Whole Vashon Project SMALL ISLAND BIG IDEA
“I just realized that everything in the world is alive ... but in its own way.” —Flo, age 5
Contents Introduction: This is The Whole Vashon Catalog 3 Twenty-one Youth vs the Federal Government 4 Dedication 5 Salish Sea Migration Map 6 Prayer for the Earth 7 What’s Climate Change Got to do With It? 8 Test Your Climate Change Knowledge: 9 How Much Do You Know about the Earth? 10 How Much Do You Know About Greenhouse Gas Emissions? 11 How Much Do You Know about Waste? 12 How Much Do You Know about Pesticides and Industrial Farming? 13 Stop the Hurt, Start the Healing 14 Vashon Businesses: Green Goals 20 Are you an Activist or a Steward? Or Both? 46 Tree of Life centerfold Vashon NonProfits: Green Goals 47 Resources 74 Check ‘em Off! 30 Ways to Take Care of Vashon and Our Planet 75 Good Green Reads 76 Heroes and Teachers 78 Care for Puget Sound Means Care for Ourselves 79 Vashon Birds at Risk. How You Can Help! 80 Plant First for Nature’s Needs! 81 Risky Pesticides and their Safe Alternatives 82 Can You Afford to Go Solar? 83 Should You Buy an Electric Car? 84 Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station 85 A Beginner’s Plastic Primer 87 Old Story/New Story: Will We Make the Shift? 88 The Whole Vashon Project: What’s Next? 90 About Vashon-Maury Island (and for more information) 91 Acknowledgements 92
This is The Whole Vashon Catalog “Hope is…nurtured by relationship, by community…hope sends us into the arms of others.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Whole Vashon Project, founded in March 2019, began with a vision to make climate consciousness a
“Main Street reality.” This means that we hoped our efforts would, over the coming months, become visible, educational, creative, and inspiring—all over the island. This “Whole Vashon Catalog” publication is the first step. But things are not the same as they were a year ago. As we rewrite this introduction in the first week of April 2020, life has become much more challenging due to the Coronavirus. We thought the climate crisis was the impending catastrophe, never imagining it would be overshadowed by a global pandemic. Our desire to promote Vashon’s commitments to fighting the climate crisis has not changed, however. This publication, meant to share “Green Goals” from nearly 120 businesses and nonprofits, is still an inspiring document, we believe, giving us hope for our future. Even though we have no idea what Main Street Vashon is going to look like whenever the pandemic subsides. What we do know—which is astounding to contemplate—is that Nature is getting a break from our relentless human impact. And that we are being forced to stay home and also take a break from our insanely packed and stressful lives. Much creativity and sharing is pouring out of us! We hope this bodes well for the planet’s health and our own health, as we share the contributions from so many in our community: twelve artists, graphic designers, writers, editors, and researchers. There are educational resources, articles, inspiring quotes, excerpts of Vashon history from our Heritage Museum, a list of favorite books from island readers, questionnaires to test your climate smarts, and some helpful resources you’ve been meaning to research. Already we have “Ask Us about Our Green Goals” decals showing up in windows all over town. It’s the evidence of our caring that we want our children to see. Any person or organization that did not get in this Catalog is encouraged to contact us about joining through WholeVashonProject.com/contact. The more participation, the stronger we will be! We are committed to supporting any work that truly aims to save our only home. We applaud and respect the wisdom of our youth. And they are telling us to not lose our focus.
TWENTY-ONE YOUTH VS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Dependent on a destructive economy they did not build, lacking political clout, and too young to vote, what can today’s youth do to diminish the dire problems they are witnessing? For one group of children, the answer has been to turn to the courts. Best-known of the federal lawsuits is Kelsey Juliana vs United States, filed in 2015 in Eugene, Oregon. Twenty-one children are suing every major agency of the US government that has a fingerprint on the regulation or subsidy of the carbon production cycle. The defendants include the Departments of Energy, Interior, Transportation, Defense, State, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Why is the United States government resisting the Juliana case so vehemently? Why does the Juliana case matter now and for the future? Read the full article by Vashon residents Rachael Osborn (who was a support litigator for the Juliana case) and writer Juli Goetz Morser at WholeVashonProject.com/Catalog/JulianaLawsuit.
