Earth Share of Washington

Earth Share Notes: June 2005

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

New Staff
Earth Share of Washington is pleased to announce the hiring of Christina Scholz as Campaign Director. Her experience at United Way of King County – both as workplace fundraiser and coordinator for United Way’s Youth Connections program - allows Christina to hit the ground running. Christina succeeds Ana Garzon, who leaves us in June to continue her academic career at the University of Washington.

Christina grows vegetables, raises chickens, and purchased a diesel vehicle. In her capacity as Campaign Director, she will assist workplaces to expand their employee contribution programs. “I could not think of a better job than to educate the community and raise money for environmental organizations,” she says.

Day in the Park
What sweats and laughs a lot? A Day in the Park volunteer. Saturday, June 11, you are invited to participate in Earth Share of Washington’s only volunteer workday, Day in the Park. Hundreds of volunteers - friends, neighbors, co-workers, people like you - will gather to help remove invasive ivy, maintain trails, remove trash, and restore one of this region’s premier parks, Golden Gardens in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.

What’s in it for you besides some fun and a workout? We’ll have good food, live music by Kyle Riabko, and prizes.

Visit www.dayinthepark.org to register. We look forward to meeting you there!

William Borden
Executive Director

Big Wins for a Healthy Washington - A legislative wrap up

- By Tom Geiger from Earth Share organization Washington Environmental Council

For the third year in a row, leading conservation groups working at the state level have successfully advocated for new and improved laws to better protect people, land, air and water in Washington.

A new law to promote green building, as well as a law to clean our air by limiting auto emissions, will help people and nature breathe a little easier. Progress was also made on helping promote the health of Hood Canal and Puget Sound, and eliminate some very toxic chemicals from our household products.

The conservation community’s development of four common-sense Priorities for a Healthy Washington for the 2005 session was crucial to this success. (To learn more, go to www.environmentalpriorities.org) Instead of going to the Capitol with a laundry list, the short list made a splash from the get-go. The Seattle P-I’s editorial on December 27th called our proposals “a smart approach that should help lawmakers of both parties focus on a few areas where action can make a difference.”

Now we are celebrating some great success. After lots of hard work by the conservation community, all our partners and key legislative supporters, the Seattle Times opined: “Give the environmental community credit as well. For the third session, asking for less has meant more success.”

We are making progress and are being successful in getting real improvements to the laws that will help millions of people live healthier lives.

Here is a summary of what happened to each of the four 2005 Priorities for a Healthy Washington.

High Performance Green Buildings

On April 8th, Governor Gregoire signed this bill into law. The new law requires state buildings, schools, and universities to be built and certified as high performance, green buildings. This will result in buildings that save energy and water, are cheaper to operate, and improve student learning and employee performance.

Cleaner Air - Cleaner Cars

The Governor signed Cleaner Air - Cleaner Cars into law on May 6th. We’ll all breathe easier with cleaner cars - that’s a win worth smiling about! Cleaner Air - Cleaner Cars will reduce cancer-causing emissions and global warming pollution from new cars, increase consumer choice, and save consumers a bundle at the gas pump.

Sound Solutions - Saving Hood Canal and Puget Sound

While major bills did not pass, the conservation community secured over $6 million dollars for local clean water projects, including funds to clean up Hood Canal, and a grant and loan program to help homeowners fix failing septic systems. A bill to prioritize tax incentives for habitat buffers did pass. And a key bill that would reduce water pollution from septic systems passed the House but came two votes shy of going to the full Senate for a vote.

Phasing out Toxics

The Priority to phase out a particularly toxic set of flame-retarding chemicals failed to pass the legislature. However, the legislature did provide funding to the Department of Ecology to develop a plan for banning the most widely used form of toxic these chemicals. The department will report back to the legislature with recommendations in December.

