The P-Words

Obviously, the pandemic has defined the last two years for most everyone on the planet. However, as I look back on that time, some other p-words also come to mind.

While the pandemic made its impact, I couldn't help but notice the plundering and pillaging that was happening simultaneously. From the corporate bailouts and the giveaways of federal land for oil and gas drilling that plundered the country to the pillaging of natural resources in the Pacific Northwest, the pandemic-era has left its mark far beyond the arena of public health.

To all of this, I might add a fourth p-word: paralysis. The failure of the United States to protect its people during the pandemic has been paralleled by an alarming inaction on important issues like global warming even as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and increasingly powerful storms pound our country and the world more frequently.

All I have left to say about this state of affairs is that it's pathetic!

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.

A Place and Its Moment

Wind turbines churn out renewable
energy near Grayland, Washington.

American journalist Mignon McLaughlin wrote, "The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."

The state of Washington needs that courage now from its legislators and from its people. We stand on the edge of a transition from one moment to another, and that move asks us to take a major step.

During the past five years, Washington has seen major impacts of global warming but no legislative action to address it. Consequently, that half-decade did not contain the fondest moments for Washington's environmentalists. In November 2012, voters elected Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat who has highlighted global warming as a key issue. That same year, two Democrats switched allegiance and began caucusing with Republicans, putting the state senate in GOP control. Every year since then, with major droughts, die-offs in sea life, and record-breaking fire seasons taking place, Inslee has called for climate legislation only to have Republicans block it.

Election results from a single race on Tuesday made possible a new and brighter moment in Washington government. Democrat Manka Dhingra won election to the senate in a district previously represented by a Republican, returning control of the chamber to Democrats. That means, no obstacles remain to prevent Inslee's desired legislation. As long as Democrats have the courage to make it happen, we can finally address this urgent issue.

This is the moment the state has waited for, and we must make the most of it. Our beloved region desperately needs action on global warming, and that work has to start at home. No excuses, no procrastinating. Whether the legislation comes in the form of a cap-and-trade system like the one Inslee proposed three years ago or a carbon tax like the one voters placed on the ballot in 2016, this legislation needs to get done, and needs to be done well.

Our moment is here, Washington, and we must be courageous. Contact your legislators and the governor, and tell them to seize this opportunity for a healthier planet.

The Shredding of Our Moral Core

According to Immanuel Kant, "We can judge the heart of a (person) by his(/her) treatment of animals." In a more general sense, that behavior, along with how people treat the environment, probably also says something about the heart of a society.

It is with a heavy heart then that I have watched recent environmental policy coups play out around the United States. For example, as this article from BuzzFeed describes, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives recently passed legislation to reinstitute the barbaric killing of wolves and bears on wildlife refuges in Alaska. The approved tactics include aerial shooting and killing pups and cubs in their dens. To say nothing of the fact that these activities would take place on wildlife refuges, the inhumane legislation reveals those supporting it as sadistic, sociopathic, and bereft of conscience.

Morally corrupt as it is, the wolf-bear policy displays a cunning level of strategy. Targeting wolves and bears proves a clever tactic for unraveling the threads of human concern and environmental policy. As apex predators, those species indicate the health of the ecosystems in which they live. When they're wiped out, proponents of environmental exploitation can more easily make the case that extracting resources will not damage an ecosystem anymore than it already is. Additionally, as charismatic megafauna, wolves and bears generate public concern, and people rally to save them. In short, these species are critical to environmental preservation, and it is no accident legislators are targeting them.

We see the reasons for using bears and wolves as strategic targets in environmental policy proposals and decisions across the country. Stripping the species of their federal protections takes the first step in breaking down the systemic mechanisms that foster, institute, and enact our environmental ethics. Eliminating key reasons to protect the land opens the door to proposals that allow for expanded environmental exploitation. For example, we've already seen a proposal to permit oil and gas drilling in national parks and renewed efforts by Democrats and Republicans in the state of Alaska to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Ultimately, taking federal government out of the picture puts our environment in the hands of private interests, which is exactly the point of these policies. One of the best (though most egregious) examples of this process comes from Oregon, where a state board led by Democratic State Treasurer Tobias Read voted to sell off the Elliott State Forest to private interests. Covering the story, Men's Journal calls the sale "the natural conclusion of a land losing federal protection" and "a bad sign for America's public lands." Throwing away our heritage of conservation and our responsibility to future generations, the board sold the forest for short-term profits.

In the place where our moral and environmental ethics once found their footing, a corporate callus now resides, an indifference to anything other than consuming resources and making money. That's how, according to Greenpeace, the public relations firm for Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, ended up writing the letter in which the Republican governors of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa asked the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the pipeline.

At their heart, these actions by our elected officials represent a bipartisan, corporate attack on the core of our society and the shredding of our moral and environmental fabric.