DEDICATION “I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.” –Greta Thunberg, World Economic Forum, Davos, 24 January 2019
These words, uttered by a courageous 16-year-old Swedish girl, express the urgency our children live with
every day the adult world continues to squander their future. This hopeful publication, “The Whole Vashon Catalog,” is the first step in our Island community’s effort to show them that they are heard. Heat stress, pollution and mold exposures associated with extreme weather events, asthma and chronic pulmonary disease resulting from wildfire smoke, the terrible news of the extinction of so many species, grief, fear, and depression—these elements are affecting all of us…NOW! Our children know that the Climate Crisis is not 50, 30, 20 or even 10 years away. Vashon’s own Daalny Meyer, age 15, opened her scholarly climate crisis paper with these words: “Welcome to the end of our future.” May we begin now to create a different story. We dedicate this catalog— and all the efforts of The Whole Vashon Project—to our children.
Photo by Jim Diers
Annie BrulĂŠ
Prayer for the Earth by Michael Meade
In the wake of the enormous storms, raging fires and growing climate crises of the past year there has been a surge of eulogies for the earth. While lamenting the loss of species and breakdown of eco-systems makes sense, a eulogy is not simply a “speech in praise of one who has died.” The Greek word eulogia means “to praise, speak well of, or bless” the living or the dead. When it comes to the earth, it may be of increasing importance that we find ways to offer praise and blessings, rather than simply write obituaries for the planet. The danger is not only that ecosystems collapse, but also that before we reach the point of complete disaster, human imagination fails to function and we fall out of the living story of the world. Stories are an ancient method of adding meaning to the world, of “speaking well” while continuing to learn about the mystery and wonder of life on earth. The stories we tell affect the levels of understanding and feelings for life that we hold. Most current ideas of the future are not just gloomy, but fatalistic. Scientific views of the climate crisis predict impending doom and modern cultures seem to lack a meaningful response. It is not simply that we need a better world than we have now; but also that we need a better worldview and deeper story of interconnection than we have now. The extent of ecological damage may turn out to be greater than science has uncovered. Yet, it is also possible that the earth’s capacity to renew and restore life is greater than science can perceive. In reducing the world to what we can measure we lose all that is immeasurable and transformative about life. The story of the earth has always been a tale of life, death and renewal. As archetypal mother, the earth serves as both tomb and womb, both ancient burial ground and the ever-renewing ground of being. Certain rites of passage require that everything seem to be upside down or about to end before genuine transformation can occur. This time of climate crisis and cultural collapse calls for a metamorphosis that transforms the fundamental relationship between human culture and the earth. In many ancient traditions, the year and the world were intertwined. Each New Year would renew time, but also restore the potential of the living earth. The world was known to renew itself all the time in the secrecy of forests, in the mystery of beehives, and also in the hearts of those who commit fully to life. Like the sun inexorably returning from the darkest point of the year, something deeply regenerative resides within the earth and in the depths of imagination found inside the human heart. An old idea suggests that a person is praying whenever they are thinking of something greater than themselves. May this be a year of thinking of and praying for the Earth. May it be the year for speaking well and blessing, for re-storying and restoring the Earth.
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Test Your Climate Change Knowledge! TURN THE PAGE AND TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIG PICTURE!
Did you know? “Deforestation in the Congo Basin, the Amazon, and the tropical forests of Asia may seem unimportant to people in the United States or Europe, yet the loss of these forests (as well as other ecosystems) is altering global weather patterns and affecting people in all parts of the world.” —Jane Goodall Does your knowledge extend beyond Vashon and the Pacific Northwest? Test yourself, your friends and family with these four multiple-choice questionnaires! How much do you know about: The Earth, Soil, and its Weather? Greenhouse Gases? Waste and Plastics? Pesticides and Artificial Fertilizers?
HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE EARTH, SOIL, AND WEATHER? 1. About 37.7 % of the Earth’s land mass is considered agricultural (grazing and farming). How much of this amount is suitable for growing crops? a. 10.6% b. 50% c. 28% 2. 12 million hectares (2.5 acres is a hectare) of land is lost every year due to desertification and land degradation. How many countries are included in this statistic? a. 110 b. 47 c. 190 3. The grasslands of the earth (5 billion hectares) provide food and economic security for ________ people? a. 80,000,000 b. 800,000,000 c. 800,000 4. What causes the largest weather - related deaths? a. Heat Waves b. Hurricanes and Blizzards c. Cyclones and Floods 5. Every continent except Antarctica and Australia evolved with wild ruminants that had a symbiotic relationship with the grasslands of the world. Which of these is not a ruminant? b. Buffalo; b. Giraffe c. Pig 6. A teaspoon of healthy soil contains ___________ beneficial bacteria. a. More than 5,000 b . Up to 1 billion c. About a half million 7. Extreme weather and drought has affected _____ people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua causing thousands to migrate north to the US. a. 1.2 million b. 2.2 million c. 800,000 8. Which of these can diminish drought? a. An increase of moisture in soil b. Irrigation
c. Planting drought-hardy crops
9. As much as 40% of insects are going extinct. Which of these is the number #1 reason? a. Pesticides b. Windmills c. Loss of Biodiversity 10. How much soil is washed or blown away annually in the US and not replenished? a. 56 billion tons b. 120 billion tons c. 24 billion tons
*For the sources of the answers, go to WholeVashonProject.com/Catalog/questionnaires ANSWERS: 1. a; 2. a; 3. b; 4. a; 5. c; 6. b; 7. b; 8. a; 9. c; 10. c
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HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS? 1. Our tax dollars subsidize fossil fuels to the tune of roughly _____ dollars a year. a. 74 billion b. 20 billion c. 40 million 2. “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming,” edited by Paul Hawken (2020) lists 100 ways to reverse global warming. What is number one? a. Phasing out HFC chemicals in refrigerators and air conditioners b. Eating less meat and a plant-rich diet c. Educating girls and women 3. Burning fossil fuels for energy accounts for approximately ____ of total greenhouse gas emissions from humans? a. 76% b. 11% c. 40% 4. What is the longest amount of time CO2 can last in the atmosphere? a. 50 years or more b. 100 years or less c. 1000 years or more 5. How long does methane last in the atmosphere before it breaks down? a. 12.4 years b. 73 years c. 200.7 years 6. Water vapor, CO2, methane and nitrous oxide help maintain the Earth’s climate. These are called: a. Ozone gases b. Greenhouse gases c. Climate gases 7. 11% of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are from: a. Manufacturing b. Deforestation c. Transportation 8. What is carbon sequestration: a. A process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO2 b. A process of stopping CO2 emissions with filters during manufacturing processes c. A process of using clean coal to limit CO2 emissions 9. Earth’s climate has been stable for _______ years. a. 2 million b. 12,000 c. 4,000 10. Air pollutants from fossil fuel emissions from vehicles and power plants cause _______ premature deaths per year. a. 200,000 b. 70,000 c. 130,000
*For the sources of the answers, go to WholeVashonProject.com/Catalog/questionnaires ANSWERS: 1. b; 2. a; 3. a; 4. c; 5. a; 6. b; 7. b; 8. a; 9. c; 10. a
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HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WASTE? 1. How many separate pieces of paper (including recycled) does the average household dispose of each year? a. 7,000 b. 41,000 c. 13,000 2. How much of the paper we recycle comes from packaging and junk mail? a. Half b. Most c. About a third 3. How much energy does a recycled aluminum can save compared with making a new one? a. Enough to run a TV for 3 hours b. Enough to run a computer for 12 hours c. Enough to run an electric car for 1 minute 4. How many plastic bottles do Americans throw away every hour? a. 2,500,000 b. 50,000 c. 1,500,000 5. What is Vashon’s number one waste export? a. Plastic b. Food waste c. Paper 6. The average number of plastic shopping bags used yearly in the US is: a. 100 billion b. 500,000 c. 2.5 million 7. Packaging materials make up what percentage of the average transfer station contents? a. About a third b. About a quarter c. About two thirds 8. A single quart of motor oil, if disposed improperly, can contaminate 250,000 gallons of fresh water. How big an oil slick would result? a. 7 acres b. .5 acre; c. 2 acres 9. The American Academy of Pediatrics is urging consumers to avoid three plastics that touch food. The numbers for the type of plastic are on the bottom of a container. What are the three? a. 4, 5, and 9 b. 3, 6 and 7 c. 2, 5, and 6 10. What percent of seabirds have some types of plastic in their stomachs? a. 50% b. 75% c. 90%
