Earth Day

Hey everyone, I'm sneaking this in with just over an hour left of Earth Day, and taking it a little different direction. I know our blog Sustainable Palouse but the semester is coming to an end and many students will be heading to Western Washington for the summer. In light of this I decided to take a look at some of the environmental issues around Seattle, our state's biggest metropolitan area, a home town to many WSU students, and the our heated/hated rivals the University of Washington Huskies.

I found some really interesting stories on The Seattle Times website (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html) today, they ran a number of pieces that were related Earth Day or environmental issues west of the Cascades.

A couple that caught my eye were:
A lengthy but interesting and well written piece the plight of Puget Sound.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2004356032_footsound20.html
A cute story about the efforts of students from Discovery Elementary in Sammamish who were trying to set the world record for collecting and recycling plastic bottles. It would be interesting to see a follow up story here, I wonder if they achieved their goal? This article is especially relevant considering the amount of attention plastic water bottles have been getting as of late.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sherrygrindeland/2004359980_grin19e.html

The most interesting article, in my opinion, was one about Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposing looser restrictions for environmental reviews for developers. The article left me wanting more. What are the possible cons of such a decision. Chris Leman, who serves on the City Neighborhood Council was the only dissenting voice in the article. It seems there would be many others opposed to these deregulations in liberal Seattle, could I be wrong? Take a look and see for yourselves.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004362615_developers21m.html


This will likely be my last post of the semester but there has been talk of continuing the blog next semester. Keep you eyes peeled for new posts, hopefully we will be updating throughout the Summer and into next Fall.

Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute

PCEI began as a reaction to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on the other side of the globe. The group, like others showed concern about Washington State's own nuclear power plant at Hanford. When Hanford shut down the group shifted its focus.

“PCEI shifted its focus to the transportation of nuclear and other toxic waste, and then to local concern about pesticide use, which ultimately led to a change in the way the organization approached environmental issues…

…Although the organization's focus has continued to evolve, the underlying purpose has been consistent. "We've had the same mission statement for quite a while, which is to increase citizen involvement in decisions that affect the region's environment." The Institute has grown into one of the most successful organizations in the region. In addition to Community Agriculture, they have programs in Watershed Restoration, Environmental Education, and Transportation,” (information taken from PCEI's Website)

PCEI is a great resource for those interested in environmental issues around the Palouse and their website is a good place to start if you're interested in the organization.