Reflecting on 10 Years of Blogging

What do you do after you have to create a blog for a class assignment and that class ends? If you're a tree-hugger with Finnish heritage, the obvious answer is to retitle it envirofinn and write about the environment for at least 10 years.

For the 2010 spring semester of my Ph.D. studies, I had to start a blog in my rhetoric class. It was simply a blog about assigned readings. Since I didn't have any more of those after the class ended, I decided to take the blog in a new direction on May 19, 2010. I thought it could become a good place to collect and share information about the environment.

Looking back on the last decade of envirofinn, I realize how much I put into its development and maintenance. It turned into a lot more than an information hub. I liked the template I chose so much, I haven't changed it once despite having many new options. The fall theme is just too me. Plus, I think it still looks nice. Besides, I spent a great deal of time trying to find the perfect color scheme for the text, and when I finally found it, I didn't want to let it go. I'm also quite fond of the envirofinn flag I created by adding the green of the blog to the Finnish flag.

A lake in Repovesi National Park reflects
a partly cloudy sky over Finland.

Yes, a lot of myself went into this blog. Eventually, the posts evolved from sharing resources, tips, and events to covering some of my personal experiences and growth as well. A few highlights included going to Finland in 2012 and coming back with material for several posts and the series from summer 2015 that chronicled my coming to terms with the age of global warming.

Some posts also recorded professional accomplishments and development. For instance, I used the blog to announce that I had published a journal article about environmental communication. In addition, I covered my work with Initiative 1631, Carbon Washington, The Nature Conservancy in Washington, and the Black Hills Audubon Society. In short, envirofinn contains some major pieces of my life even though it continues to be a place where I share resources, tips, and events. It probably helped me further my understanding of the environment as much as it helped anyone else learn where to recycle something or how to buy reusable shopping bags.

One thing I take extra pride in is the fact that I have made at least one post in each of the last 120 months. I may not post as often as I once did, but it remains important to me to keep the streak going.

A lot has happened since its inception, but looking toward the future, envirofinn will continue exploring our connection with the environment.

Doubling Up to Double Down

My path in environmental communication
continues with projects for Carbon
Washington and The Nature Conservancy.

I enjoyed my experience working on the campaign for Initiative 1631 so much that when election season ended, I looked for some new environmental-advocacy opportunities. One would have been great, but I ended up doubling my pleasure with work for both The Nature Conservancy and Carbon Washington.

In November, Carbon Washington put out a call for help with their communication team. Because of their work promoting action on carbon pollution (they had led the charge on Initiative 732 in 2016), I felt like helping them would allow me to continue addressing an issue of particular importance for me. After discussing it with them, I agreed to write content for their communication.

Near the end of December, The Nature Conservancy in Washington state announced that it was looking for volunteers to write for its City Habitats blog. Considering its focus on connecting people in cities with nature, I saw the blog as a wonderful opportunity to help develop the relationship between humans and the environment. My first post should appear in the next few weeks.

To have these two opportunities come up after the I-1631 campaign provided a good outlet for the environmental communication I still have in me. As my work with them continues, I'll post updates on this blog, so stay tuned for more information.

Two chances to work on environmental communication is definitely twice as nice.

Last Call

As Election Day nears, the time for talk fades, giving way to action.

My vote for I-1631 has been accepted for tabulation.

Washingtonians heard the call all summer and into the fall: Take action on global warming by passing Initiative 1631. News reports, political ads, letters to the editor, phone calls, yard signs--the arguments for the initiative have sounded for months.

All that ends on Tuesday. With many ballots already returned by voters and the deadline for returns looming at 8 p.m. on November 6, not much remains to say about the initiative.

That makes this my last call. It's a call to do something great, a call to protect our health and our environment, a call for a better future, a call to make history, a call to action.

My fellow Washingtonians, please vote yes on I-1631 and return your ballot by Tuesday's deadline. Thank you.

This is It

When I talk to people about environmental issues like global warming, they often ask, "But what can I do?" Right now, my answer to my fellow Washingtonians is to vote for Initiative 1631.

Now is the time to act on global warming.