*For the sources of the answers, go to WholeVashonProject.com/Catalog/questionnaires ANSWERS: 1. c; 2. b; 3. a; 4. a; 5. b; 6. a; 7. a; 8. c; 9. b; 10. c
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HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PESTICIDES AND INDUSTRIAL FARMING? 1. Which of the following is not a pesticide? a. An insecticide b. A herbicide c. Sodium palmate 2. How many pounds of pesticides are applied each year to US farms, forests, lawns, and golf courses? a. More than a billion b. About one million c. More than 500,000 3. When did industrial agriculture start in the US and around the world? a. After WW1 b. Early 1940 c. After WW2 4. Why were genetically modified organisms (GMO) seeds invented? a. To increase crop yields b. To tolerate more pesticide use c. To reduce pesticide use 5. Every year, how many pounds of pesticides applied to crops in the US “drift� away from their intended targets into neighboring towns, onto nearby plants and trees, and into bodies of water? a. 75 million b. 90 million c. 30 million 6. Barley straw is a natural pesticide placed in net bags on ponds and in water features. What is this pesticide designed to target? a. Water bugs b. Algae c. Invasive fish 7. Regenerative agricultural practices include no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. A benefit to the soil is: a. Microbes proliferate b. Roots go deeper c. Plants are more pest-resistant d. All of the above 8. Today, 89% of cultivated land is devoted to annual crops but perennial crops are much better for the environment. Which of these is not a perennial crop? a. Rice b. Tree nuts c. Avocadoes 9. Nitrogen fertilizers are the third highest contributor to global warming. The nitrogen not taken up by plants destroys organic matter in the soil, seeps into waterways creating dead-zones that kills fish, and converts to nitrous oxide which is ____ more powerful than carbon dioxide in its warming effects. a. 150 times b. 298 times c. 40 times 10. As little as ______ of certain pesticides rinsed down a storm drain can pollute a local stream and kill fish and other aquatic life. a. 1 gallon b. 1 teaspoon c. 1 cup
*For the sources of the answers, go to WholeVashonProject.com/Catalog/questionnaires ANSWERS: 1. c; 2. a; 3. c; 4. b; 5. a; 6. b; 7. d; 8. a; 9. b; 10. b
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Stop the Hurt, Start the Healing Rondi Llightmark
“We are involved in a kind of lostness in which most people are participating more or less unconsciously in the destruction of the natural world, which is to say, the sources of our own lives.” —Wendell Berry
Most of us are generally well aware of the bad news—the list of dying ecosystems, wildlife going extinct, plastics and chemicals choking the waters, landfills, and beaches of the world, the fires, droughts and floods, melting glaciers, and poisoned air. These are all evidence of what’s gone wrong.
But what has been only coming clear in recent years is the why. The story of excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is only one part of the picture. The bigger view includes the countless relationships in Nature that have been all but severed as a result of many centuries of human ignorance and greed. Even as we seem to be standing close to a precipice of extinction, amazing revelations about the systems of the Earth are coming into focus: growing awareness of the symbiotic relationships between whales and plankton in the oceans, ruminants on grasslands, of beaver and watersheds, trees and salmon in the Pacific Northwest, how the moisture content of soil and the transpiration of trees influences weather, how microbes are the workhorses of all life processes—we’ve been stuck in a limited narrative, bowing to chemistry and technology rather than biology and Nature’s intricate wisdom. If we can better understand what has been overlooked or undervalued, the better chance we will have to stop the hurt and start the healing.
Next time you hug a tree or hold a flower, consider this: the molecules of blood and sap are nearly identical. The molecule on the left is of Heme, the oxygen-carrying portion of hemoglobin; on the right is Chlorophyll. Heme has an iron atom in the center, which makes blood red; chlorophyll has magnesium, which makes sap green!