Lead the Money

"Follow the money." We've all heard that before, and it has a lot of value as an idea, but after we follow the money, we must also take the next step and lead the money.

Following the money helps identify the source of the problem. In the case of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), following the money points to corporate influence on government as the problem. Of course, corporate influence reaches well beyond this issue, but DAPL provides a clear example of how to take the next step of leading the money.

Simmering for months, the DAPL issue and the protests around it have drawn much attention recently. Intended to carry oil from North Dakota east, the pipelines's route passes Native American land and moves under the Missouri River, threatening water supplies. Tribes in the area led the protests against DAPL, the construction of which began before all permits had received approval. Within the last month, law enforcement protecting the pipeline escalated tactics to deal with protesters. As you can see below, police officers employ tear gas and water cannons in freezing temperatures on the protesters. According to a Grist report, police blew off a woman's arm with a concussion grenade.



The fingerprints of corporate influence appear all over DAPL. Despite the escalating use of force by police officers, the Obama administration has refused to step in and protect the protesters or halt the pipeline. Together with the recent decision by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to approve an expansion of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline through British Columbia, DAPL shows the influence corporations have (even on leaders who say they are committed to addressing environmental issues like global warming).

If we were to stop after following the money, we would not be able to address the problem. Luckily, however, DAPL has prompted renewed efforts to lead the money. This YES! Magazine article discusses how people are divesting from the banks that fund DAPL. Divestment hits back at corporate influence by retaking control of our money. Rather than bank with big, corporate banks, people move their money to and do business with credit unions and community banks.

For me, the DAPL divestment represents the continuation of a movement that began in response to the economic collapse in 2008. I joined a credit union in 2007 because it had the best rates on car loans. Following the economic collapse, which came about largely because of corporate banking malfeasance, I moved all my money into the credit union.

Individuals looking for alternative sources for credit cards can also play a part in this divestment. Many credit unions have their own credit cards. Another alternative comes from Beneficial State Bank, which is a B Corporation whose credit cards support nonprofit groups, including the Sierra Club. For more information on Beneficial State Bank's credit cards, click here.

With corporations exerting so much influence on our elected officials, leadership on social change issues must come from us, and leading with our money gives us a great power to create that change.

Like Bottles on the Beach

View of Grays Harbor from Bottle Beach State Park.

You can try all you want to make something become what it isn't, but the secret is knowing it for what it really is.

I know Grays Harbor pretty well. I grew up in the surrounding area, made plenty of stops in the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, and drove through many times to points beyond like Grayland, Ocean Shores, and the Olympic Peninsula. However, two weeks ago, I found two parts of the harbor I hadn't previously discovered. They were right under my nose, and they gave me a new appreciation for an area that has disappointed many people's attempts to make it more than it is.

For this summer's adventure list, I slotted exploring the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge into the leadoff spot. Best known for its annual shorebird festival, the refuge is otherwise largely overlooked. In fact, I'd driven past it many times, but until May 17, my knowledge of its location had remained vague. As it turned out, the refuge wasn't hard to find.

Migrating shorebirds typically move through Grays Harbor in late April and early May, so I knew I was a little late for them (mostly, I wanted to explore the refuge), but even without many of its star attractions, the refuge didn't disappoint. Sandpiper Trail, a boardwalk path running through the refuge, revealed a diverse ecosystem with tidal areas and thickets of alder, willow, salmonberry, and elderberry. Many of the shorebirds had already moved north, but the songbirds, including cliff swallows, marsh wrens, and goldfinches came out in force. My mom and I also ran into two members of the refuge management team, and they showed us some Caspian terns and a black-bellied plover. One of the women suggested we go to Bottle Beach State Park on the south side of the harbor, saying we might see more birds there.

Although seeing shorebirds hadn't been the main goal of the trip, we decided to find Bottle Beach. Like the wildlife refuge, the state park wasn't difficult to find--right of the highway in plain sight. Despite that, neither of us had even known it existed prior to our conversation with the refuge manager. The beach soon showed itself to be a hidden treasure. Empty of people and nestled into the cove near Ocosta, the beach contained an active group of shorebirds, including more black-bellied plovers and a host of red knots, as well as a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains. My mom and I capped the trip with lunch, ice cream, and saltwater taffy in Westport, and we left the harbor with the feeling that we'd come to know this familiar body of water much better.

At one of the informative sites on Bottle Beach, we learned that Grays Harbor had once been earmarked as a port site that could rival San Francisco. The silty harbor had other ideas though. While it does a fair amount of shipping business, it isn't deep enough to be a major port. I wouldn't trade things like Bottle Beach or the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge for that anyway. They are much more true to what the area is.