Other Good News

Some other good bills that passed include: Oil Spill Prevention; improvements to the state’s approach to transportation funding; a new program for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program; and programs to increase solar power, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Priorities for a Healthy Washington is a combined effort of Earth Share organizations American Rivers, Audubon Washington, Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Climate Solutions, Futurewise, NW Energy Coalition, People for Puget Sound, Sierra Club, Transportation Choices Coalition, Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Washington Environmental Council, and Washington Toxics Coalition and includes other non-Earth Share members League of Women Voters of Washington, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Washington Conservation Voters, and WashPIRG.

Mountain Forecast: Sunny with a chance of rate increases

-By Louise Alexander

Guest author Louise Alexander contributes through Earth Share’s Journalism Internship Program. In addition to writing for Earth Share, she is a Project Manager for EarthCorps, leading volunteer restoration crews on projects around Puget Sound.

February has always been the hardest month, even for an East Coast native. The festivity of seasons has passed with little to look forward to, the days are shorter, and spring is a distant horizon; untouchable. But in the Puget Sound, winter in Seattle is the price one must pay for beautiful summers and rings of snowcapped mountains. The days darken in the early afternoon and the cold, constant rain and cloud cover is a daily reminder of what season it is. But February of 2005 was the antithesis of the infamous winters of Seattle. Almost every day was characterized by clear, sunny skies with perfect views of the bare mountains of the Olympics and Cascades. Yet enjoying respite in rain was bittersweet for many people, because we rely on the rain and cold days of winter.

The state of Washington suffered a decline in tourism as the ski mountains and resorts were unable to open for much of the season due to a lack of snow. Beyond this immediate economic hurt, there is also the issue of a lack of water in the spring and summer that comes from snowmelt. This will have direct repercussions on irrigation for agriculture as well as presenting an inhospitable environment for strong salmon and fish runs, as rivers dry up to shadows of what they should be. However, there is another strain on the economy. Hydropower is a major source of energy for the Northwest.

Ed Mosey from the Bonneville Power Administration admits with no hesitation that the water situation in Washington may lead to increased electricity rates this summer. “We measure the amount of water that is available by picking a place, in this case the Dalles Dam, and we measure during the high flow months of January to July. The measurement is 1 foot of water over an acre. In early March our measurements read at 70 million acre feet which is about 66% of our average flow and every time we measure the number goes down. 2001 was the worst year for water. We were in a drought and the amount of water we measured at a reading was 58 million acre feet.”

Thanks to sustained spring rains, the situation isn’t as dire as it looked in March. Bonneville Power hopes that there’s enough water to produce the necessary power to meet the needs of Washington, but may be forced to seek a rate increase due to reduced market sales. Mosey explains that, “normally there are sufficient amounts of reserve water that [Bonneville Power] can sell hydropower to other, drier states like California, and the money lost from those sales will have to be made up in increased rates”.

Lack of available water is a statewide problem, with several people paying close attention to how agencies like Bonneville Power will respond. Marc Krasnowsky, the Communications Director of the NW Energy Coalition states, “We’ll soon find out if the region learned from the 2000-01 energy crisis and drought, when tens of thousands of baby salmon and steelhead died when hydro-system operators pushed for more electricity production at their expense.” And here lies perhaps one of the region’s greatest dilemmas. In a low-water year, how do we choose between power production and protecting wildlife and the environment? Krasnowsky believes that, “this choice almost always spells disaster for migrating salmon and steelhead.”

Yet both groups can agree that hydropower, Washington’s biggest supplier of energy, cannot be counted on to meet the growing demands of the region or state. Krasnowsky remarks, “Hydropower is a great renewable resource, but it is not without its challenges. We must recognize that it is limited and even without the projected warm-weather reductions, can’t meet growing needs”. But the question is how these challenges will be met. According to Mosey, “the past four or five years have all been very dry. But we have only been recording the amount of water we receive since the 1920s, so we don’t know if this is part of a larger cycle or something more random. But this year is an example of how we can’t rely on hydropower for energy, but have to develop new sustainable energy and technology. We are hoping to announce new technology using computer-driven technology. I can’t discuss the details now, but it is very exciting and wind definitely plays a part in it.”