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The Definition of Respect
“The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible.” —Sir Albert Howard (1873-1947)
We are fortunate in the Pacific Northwest to be surrounded by numerous indigenous tribes of the Coast Salish, including
those who lived on Vashon for centuries and who call themselves the the sxwobabc peoples in their Twulshootseed Language. Some still live on Vashon; others are connected with the Puyallup tribe near Tacoma. Their core values, recorded by Jay Miller, reveal a depth of connection with Nature that permeates their culture: “The most important attitude toward all beings and life in general…was respect, in full awareness that any life form was capable of both good and harm. By showing such respect a human indicated self-worth, sometimes tinged with fear of unexpected consequences. Of all, the most serious of the crimes against nature was waste, because this showed disrespect both for a specific spirit and for all life.” —Jay Miller, Lushootseed Culture and the Shamanic Odyssey (1999)
If Western culture had such values, we’d have known acutely when the web of life first began to fray. We would have felt it, feared it. Instead, we’ve been oblivious to the signs: our own gradual loss of vitality and health, as the food we eat only approximates its original nutritional value, as the quality of the air is no longer healthy to breathe, and our water is no longer pure or free from toxins. Our dominant story has been about our supremacy, that we rule Nature, not that We Are Nature. But now, because it is clear that Nature is slowly dying, it must be that we are also. The evidence: In the 1960s, 4% of the US population had chronic diseases. Today, according to the National Institutes of Health, that number is nearly 60% for adults and 46% for children, who are bearing the burden of chronic conditions like asthma, autism, allergies, diabetes, cancer, ADHD, depression, celiac and inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and neurological and learning disabilities. What will it take for enough of us to rise up and refuse to accept this reality, to recognize the link between a healthy planet and our own wellbeing? The collapse of many powerful civilizations due to mismanagement of resources is not a new story. What’s crazy is that we should have learnt all of those lessons by now! What’s hopeful is that more people around the globe are finding that it is possible to follow Nature’s playbook and maybe even turn things around. Tony Lovell is an Australian cattle rancher who has raised a whopping $100 million to help restore and heal billions of hectares of damaged grasslands in Australia. His message: “Nature is incredibly forgiving. When we get out of her way, stop fighting her, and listen to what she has been screaming at us, her capacity to heal will never cease to amaze and inspire.”
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So why did the Earth get out of Balance? How can we get it (and ourselves) back?
“If we control what plants do with carbon, the fate of CO2 in the atmosphere is in our hands.” —Freeman Dyson
The best- known explanation for the climate crisis is about “too much CO2,” “greenhouse gases,” “fossil fuel emissions.” Yet if all emissions were halted tomorrow, the Earth would still keep on dying. What part of this story is missing? It seems that we’ve been looking at the problem with a linear mindset rather than a holistic one. All we’ve focused on is vice-president Al Gore’s graph of rising CO2 emissions, while not understanding how to balance the excess through the dynamic processes of Nature. John Feldman is a documentary filmmaker whose current project is all about how to restore the balance. His message: “Nature regulates the climate in order to sustain itself. Our job is to restore and regenerate Earth’s ecosystems in order to stabilize these regulatory processes.” The process of photosynthesis is key, that beautiful equation where the energy of the sun + CO2 + H2O + a microbially active organism called soil delivers the extraordinary world of plant life, transformations of infinite forms of carbon expression, from plankton and grasses to redwoods and roses. Most important for healing the planet: Photosynthesis not only results in carbon stored in the cellular body of a plant. Even more is stored in the soil and the plant root systems. According to Rattan Lal, Nobel prizewinning soil scientist at Ohio State University, healthy soils hold enormous potential for sequestering carbon and reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Thus, the more photosynthesis, the more carbon sequestration. So we need more plant life all over the planet to begin to turn things around. WE NEED MORE PLANT LIFE—But there’s a Glitch! Ok, let’s grow lots more plants? Plant billions more trees? Let’s increase plankton in our oceans? Well, it’s not that simple, unfortunately. Plants and trees won’t succeed in degraded soils and plankton dies in acidified bodies of water. According to a 2017 United Nations -backed study, a whopping 1/3 of the planet’s lands are so degraded by centuries of bad agricultural management, they are turning to deserts incapable of supporting anything at all. Furthermore, oceans and inland bodies of water, which produce about 75% of the world’s oxygen, are acidifying from excess CO2, and dying because of chemical runoff. The more deserts and dying bodies of water on the planet, the more trouble we’re going to be in. But as Tony Lovell says, “Nature is incredibly forgiving.” As this realization has come to the fore, countries around the world have leapt into action to figure out how to regenerate soil and plant billions of trees, with China, the US, India, Ethiopia and Pakistan as the top agents of change. Results are mixed, mostly in areas where monocultures are being planted without taking diversity into account. More promising, farmers and ranchers all over the globe are shifting their grazing practices to 16