Today's political atmosphere and the size of environmental issues can make us feel powerless to affect change. However, I-1631 is our chance to do something big and effective, and with ballots arriving this week, the time to pass it is now.

The moment I heard about the initiative, I knew I wanted to help pass it. I joined the campaign because I wanted to make a difference on this important issue. I've blogged about it here, here, here, here, here, and here because I believe in its ability to keep us healthy, protect our environment, and move our state toward a better future. 

Now, as Washington state pollster Stuart Elway says, "It's on the cusp." Elway's poll, conducted in the first week of October, shows the initiative leading, 50-36, with 14 percent undecided. That means two things: (1) It can win, and (2) our votes can put it over the top. It doesn't get much more empowering than that.

For Washingtonians, this is it, the answer to that persistent question and the moment of choice. We have our opportunity to do something amazing to address global warming. We can take action and make real change happen. If you are a Washington voter, please vote yes on I-1631 when you receive your ballot. Thank you with all of my heart.

The Cost of Cheap Lies

Money can't buy honesty (no surprise there), but apparently, it can't afford very good lies either.

Having already designated more than $20 million of its money to oppose Initiative 1631, the fossil fuel industry began sending out misleading mailers last month. That the industry would attempt to use its wealth to fund a misinformation campaign against an initiative seeking to regulate carbon emissions shouldn't shock anyone. It's totally consistent with the past actions of these corporations. What does catch my attention is the cheap quality of the lies against the initiative.

In the past, the fossil fuel industry concocted elaborate stories to stoke uncertainty about global warming. These stories were lies, and the coal, oil, and gas companies' own scientists told them so at the time, but at least, the industry put in some work to fabricate them. As a result, the deceptions worked for a long time and continue to impact us today. We're still paying for their cost with pollution that threatens our health, the environment, and the future of all species on this planet.

The truth is that promoting alternative energy through I-1631
is better than anything the fossil fuel industry has to sell.

By comparison, the industry's lies against I-1631 have such little substance, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) hardly had to break a sweat in refuting them here. To illustrate the flimsy nature of these lies, let me spotlight a few examples from the piece by the UCS. First, the fossil fuel industry argues that the initiative exempts a coal plant near Centralia, Washington. Pointing to this exemption, they suggest the initiative won't work. Yet they neglect to mention that the plant will close in 2025 and that the agreement to shutter it requires any climate legislation in the state to exempt it until its closure. The industry also says that the initiative calls for a "carbon fee" instead of a "carbon tax" to mislead voters. The truth is that it must be called a fee to ensure the money raised from it goes to the correct projects. If it were called a tax, the money would go to the state's general fund and could be used for anything, not just for projects like promoting renewable energy and helping low-income people deal with the effects of global warming. 

Though weak, those half-truths and false assertions aren't even the lamest of the bunch. The opponents of the initiative say it has no oversight. In truth, I-1631 would institute a 15-person public board to oversee its implementation. The oversight and accountability are right there in the language of the initiative! Make sure to read the whole article from the UCS to see each lie from the fossil fuel industry refuted.

By the fossil fuel industry's own standards, and despite the millions of dollars behind them, the lies these corporations spread against I-1631 are extremely cheap; but if they work, they'll be very costly for our planet and our health. Don't buy them.

Red (Sky) Means Go on Carbon Regulation

Judging by the sun, I can tell it's time for the regulation of carbon emissions.

Smoke from wildfires turning the morning sun
an eerie red on August 22 in Washington state.

Once a rare sight, sunlight turned hazy red from wildfire smoke has become a consistent feature of Pacific Northwest summers in the last decade. This year, it colored much of August in Washington state, bringing with it hazardous air quality and oppressively low visibility. Suffocating and disorienting, the smoke and the hellish scene it created set off a flight mechanism in the back of my mind. It didn't feel safe, and I wanted to get out of it.

Besides suggesting a need to flee, the flashing red light of smoke-filtered sun carries another message for Washington residents in 2018: Go! And by that, I mean it's a sign to go forward on the regulation of carbon emissions by enacting Initiative 1631.

