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.

Going the Extra Mile for Hiking Comfort

Although I've substantially improved my hiking experience in recent years with key purchases such as trekking poles and UV-protective clothing, last fall, I decided to go a bit further by picking up a pair of compression tights.

My new compression tights on a hike at Mount Rainier.

I probably could have continued doing just fine on hikes without the Elite MCS Compression Tights from the company 2XU. The trekking polls I bought last year have taken a lot of stress off my legs; the light, UV-protective shirts and shorts I've accumulated over several seasons have made hiking in even hot, sunny conditions more enjoyable; and I always have sunscreen with me for the parts of my legs not covered by shorts and socks.

Having used the compression tights on hikes this summer though, I would never hike without them again. They lived up to their promises of UPF 50+ sun protection and improved muscle performance and recovery. Additionally, I noticed an almost total loss of stress on my knees, and the tights didn't make me overheat.

The tights' effects went a long way in enhancing my hiking comfort. My legs remained fresh during the hikes, and even after a 12-mile day hike at Mount Rainier, I felt ready for more. On days after hikes, I experienced much less soreness and stiffness than usual. For more information about the compression tights I purchased, click here.

Sometimes, going the extra mile leads to a better trip.

The Art of Me

I am not an artist, but that didn't stop me from recognizing a big part of myself in the art of Elton Bennett.

Sea Birds Cry by Elton Bennett.

For a while, I've wanted to put some art of the Pacific Northwest on my wall, so some prints of Bennett's work caught my eye as I ate lunch at the Ocean Crest Resort on a recent trip to the beach at Moclips, Washington. They presented familiar scenes of the Washington coast in the soft, shadowy colors so common in the PNW.

Alone, the scenes in Bennett's work would have supplied me with enough interest for further research, but they also possessed a quality I knew I liked. After returning home and starting my investigation, I learned that Bennett had been a native of the Grays Harbor area in Washington, growing up and living not far from my hometown. That certainly struck a chord with me. The area had inspired much of his work, and I saw the care he had for some of the same things and places I grew up loving.

My photograph of a clam tide on January 2, 2015.

It wasn't just that Bennett's art portrayed a place I cared about though. As I examined his pieces in more detail, I discovered some of my own perspective in them. Many of his works emphasize the natural scene over human figures. Some contain no people at all. In those where people are present, the scenery often dwarfs the human, or the shadows or half-light blur them into the setting. I take photographs in much the same way. In fact, his piece Sea Birds Cry, which depicts the silhouettes of people digging clams against the blue-gray of the ocean and sky, recalled to mind some clam-tide pictures I took in 2015.

After conducting my research, I knew Bennett's art was the kind I wanted on my wall. I bought a print of Around the Cape, which beautifully expresses the essence of the coast on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. For more information about Bennett and his art, click here.

Although I could not have produced Bennett's art, its subject matter and perspective at least make me feel like it was created for me.

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.

Taking the Road Ahead

Too often we let the road take us somewhere instead of taking it where we want to go, but a new project from Conservation Northwest goes the other way.

Looking to take the next step in the journey that began with the successful plan to put wildlife passages on Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass, Conservation Northwest has proposed another wildlife underpass. This one, located on Highway 97 in remote Okanogan County, has a twist with the potential to spread throughout Washington state and allow us to go in important new directions.

In response to the more than 350 mule deer killed by automobiles on Highway 97 every year, Conservation Northwest has brokered a deal with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to construct one wildlife underpass on the road. If the environmental organization can raise $125,000 through its Okanogan Wildlife Crossing Campaign by the end of 2018, WSDOT will build the underpass, hopefully sparking the state legislature to provide funding for additional crossings in the future. I donated to the campaign yesterday. To learn more about the project and see how you can contribute to the campaign, click here.