As a community, the Puget Sound cannot rely on groups to advocate for sustainability, or for power companies to hand us an easy solution that requires no effort on our part. Individuals must choose sustainability and conservation. The ability to turn a tap and have water flow is a privilege that we cannot afford to abuse. Because by the time we have to choose between salmon spawning and irrigation, we have already lost the time when we can afford to be ignorant of our situation. And eventually, there will be an entire month of days when there is not a drop of water, and we will sorely miss the reliable rain of February.

State Legislature Supports Audubon Center with Capital Budget Funding

- Submitted by Hilary Hilscher from Earth Share organization Audubon Washington

The children and families of Southeast Seattle in particular, and the Puget Sound region in general, are a giant step closer to connecting with nature through an environmental education center in Seward Park, thanks to bi-partisan support in the 2005 Legislature’s budget signed today by Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Legislators from the 11th, 37th, and 41st districts joined forces to secure a significant state investment in the Audubon Center at Seward Park: the historic Tudor-style Annex building on Lake Washington will receive $400,000 from the state toward the renovation costs.

“This project allows all people to understand the importance and the impact the environment has in our daily lives,” said Rep. Eric Pettigrew, who represents Southeast Seattle.

“Enthusiasm and hard work carried the Seward Park vision forward,” said Nina Carter, executive director of Audubon Washington. “Well-deserved applause goes to Rep. Bob Hasegawa, Rep. Eric Pettigrew, Rep. Fred Jarrett, Rep. Judy Clibborn, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Rep. Zach Hudgins, Sen. Adam Kline, Sen. Brian Weinstein, Sen. Margarita Prentice, and Rep. Hans Dunshee.”

This funding adds to the City of Seattle’s contribution of $618,000 from the Pro-Parks Levy of 2000, and will help attract federal and private support, according to Carter.

The 3,200-square-foot, 1927 Annex building at the park entrance carries a total renovation price tag of $2 million. Together with the former fish hatchery, the buildings will house the program’s classrooms, citizen-science laboratory, nature library, natural history exhibits, and welcome center.

The Audubon Center will provide a safe place for at-risk youth and their families with after-school programs and school field trips to help children learn about issues relevant to their lives including environmental health, sustainability of local resources, and how individual actions can build healthy communities.

Seward Park is a 277-acre forested peninsula on the shores of Lake Washington, where natural diversity meets human diversity. Southeast Seattle is the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhood - it’s home to 73 different ethnic groups - and is the only neighborhood in Seattle without an environmental education facility.

At full capacity, Audubon will serve approximately 58,000 children and adults annually through 850 programs including after-school projects, school field trips, summer camps, teacher trainings, senior classes, and adult and family courses. Audubon programs will offer opportunities for hands-on, inquiry-based learning in a variety of disciplines including arts, humanities, and sciences, utilizing the natural resources of Seward Park as an outdoor classroom.

Numerous community groups such as SouthEast Effective Development, Woodland Park Zoo, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, and Seattle Audubon have asked to create partnership programs at the Audubon Center at Seward Park.

Earth Share's Day in the Park

Presented by IKEA

June 11, 2005 – Earth Share’s Day in the Park 2005 – At Golden Gardens Park in Seattle - Day in the Park invites volunteers to team up with leading non-profit conservation organizations and community groups for an honest day’s work enhancing a local park. Volunteers remove invasive plant species, plant trees & native vegetation, clean up beaches, and rebuild trails. Volunteer teams, under the guidance of Seattle Parks personnel and Earth Share of Washington crew leaders, learn the values of teamwork and stewardship while having fun. It’s an opportunity for everyone to feel good about helping the Earth and giving back to your community parks. To learn more about the event or to signup, please visit http://www.dayinthepark.org

Bring your friends, bring your coworkers, or recruit a volunteer team from your community! A celebration afterwards features fun activities for kids and families, live music, free food, prizes, and giveaways for every volunteer.

Signup today at dayinthepark.org
http://www.dayinthepark.org