Yes we live on an island. Many of us moved here for the temperate climates. The founding American pioneers came here to escape the grueling snowstorms and freezing temperatures in the east and the extra inches of rainfall on the mainland.
The Keystone XL oil pipeline has earned much national attention recently for the damage it would do to the climate. But another potential climate disaster is playing out in our region that we must all be actively involved in stopping.
After four decades working in the aging field, I’ve discovered something interesting: we each get “old” at our own unique pace. This is different from any other time in our lives.
As the season of gift-giving descends upon us – Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa and Christmas – you might be having trouble thinking of the right present for a frail older person.
I don’t write much about telephone elder scams — it’s like warning against the ocean. Those who need to hear the message aren’t listening, and the rest seem already on top of it.
Having carefully considered the facts and differing opinions regarding the upcoming school bond, we believe that the revised bond deserves our support. The fact that we do not have a perfect school or management cannot be used as a justification for holding Lopez children hostage and voting down the revised bond. Here is why.
The Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District has had another successful year. Through July 2014, 267 tons of garbage (up 12 percent from this time last year) and over 167 tons of recyclables (up 17 percent), not counting metals, batteries, E-waste, and this year textiles, departed Lopez on local trucks – including our own truck– with local drivers.
I am 81 years old and one day I realized that I missed having a little girl in my life, with that wonderful innocent youthful energy. My grandchildren are gone and do not live on the island.
Last year the season started with a shockingly large storm event that overwhelmed our Eastsound storm sewer system. With that memory almost one year behind us, the Stormwater Utility is moving into the final phase of countywide stormwater management planning.
If you want to learn mountain climbing, you won’t start with Mount Everest. If you yearn to become a great cook, I doubt you’ll begin by hosting a huge dinner party. For all things that are complicated and worth knowing, it takes time, education, practice and patience to learn the tricks, absorb the subtleties and understand what’s really involved.
Citizens from Whidbey Island and the Puget Sound region will gather at the Navy’s Outlying Field at Coupeville, Whidbey Island, Friday May 9 at 1 p.m. to protest the Navy’s resumption of Growler EA-18G electronic attack jet operations.
Many of us support international development organizations with our donations, but rarely get to observe their work firsthand. Recently several Lopezians converged at Santa Cruz la Laguna, Guatemala, to see Amigos de Santa Cruz Foundation in action.
The level of unpredictability and lack of ferry service in recent months is unacceptable. As a frequent ferry commuter myself, I share the frustration other riders have with the inconsistent and uneven service. I also agree that the responsibility for this lies not as much with Washington State Ferries, but right here in Olympia.
Most of us in the islands are concerned about the ongoing problems with the Sealth, one of three mainland ferries, which is undergoing lengthy repairs in Anacortes.
When I was 26 I signed up for my first 10-day silent meditation retreat. My mother’s response was “Why on earth would you want to sit around and think for 10 days?” Right, why would I? The truth is, “thinking” is not what meditation teaches. I get plenty of that everywhere else!
Growing up in Arlington, a lot of my friends worked minimum-wage jobs. I worked at a bookbindery during high school, pulling in about $3.50 an hour during the summer break.
Here is a confession: I LOVE the Take-It-Or-Leave-It!
My love affair with Take-It-Or-Leave-It dates way back. But now I want to come clean because I finally have some data to retroactively justify my behavior.
Peace Island Medical Center was awarded a grant by the Washington Office of the Attorney General to provide three series of diabetes classes over the course of this next year.
In the last Energy Matters article “Facing the reality of fossil fuel economy and climate change”, I wrote about the ubiquity of fossil fuels in our everyday lives. Fossil fuels and the numerous products derived from them have fuelled our cars, factories that make stuff we use, agriculture that puts food on our tables, and economy on which we all depend. So how can we wean ourselves from “oil addition”?
My heart wrenched as I followed the news of the Super Typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines. One of the strongest storms on record, Haiyan made Katrina and Sandy look like “weak cousins.”
