Earth Share of Washington

FREE Naturescaping Workshop and Native Plant Salvage

If you have been procrastinating on attending one of these workshops, wait no longer. The King County Naturescaping Program is proposed to be cut in the 2009 Executive Proposed Budget. Don’t put it off any longer. Why wait when you can start shrinking that lawn and improving your part of the planet this year?

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/volunteer/plant-salvage-program.aspx

Learn how to create a wildlife friendly landscape using native plants in your own backyard. Native plants require less maintenance and water than non-native ornamentals and local wildlife love a native landscape. You will also learn many helpful tips on controlling the weeds that may threaten your project. The workshop will be held November 12, 2008 at Rock Creek Elementary (25700 Maple Valley-Black Diamond Road SE (Highway 169).
Maple Valley, WA 98038) from 7:00-9:00 pm.

As a bonus, participants at the workshop are welcome to travel to a site scheduled for development to dig up native plants for their personal habitat and landscaping projects. The salvage site is generously provided by Brandt Properties LLC. The native plant salvage for naturescaping participants will be on Saturday, November 15th, 9am until 1pm. Directions to the salvage provided at the workshop.

If you have previously attended one of our Naturescaping workshops, you are welcome to just attend the salvage. You do not need to retake the workshop. Simply email me your name and the approximate date you attended the workshop. Space is limited so reserve your spot now!

To register, contact Greg Rabourn at 206-296-1923 or > greg.rabourn@kingcounty.gov.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/yardtalk

Keep me Lead Free!

Why should we be concerned about lead poisoning in kids? Childhood exposure to lead can lead to reduced IQs, behavior problems, learning and developmental disabilities, brain damage, anemia, and in some extreme cases, death. Kids get lead poisoning by inhaling, eating, or drinking lead from contaminated sources. Over the years, we’ve learned that exposure to lead here in Spokane comes from many different places—contaminated beaches on the Spokane River, contaminated industrial sites, lead-based paint in the home and in toys, residual deposits from past use of leaded gasoline and lead arsenate pesticides, and lead found in drinking water pipes. While the numbers of lead-poisoned children have declined in recent years, the burden of lead poisoning continues to fall disproportionately on low-income families living in older, poorly-maintained housing.

In an effort to protect the health of those most affected by exposure to this dangerous environmental toxin, The Lands Council’s Environmental Health program, with a 2-year Targeted Lead Grant from the EPA, is educating inner-city families in Spokane about the health effects, exposure pathways, and prevention of childhood lead poisoning and offering free, voluntary on-the-spot blood lead screening of children ages 0-6. In collaboration with partners such as the Spokane Regional Health District, City of Spokane, Spokane County Head Start/Early Head Start, WA Department of Health, and neighborhood councils, we are building awareness of childhood lead poisoning and increasing documentation of suspected elevated blood-lead levels in Spokane. Projects such as ours are playing a major role in meeting the federal goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning as a major public health concern by 2010.

How does it work? First, we identify Spokane neighborhoods thought to be “high-risk” for childhood lead poisoning by compiling data on age of housing stock, median household income, families in poverty, and presence of kids 6 and under into GIS software and producing detailed, color-coded maps. We then go door-to-door in these neighborhoods, passing along information about childhood lead poisoning to families, answering questions, and advertising upcoming blood lead screenings. At our screenings, our nurse takes a “finger stick” blood sample, mixes it with a reagent solution, and feeds it on a slide into a portable machine. The entire process takes approximately 10 minutes per child. Kids walk away with a lollipop, sticker, and cool band-aid, and parents receive written results of their child’s blood lead level, along with a home lead test kit. To date, we have screened 186 children, one of which has exhibited an elevated blood lead level (>10 µg/dL).

Getting kids screened for lead poisoning is one of the first—and best—steps toward prevention! For more information, please contact Kat Hall, Environmental Health Program Director, at 209-2403 or visit http://www.landscouncil.org/water/reducing_lead.asp

*The Lands Council (http://www.landscouncil.org) is a Spokane-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and revitalizing our Inland Northwest forests, water, and wildlife through advocacy, education, effective action, and community engagement.

BPA Baby Bottles pulled from Local Store

Last week Safeway stores, the third largest grocery chain in the U.S., announced it will stop selling baby bottles containing the plastics component bisphenol-A (BPA) in its 1,775 stores in the U.S. and Canada. BPA is a compound used to improve strength and resilience in food containers. Its safety concerns, well documented for several years, have recently made headlines as stores and manufacturers have taken steps to eliminate its exposure to consumers, particularly infants.

According to The Environmental Working Group, the combined exposures from BPA in formula and baby bottles cause a substantial number of infants to consume unhealthy levels of the chemical, which laboratory studies have linked to cancer, brain, nervous system and behavioral malfunctions, reproductive system abnormalities, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, concurring with the American Chemistry Council, contends there is insufficient evidence to warrant ordering BPA removed from baby bottles, formula cans and other food packaging.

Canada announced an outright ban BPA in April, based on a review of 150 worldwide studies. “We have immediately taken action on bisphenol A because we believe it is our responsibility to ensure families, Canadians and our environment are not exposed to a potentially harmful chemical. It’s pretty clear that the highest risk is for newborns and young infants.”

In addition to Safeway, other companies removing BPA bottles from shelves and products include Whole Foods, Toys-R-Us, Playtex, Nalgene and Camelbak. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, announced it would stop selling BPA-laden baby bottles in early 2009.

“Major retailers can be a force in effecting positive change,” said Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an Earth Share of Washington member organization, which has lobbied against the use of BPA. “Parents shouldn’t have to roll the dice with their children’s health at the checkout aisle.”