Recently, some have tried to turn Grays Harbor into a main coal and oil shipping terminal, but those efforts have met fierce resistance from the local communities, and the fight against the projects makes perfect sense when you really know the harbor.

Greenpeaces of Rhetoric

Rhetoric and Legos have a lot in common, and thanks to Greenpeace, one of those things is the environment.

A key trait shared by rhetoric and Legos is the ability to construct something elaborate out of connected pieces (of language or blocks, respectively). Much like Legos construct whole worlds, rhetoric builds our world. As we define and frame events, decisions, actions, and our surroundings, we put together understandings that become the world we live in. For example, the Lego brand has partnered with Royal Dutch Shell to build Lego worlds complete with Shell's corporate symbols and oil operations. As the partnership brings Shell into the rhetoric of Legos, it reinforces the oil company's standing as a major part of our world.

We can also deconstruct both rhetoric and Legos, and Greenpeace has done exactly that with a video example of critical rhetoric. Watch it below:

LEGO: Everything is NOT awesome from Greenpeace on Vimeo.

Critical rhetoric challenges dominant forms of rhetoric and attempts to expand our understanding of the world. By taking the symbols of Shell and Lego, including the song, "Everything is Awesome," and raising questions about them, Greenpeace deconstructs the world the two companies had built and replaces it with a different world. In the world put forth by Greenpeace, the partnership between Shell and Lego is neither innocent child's play nor "awesome." Rather, the partnership is corrupting and, above all, threatens the environment, a threat Shell and Lego had neglected to include in their world.

A critical approach to rhetoric works by disconnecting the pieces of dominant rhetoric and reconnecting them to form a bigger picture of the world. Lego should know a little about that. Greenpeace sure does.

More Than a Memory

Remember the 2010 British Petroleum (BP) oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico? How about the 2010-present BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico?

That second one may not ring any bells, but it's more realistic than the first. The ruptured well that poured tons of oil into the gulf was never an isolated blip in time, no matter how much BP and everyone else wanted it to be. It was precipitated not by a rig explosion but by our consumption of oil, and the spilled oil's disappearance didn't end the story. Marine animals and birds continue dying in unprecedented numbers.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Ocean Alliance have teamed up to remind people that the Gulf of Mexico disaster continues and to help show its larger implications. Check out a video of Operation Toxic Gulf below:



Sea Shepherd and Ocean Alliance intend to continue their work in the future and are looking for help. If you are interested, you can read more about the project here.

We can tuck our thoughts of human-caused environmental disasters into the back of our minds, but the consequences of those disasters will continue impacting us and our entire environment.

Traveling Show of Resistance

What's legal is not always right, and what's illegal is not necessarily wrong.

The case of Tim DeChristopher, who was arrested and jailed after protecting thousands of acres of public land, is one of those stories where the good guy must become an outlaw. DeChristopher effectively sabotaged an auction for oil and gas leases by bidding $1.7 million to protect 22,000 acres of land. Bidder 70, a recent documentary that has been traveling the country, tells the story.

Watch the trailer below:

Bidder 70 - Trailer from Gage & Gage Productions on Vimeo.

For more information about DeChristopher, Bidder 70, and where to see the film, click here.

Going Nowhere

The "Forward" movement Barack Obama emphasized in his reelection campaign apparently comes from fossil fuels.

Continuing the trend he began in his first term, the president seems ready to ignore key environmental issues like global warming. In this article, TreeHugger reports that Obama has already declined an agreement with the European Union that would have required airlines based in the United States to pay a carbon fee. The article goes on to reveal that the administration is auctioning off to oil companies 20 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.

Together, these decisions mean no movement on carbon emissions and a strengthening commitment to oil.

Just a month before the president's second term, two things shine crystal clear: Obama's way forward does not include the environment, and our way forward on the environment does not include him.

Getting to the Line First

The United States just completed its latest election cycle, and the country has some excitement over the progress that might be made in the coming years. However, four years ago, we had even more excitement, and environmentally, it got us very little.

During the last four years, few elected officials have prioritized environment issues, and President Barack Obama has declined to throw the weight of the White House behind issues like carbon emissions, often maintaining a silence about global warming.

After seeing this unfold since 2008, I did not share in the excitement from four days ago. However, I like what the group 350.org is planning to do.

The group has decided to bring its protest of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline back to Washington, DC, on November 18. (I wrote about last year's protests here and here.) The 2011 protests were effective in delaying the pipeline, but the president will have to make a final decision soon. Rather than waiting to see if Obama will take a strong stand on the issue when his second term begins, 350.org is getting out in front and making sure the environment becomes a priority.

Go to the 350.org Web site by clicking here. To sign up to be part of the protest, click here.

