NEWS | Solar project can begin soliciting investors. [5] ARTS | Islewilde celebrates two decades on Vashon. [5] SPORTS | Islander brings medal home from Junior Olympics. [14]
AN AMERICAN STORY The tale of a river tells the story of our past. Page 11
THE SHOW MUST GO ON Donations come in quickly for new theater equipment. Page 3
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 Vol. 57, No. 33
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
County decides to continue controversial rumble strips
Saving the world, one stove at a time
But in an effort at compromise with cyclists, the project is narrower in scope
By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
A line of metal stoves — all about the size of top hats — sits on a shelf at the Burn Design Lab’s bustling shop in the Sheffield Building south of Vashon town. Some have doodles on them — faces or designs created in moments of whimsy. Others are charred from use. Collectively, they represent something huge and potentially life-altering, a social and engineering experiment that could change the face of East Africa. The stoves — ultimately hundreds of designs were created — are all iterations in an attempt to come up with the perfect prototype: a stove that burns far less charcoal, that produces less carbon monoxide, that costs little to make and that performs ably for the women who do the lion’s share of the cooking in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and elsewhere in East Africa. After 18 months of work, the engineers and activists who have worked long hours at the
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By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
Leslie Brown/Staff Photo
Peter Scott with Paul Means, who heads research and testing, and Teddy Atwell, a student intern, measure the new stove’s ability to bring water to a boil quickly. lab believe they’ve got it. What’s more, thanks to a $300,000 loan from a Fortune 10 corporation, as well as the promise of additional funds, they’re also close to scaling up — building a Kenyanbased manufacturing plant that can begin kicking out thousands of these small, cobalt blue, cylinder-shaped stoves.
It’s called The Tank. And for Peter Scott, the charismatic founder of Burn Design Lab, this final iteration — what he and others believe is the perfect stove for East Africa — represents an auspicious moment. “We’re there,” he said last week as he stood outside of the newly dedicated lab where the stoves’
performance is tested. “In 18 months, we went from scratch to building the best charcoal stove on the planet,” he said. The stove consumes 50 percent less charcoal than the best current stove on the market. One small chamber’s worth of charcoal can SEE STOVES, 10
The magic of bioluminescence
A nighttime phenomenon lights up our sand and waters By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
A rock is tossed into the waves and a small firework explodes in the water. A stick traced in the muddy sand leaves a trail of light. A child jumps in the water and is suddenly bathed in glowing, blue-green crystals. Some describe summer in the Northwest as magical. But during these long, hot stretches of late summer, nighttime can seem otherworldly as Puget Sound shorelines — including some
on Vashon — glow from a natural phenomenon called bioluminescence. “It’s just enchanting,” said Leslie Enzian, who once saw bioluminescence at KVI Beach. When she and her son saw the light, they jumped in the cold water to play in it. Enzian said she kept her young son up far past his bedtime, but the experience was worth it. “If you’re in the water and swish your arms ,there are sparkles everywhere … and if you stand up you’re covered in stars,” she said. Despite several more late-night trips to the
beach, Enzian said she hasn’t seen the bioluminescence in a couple of years. “I’ve been on a search ever since. I tell people to call me if they see it,” she said. “It’s such a rare and magical thing.” Indeed bioluminescence, appearing mysteriously at any movement in the water, is also somewhat unpredictable. Experiencing the phenomenon, often called sea sparkle, depends largely on being in the right place at SEE BIOLUMINESCENCE, 19
In an effort to address concerns raised by cyclists, King County officials plan to remove some of the rumble strips along the shoulders of Vashon Highway, sweep shoulders more frequently and install signs warning cyclists of the stretches of grooved pavement. But they stopped short of agreeing to a motion passed by Vashon’s community council and pushed by many Island cyclists calling for a complete end to the project and a commitment to pave over the rumble strips that have already been installed over the course of the next two years. Harold Taniguchi, director of the county’s Department of Transportation, said during a telephone interview Monday that the county will continue a project that was halted four months ago, extending the installation of rumble strips south down the center line of Vashon Highway to the Tahlequah ferry terminal. The stripping project currently stops at S.W. 204th Street. The county will also mill a few additional stretches of pavement along the shoulders of the highway on the southern half of the Island, in keeping with its initial rumble strip plan. But the new work plan reflects what Taniguchi called a “balanced approach” and “a compromise,” SEE RUMBLE STRIPS, 15