hamm Creek on the Duwamish River. Volunteers will plant native trees such as red alder and black cottonwood in order to provide shade and habitat to the critters that call Hamm Creek home. No experience necessary. Children 10 and under must have one to one adult supervision. Bring sturdy footwear, dress for the weather (event takes place rain or shine). Bring your own sack lunch and plenty of water. If you have tools and work gloves, bring them along too, but if you don’t they’ll have some to spare. Sign up today by contacting Bronwyn Dexter at bdexter@pugetsound.org or by calling 206-382-7007.
• October 27 - King County Climate Change Conference – 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM- King County will sponsor the 2005 Climate Change Conference, The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be: Planning for Climate Disruption at Qwest Field, Conference Center, Seattle.
  
  Please join King County Executive Ron Sims and representatives from a broad cross-section of Washington state governments, education, businesses, tribes, farmers, nonprofit organizations and the community-at-large. They will come together to discuss climate change impacts and potential adaptations, and they will begin preparing for a future that may challenge some old but persistent assumptions.
  
  For more information, visit http://dnr.metrokc.gov/dnrp/climate-change/conference-2005.htm or contact Deborah Brockway at 206-296-1927.
• November 4-5 - Seattle Environmental Film Festival - The Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network is proud to announce the 2nd annual Seattle Environmental Film Festival. The Seattle Festival will be held at the Broadway Performance Hall on November 4th and 5th 2005. Prepare yourself to view some of the premiere environmental films in the country. The festival will include a full day and a half of films and visiting filmmakers. The weekend kicks off with a sneak preview VIP reception on Thursday evening November 3rd. For announcements and more information, please visit www.hazelfilm.org.
• November 5 - Give Earth a Dance: A Volunteer Appreciation Party - 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM - Location: Ballard Community Center, 6020 28th Avenue NW, Seattle, WA – Did you volunteer for an environmental group in 2005? You’re invited! Seattle Audubon kindly invites all volunteers to join the Environmental Party of the Year. It’s a great opportunity to meet volunteers from Seattle Audubon, People For Puget Sound and other Puget Sound environmental organizations. You are encouraged to share the word with other environmental organizations as well. The dance is FREE for volunteers and children, $5 for everyone else. For more information, please contact Jenny Aunan at jaunan@pugetsound.org or call 206-382-7007.