As I've blogged about before, I-1631 regulates carbon emissions by placing a fee on the big polluters responsible for the majority of those emissions, disincentivizing the use of fossil fuels. It also funds renewable energy and prepares Washington's communities for the effects of global warming, effects like increasingly difficult wildfire seasons and the smoke that accompanies them.

When we're filling out our ballots for this November's election, let's remember the red skies of August and go enact I-1631.

Powering to the Ballot

With the promise of decreasing pollution and making investments in Washington state's communities and clean energy, Initiative 1631 vaulted to the November 2018 ballot behind the energetic support of more than 375,000 signatures.

As this tweet from the Yes on 1631 campaign announces, on August 3, I-1631 received official certification for the ballot from Washington's secretary of state. Needing only 260,000 signatures to qualify, the broad coalition sponsoring the initiative sent a powerful message by collecting nearly one and a half times that in less than four months.

Just qualifying for the ballot carries a certain amount of momentum, but the large total of signatures that made I-1631's certification possible indicates a high level of energy behind this important initiative. It's the kind of strength that can fortify and propel the initiative as it moves toward the election this fall.

Clearly, Washingtonians want to address global warming, and I-1631 provides a practical and effective way of doing so. By putting a fee on carbon pollution from the fossil fuel industry, the initiative discourages carbon emissions, provides funds that help communities cope with the effects of global warming, and invests in renewable sources of energy. For more information, visit the campaign's Web site.

I-1631 seeks to change how we power our society, and it's using the power of people to make that happen.

My Change, Our Change, Climate Change

From making a change to affecting change, I've spent a lot of early 2018 focused on change, a point of emphasis that will surely continue through at least the rest of the year; but really, these changes have been a long time coming and are part of a much larger change.

During the last five years, I taught and conducted research at the University of South Dakota. I enjoyed the job and met so many great people in the process. On the downside though, it took me away from my beloved Pacific Northwest. Over time, I felt a growing need to return to my home region, and I also experienced the urge to have greater and more direct involvement in efforts to affect change and bring about needed action on environmental issues like global warming. Eventually, I reached the conclusion that I needed to make a change happen in my life if I really wanted to act on those desires, so I submitted my resignation at USD in January.

The winds of change need a little push.

When I announced my resignation, I had no other job waiting for me. That uncertainty scared me a little, but I knew I had made the right decision. Then, in early March, a coalition of environmental groups in Washington state announced an initiative to regulate carbon emissions, and I knew just as clearly that I wanted to participate in the campaign for the initiative. It was my chance to help affect the changes we need to make in our society if we are going to address global warming effectively, and because of the changes I'd made in my professional life, I could commit wholeheartedly to the campaign. The Nature Conservancy played a key role in putting together the initiative, officially listed as Initiative 1631, so I reached out to them. Happily and proudly, I can now announce that I will be writing copy for the Yes on 1631 campaign.

It's no secret that global warming and the changes it's bringing to the planet have been on my mind for a while. I wrote my dissertation on newspaper coverage of the issue; this blog contains numerous posts dedicated to it, particularly to the alarming changes I've seen in the Pacific Northwest in recent years; and for the last ten years, I have either walked to work or taken the bus. In short, global warming has changed my life, ingraining itself in my emotions, decision-making, and actions. Now, I am excited that I have an opportunity to help bring about social change on the issue.

Times don't change themselves; people have to make those changes happen on individual, societal, and planetary levels.

Numbering the Days of Carbon

Wind turbines producing renewable
energy at Vantage, Washington.

The number to watch for this year in Washington state is I-1631.

As I blogged about in March, a coalition of environmental groups, including The Nature Conservancy, has submitted an initiative to regulate carbon emissions in the state. That initiative now has an official number: Initiative 1631.

I-1631 would regulate carbon emissions by imposing a pollution fee on industries that emit carbon dioxide. It represents an important first step toward limiting the emissions that cause global warming.

Volunteers have already fanned out across the state to gather the signatures needed to put I-1631 on the ballot in November. I signed at the Glacial Heritage Preserve on this year's Prairie Appreciation Day. So be on the lookout for signs of I-1631 and people collecting signatures for it, and please consider adding your signature to the list.

Let's make sure carbon's days are numbered.