Beyond Conservation Northwest's single underpass or the intent to expand that project in the coming years, the efforts to connect habitat through wildlife crossings represent a greater undertaking. They set a course toward enacting a vision of how people can best interact with the environment. As the video below demonstrates, Conservation Northwest realizes that vision through tangible results (like those already seen at Snoqualmie Pass) that reshape and improve our entire state. It's a great lesson in how to take a proactive approach while navigating our social and environmental challenges.



Projects like the Highway 97 wildlife crossing are more than just ways of getting from one point to another; they are opportunities to take the road into the future to the place we really want to be.

Reframing a Bad Break

When the frames on my 22-year-old sunglasses shattered, it almost broke my heart, but my search for new glasses turned up an option with a social conscience and an environmental focus.

My old sunglasses meant a lot to me. I graduated four times while I had them, and they accompanied me to Europe twice. I even blogged about them last year. Most importantly, their longevity helped me limit my consumerism. All told, they became a part of me; so when I dropped them accidentally in March and looked down to see them in pieces, I experienced a moment of shock. I just couldn't believe it. Then, after the surprise wore off, I was sad that I'd never wear them again.

Faced with the task of buying new sunglasses for the first time in two decades, I determined to make the purchase as environmentally friendly as possible. Something made from recycled and recyclable materials was preferable. I did an Internet search, and Treehugger.com gave me a list of companies that made the kind of glasses I wanted.

The environmental focus of my search paid off with a pair of glasses made by Proof Eyewear from sustainably sourced wood and recycled aluminum. They are 100 percent recyclable, and the company will take them back for recycling if the time comes that I can't wear them anymore. On top of that, the company also donates a portion of its profits to charity. It all made for a very satisfying purchase; and I look forward to a long partnership and lots of great experiences with my new optical companions. To learn more about Proof Eyewear and check out their products, click here.

Although it hurt when my old sunglasses broke, choosing a sustainable replacement for them made me feel a little better.

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.

Locating Co-Presence: It's in the Journal

Anyone looking for co-presence with the environment can find it in the academic journal Environmental Communication.

After several years of work, "Locating Co-presence in Media Messages about Global Warming," the research paper I wrote with Dr. Michael Salvador, has finally received publication in Environmental Communication.

I last blogged about this paper when the journal accepted it in early 2016. In the meantime, the article appeared in the online version of the journal. However, this publication in Volume 12 Issue 3 of the hard-copy version makes the acceptance feel more real.

As I celebrate the publication, I would like to thank Dr. Salvador for all his work and help on this project. Hopefully, our paper can make a contribution to the ways we analyze and produce environmental communication. The objective always was to improve the relationship people have with the environment. If you would like to access the article, click here.

We can find co-presence with our environment in how we talk and the actions we take, and now, we can find it in Environmental Communication.

It's in the Air

An unmistakable sense of change builds in the air of Washington state as its residents take on carbon emissions.

The snowpack vanishes from the
Tatoosh Range in the heat of 2015.

Ordinarily, a setback will blow a movement off course or, at least, stall it, but we aren't living in ordinary times. Almost as soon as Washington state legislators reported their failure to deliver a carbon-tax law last week, environmental groups, with the wind at their backs, announced a new initiative for a similar carbon tax. Already fully detailed and sponsored by a coalition that includes The Nature Conservancy, Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Voters, and the Washington Environmental Council, the ballot initiative will now seek the signatures necessary to place it on the ballot in November.

The speed of the response to the legislative disappointment suggests the strength of Washingtonians' commitment to addressing global warming. Polling in this report from Sightline Institute supports this conclusion, showing that a supermajority of state residents back the regulation of carbon pollution.

Setbacks like this year's attempt to push for legislative action and the defeat of Initiative 732 in 2016 appear to have bolstered the resolve for carbon regulation and fine-tuned efforts to make it happen. This latest initiative balances the needs for clean energy, ecosystem protection, and aid for humans adjusting to changes related to climate and the economy. For more information about the initiative, click here.

In Washington state, something's in the air and in the people too, and it promises to change the current system that spews carbon into our atmosphere.