Pamm Larry, a former midwife, farmer, and business owner, quit her job to spark a campaign that last November came surprisingly close to defeating the Big Chemical and Big Food giants.
In the nine months since the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District took over operation of the Lopez Dump, 331 tons of garbage, 209 tons of separated recyclable materials, and 14.5 tons of commingled recyclables have left the island on local trucks – including our own District truck – with local drivers.
The news that the Lummi Nation stood firm to “unconditionally and unequivocally” oppose the ill-considered Gateway Pacific Terminal project has brought us joy and humility.
Recently coal-terminal advocates won an apparent victory when the Army Corps of Engineers told Congress it would not perform an area-wide review of the proposed projects’ environmental impacts. Instead it would only consider the projects on a case-by-case basis and focus narrowly upon their impacts on U.S. waterways, over which it has regulatory control.
Thank you to all of the co-op members who participated in our 76th annual meeting. We are now looking forward to the next chapter of OPALCO’s long story – which we will write together.
No doubt that better and faster internet would bring economic, educational and communication benefits. Speaking personally, it is frustrating to pay Centurytel for 1.5 megabytes of download speed only to get as low as 0.02 Mbps or no internet at all.
At a special board meeting on Feb.13, the Lopez Island School Board voted unanimously to place a bond measure for a major school renovation project on the April 23 ballot for voter consideration.
I am on call 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for one week, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next week and the third week off, then I start again. I am also a lieutenant firefighter, so really I am on 24/7.
“Thriving Communities” are growing in several communities around the Salish Sea in a mutually supportive way. On Friday, Jan.4, a day was set aside at the Lopez Community Center to envision and discuss ways of strengthening and developing visions for community enrichment. Roughly between sixty and eighty people attended. The purpose of this event was to create successful growth models here at home. Ideas were discussed about how to take action to make our homes healthy and resource efficient, our lands sources of food and beauty, and our communities vibrant and resilient in these changing times. Most of those who attended came away moved with a sense of possibility and hope.
My heart is broken as I reflect upon the tragic events of Dec. 14, at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn. That such innocent lives could so quickly and brutally be ripped from the tight fabric of that community and that school, is unimaginable to me.
What can the San Juan Islands learn from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy?
On Saturday Nov. 3, over 450 residents of San Juan County packed the gymnasium at Friday Harbor High school during a three hour meeting to provide scoping comments to the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point in Bellingham.
The dispatcher recognizes the victim’s voice. The deputies know the address. The prosecutor remembers the prior incidents. The advocate knows the victim. The defense attorney, judge, probation officer, counselors, domestic violence perpetrator treatment provider know the abuser.
Salmon, transportation, recreation, tourism, commerce … Puget Sound waters have provided food in the belly and cash in the pockets of islanders for generations.
Our generation inherited a world contaminated with PCBs. They were considered as safe as mineral oil and table salt. PCBs were used in hundreds of applications from insulating fluids, plasticizers in paints, pesticide extenders, caulking, adhesives, to carbonless copy paper.
I have a fear of birds, which I suspect originated on a beach trip with my father when I was eight. He thought it was hilarious to put bits of bread on my head to feed the seagulls.
Many wonder if we citizens can influence coal transport around the San Juan Islands. We can, but first, we need to get informed and involved.
I, too, am a member of the Charter Review Commission, one of three No votes on the amendments. I would like to respond to some of Gordy Petersen’s statements. Mr. Petersen decries the “costly” decisions from the current six-member council. He does not, in this case, and almost every other, explain or support his opinion. He just believes it.
This article is the last of the three-part series on the planned exports of coal and tar sands oil exports through the waters surrounding our islands.
In my first year as auditor, the first time I went out on a limb to project revenue, it was to say that sales tax revenue that year would not meet budget. Having no experience in forecasting, I was way out of my comfort zone in saying that. I was relieved the next week to see the local paper reporting the same thing: that sales tax revenue would fall short that year. When I read the article, however, I was chagrined to see that the paper’s source for that projection was me. I’ve come a ways since then. I’ve developed tools for reviewing revenue, and I have a few years of good historical data to build on.