An Ocean Sanctuary in Our Backyard

Imagine the Evergreen state as your house, and the ocean as your backyard. Do you know what treasures your backyard holds? Did you know that you have some of the world’s rare and vulnerable cold-water corals? Did you see the whales roaming through and the puffins resting on the rocks? How about the sea otters that just popped out of the kelp forest?

Much of the ocean off of Washington’s outer coast is in a protected area called the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (map below). Now, for the first time in 14 years, the managers of our ocean sanctuary are taking a fresh new look at the fascinating array of marine life we have and reexamining how to protect it. And we can help by sharing our thoughts.

The sanctuary was created in 1994 with a primary mandate of resource protection. Because there is a wide range of natural and cultural resources, and because there are multiple activities in the sanctuary that might impact the resources, the sanctuary management wants our help to identify what topics are the top priorities for them to address as they plan their management actions for the next five to 10 years.

This is our opportunity to state what issues are important to us, and our comments will help shape the future protection of our ocean ecosystem. As an example, some comments that have been made so far encourage the sanctuary to:
• Enhance public awareness about the ocean
• Make biodiversity conservation the top priority
• Study the impacts of wave energy development
• Do research on ocean acidification

Do you agree? Do you have something else to add? Now is your turn to contribute your voice to this conversation. Send the sanctuary an email (mailto:ocnmsmanagementplan@noaa.gov) and tell them what you want protected in your ocean backyard. The comment period runs through November 14. Thank you for doing your part to care for our ocean.

By Fan Tsao, Conservation Scientist, Marine Conservation Biology Institute
Marine Conservation Biology Institute protects ocean life through science and conservation advocacy. Visit us at mcbi.org.

Commentary on Tomorrow’s Elections

Two major transportation-related proposals appear on tomorrow’s ballot: a Sound Transit measure that would increase bus service and commuter rail service, and extend a light rail system in King, Pierce and Snohomish County. And an unrelated state measure (Initiative 985) would open high-occupancy vehicle lanes to all traffic during specified hours, require traffic light synchronization, increase roadside assistance funding, and dedicate
certain taxes, fines, tolls and other revenues to traffic-flow purposes.

ESW organizations Transportation Choices Coalition, Futurewise, and others agree: increased mass transit ultimately benefits the communities in this region while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Regarding the state initiative, no one likes sitting in traffic. In this case, many environmental leaders (such as Denis Hayes, known for his association with Earth Day and the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation) believe Initiative 985 is poorly worded, does not address underlying causes of congestion, and thus does not solve them.
Many conservation-minded voters turn to Washington Conservation Voters for guidance (http://www.wcvoters.org). Regardless of your stance on tomorrow’s issues and candidates, ESW urges all Earth Page readers to exercise their electoral muscles. It’s a great feeling!

William Borden is Earth Share of Washington’s Executive Director

On Tomorrow’s Ballot: Transit Solutions Now While Building For the Future

Tired of spending up to $4 for a gallon of gas? Looking for an alternative to being stuck in congestion? This November voters will have the opportunity to consider a transit-only ballot measure that includes increases in bus service, commuter rail service and extending a light rail system in King, Pierce and Snohomish County. Highlights of the measure include:
• Immediate 17-30% increases in bus service throughout King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties starting in 2009 and new Bus Rapid Transit service on the new 520 bridge.
• Sounder commuter rail service of up to 30 trains a day from Tacoma to Seattle - a 65 percent increase - including more rush hour service, more reverse commute service, and new mid-day service. 36 miles of light rail connecting Seattle north to Northgate and Lynnwood, east across I-90 to Bellevue and Redmond, and south from the Airport to Highline Community College and S. 272nd in Federal Way.
• Improved Sounder stations in Edmonds, Mukilteo, Tukwila, Kent, Auburn, Sumner, Puyallup, S. Tacoma and Lakewood as well as new provisional Sounder stations in Ballard and Belltown.
• Streetcar extensions in Tacoma and Seattle including a new streetcar connecting Seattle’s International District light rail station with the Capitol Hill station via First Hill.

This package will cost voters in King, Snohomish and Pierce County about $69 per person per year via a half cent sales tax increase. That’s about a nickel on a $10 dollar purchase.
A few things in the measure that environmental groups worked together to improve upon:
1. Money for transit access at stations, not bigger park and ride lots. Instead of building big empty spaces for cars, Sound Transit will now provide financial incentives to cities that want to invest in more bus, bike, walking, and other ways to get people onto transit. These ‘Station Access Plan’ funds will be augmented by new rules allowing local jurisdictions greater flexibility in designing their stations.
2. Greenhouse gas emissions analysis. We advocated for Sound Transit to do a first of its kind analysis of their overall emissions from the plan. Our goal is to identify the total emissions from construction, operations, and planning processes to systematically reduce the overall carbon footprint of the agency. Sound Transit will be a pioneer among transit agencies in this field and it is a remarkable achievement.
3. 520 bridge high capacity transit. The 520 bridge project is still in planning, but we’ve asked Sound Transit to get more engaged in the planning and design so that when the new bridge opens we’ll be able to seamlessly connect 520 transit with the Sound Transit light rail station at UW.

Investing in mass transit will fundamentally change the way people get around this region. It will support density by attracting new people and jobs to its stations. It will provide speed and reliability for hundreds of thousands of transit riders and give people alternatives to driving when gas prices are hurting wallets. For more information on the proposed transit plan, visit http://future.soundtransit.org