New School of Thought

On a daily basis, we are being challenged to think in more global terms, and I believe this challenge of the globalized world has us on our way to rethinking environmental problems.

At first, looking at the many issues we face as a global society and the various interconnected elements of each problem can be demoralizing. However, support can also be globalized and connected more closely. That means, we have more of chance to create the kind of world we want.

As the National Wildlife Federation reports, many college students are waking up and responding to their institutions' investments in fossil fuels. Check out the full story by clicking here.

These students have led movements to divest the colleges and universities from companies like Exxon Mobil. By doing so, they have asked the institutions to live up to the ideals of their mission statements.

This is a great example of the power connected people can have in shaping their world.

Storming Oil

Oil companies receive as much as $1 trillion per year in subsidies from countries around the world.

This is interesting for two reasons. First, oil companies have been making record profits. Second, it's pretty hard to end dependence on something while giving incentives for selling it.

However, on June 18, organizations like 350.org, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council will be leading a "Twitter storm" to call on countries to end fossil fuel subsidies. The storm will involve people around the world sending tweets against the subsidies. If you don't use Twitter or if you'd like to do something in addition to sending a tweet on June 18, you can sign 350.org's petition against fossil fuel subsidies.

For more information on the Twitter storm, click here.

Something Small, Something Great

We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the horrific story of the event continues to unfold as sea turtles and baby dolphins wash up dead in record numbers this spring.

Although many responded to the spill by denying their responsibility and/or complicity in what happened, an 11-year-old girl got active and sought to make a difference.

Olivia Bouler called the Audubon Society and offered to help. She began selling her bird drawings to raise money for the Gulf cleanup, and she has now released a book of drawings, Olivia's Birds: Saving the Gulf, for the same purpose.

It's heartening to see Olivia step up like this, and her actions send a great message to anyone--adults and children alike--about how to be proactive on environmental issues. Her efforts represent an awesome story about a small act that stood in the face of a massive disaster.

Check out the book. It's available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, and I'm sure you can find it at other booksellers as well.

It's in the Bag

Hopefully, you are already on the reusable-shopping-bag side of good and evil (well, maybe that's a little dramatic). If you're not, seriously consider making the move.

Besides requiring oil for their production, plastic shopping bags get annoying when they start building up in your home (if you are collecting them to be recycled), go into landfills with the trash, or blow around on the wind. If you buy some reusable bags, you'll get to sidestep these annoyances and, sometimes, receive a discount on your shopping (Safeway gives a three-cent discount per bag). Plus, the planet will feel better knowing it has fewer plastic bags to deal with and less demand for oil.

However, the traditional reusable shopping bag is not really the focus of this post. Whether you use those bags or not, you have likely heard about or seen them. Less known is the reusable produce bag. It may receive less attention, but it will help you earn additional Brownie points with the planet and use even fewer plastic bags.

Even if you are using reusable shopping bags, you might be bringing home some plastic bags that you use to contain fruits and vegetables. The cotton produce bags made by Ecobags are great. Mine are still going strong after two years, and checkers at the store constantly ask where I got them. They are lightweight, so they don't add a lot of extra money to your by-the-pound purchases, and they are thin enough that checkers can look through them to see the little plastic identification stickers on the produce.

Ecobags' produce bags are available at Amazon.com. You can also visit their Web site by clicking here.

Ecobags also makes reusable shopping bags if you are in the market for those as well.

Bottled Up

One great thing you can do to limit the things you have to buy, cut down on the resources you use, help the planet, and limit your exposure to chemicals is to buy a stainless steel water bottle.

I have used Klean Kanteen water bottles for two years, and I recommend them.
Note: Do not buy the Sport Cap 2.0. The company is recalling them because some have broken apart. If you have purchased one, call Klean Kanteen at (877) 546-9063. They do have other caps from which to choose.

Update: Klean Kanteen now has the High Impact Sport Cap 2.0. This is supposed to address the issue of the previous Sport Cap 2.0 breaking apart. I got my high impact caps as part of Klean Kanteen's recall program.

How they help:

1. Using them instead of buying bottled water cuts down on the amount of plastic we use.
a. This will help prevent more islands of plastic from forming in the ocean. (Indeed, they are out there.)
b. It also cuts down on the resources needed for production and recycling. (Yes, recycling is good when necessary, but not having to use in the first place is even better.)
c. It also cuts down on our need for oil. (That's right, although new resources such as corn are being used to produce plastic bottles, most bottles are still made from plastic derived from oil.)

2. They are better for you.
a. Stainless steel is easy to keep clean.
b. Also, stainless steel does not contain chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA), the reputation of which has been clouded by questions about their impact on human health.

3. They are sturdy, so you will get a great deal of use out of them.

You can visit the Klean Kanteen Web site by clicking here.

You can buy the bottles at Amazon.com.