restore the great grasslands that cover more than a quarter of the planet’s land mass and which have an incredible capacity to sequester carbon. This is the exciting part: Regenerating the billions of hectares of degraded land around the globe results in a significant increase in photosynthesis and reductions of CO2 in the atmosphere. Understanding that healthy soil is an actual organism, like a sponge, full of bacterial ferment and fungi, is key. The soil carbon sponge has enormous water-holding capacity —18 to 20 times its weight, according to the US Department of Agriculture, reducing runoff on farms in flood years, and retaining water during dry spells. Such knowledge is changing industrial farming, since it is now recognized that disturbing soil and leaving it bare destroys the sponge. Practices like notilling, covercropping, and leaving litter on the soil to decompose after harvests are becoming widespread. There is even hope that industrial farming will be forced to change some of its poisonous practices, because pesticides also destroy bacterial activity in soil, leaving it less like a sponge and more like concrete, susceptible to erosion by floods and droughts and high winds.
Photo by Russ Jackson, award-winning Oklahoma farmer. His field of healthy, water-retaining soil is on the left; industrially-farmed, flooded land with dead soil is on the right.
Who Knew? Bare Soil Contributes to Climate Change
“We paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” —Joni Mitchell
There’s another big reason we can’t have bare soil—it absorbs and radiates heat much more than soil that has plant cover. According to the United Nations, the risk of desertification now affects more than 100 countries, including 17 states in the US. The hotter it gets, the drier it gets, as the moisture in soil evaporates in the sun. If we want the Earth to cool down, says Australian soil microbiologist Walter Jehne, we have to make desertifying and 17
degrading lands green again, and also deal with the heat effects of our vast acres of parking lots, airports, building roofs, and cement cities around the globe. According to the US Department of Transportation, “The US is covered in about 4 million miles of roads. This has a noticeable impact on the environment—from heat islands, to floods, to pollution runoff in nearby waterways.” Consider how a hot summer day in a desert or parking lot radiates heat just as if there were a giant hairdryer on maximum setting aimed at the sky. A little raincloud scarcely has a chance. But restoring soils and integrating plant material into urban areas would immediately help cool things down, whether with roof gardens, treed parking lots or forested medians on interstate highways. The big takeaway: The more areas of the Earth that have hot, dry weather, the more those areas shift to becoming a hot, dry climate. The more of the Earth’s surface that heats up and dries out, the less it will be able to stay in balance and sustain life. More cloud cover will cool the planet, says Jehne, and for clouds to form, we need water vapor—from bodies of water, transpiration in forests and from water stored in healthy soils. We need to bring back the beaver, the master of soil hydrology. We can all play a part, by covering our soils, restoring them so that they hold water, and maintaining their health by using compost and avoiding use of chemicals and artificial fertilizer. If we turn our attention to protecting and managing our water cycle, says Jehne, we can safely and effectively cool the planet within decades. Repair the Infinite Web Restoring life to our soils, greening our planet with forest cover, regenerating grasslands—all of these will work only if we can let go of our tendency to oversimplify and tame Nature’s complexity. It doesn’t work to plant a billion trees if they all belong to the same species. More than 40% of insects around the globe are headed for extinction, not only because of pesticide use, but because we’ve taken away their habitat. The eradication of milkweed in the US, leading to the decline of the monarch butterfly, is one example, and the impending extinction of bees and other pollinator insects due to pesticides is another. “If there is a biodiversity crisis, our health and livelihoods are at risk too. It is the link between all organisms on earth, binding each into an interdependent ecosystem, in which all species have their role. It is the web of life…put simply, reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease, and where fresh water is in irregular or short supply.
For humans that is worrying. Very worrying indeed.” —The World Wildlife Foundation
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Vashon Going Green What if there were colorful “Welcome to Our Home” signs at the beginning of Vashon driveways? Such signs could acknowledge an ecofamily on that plot of land —the names of trees, plants, birds, bugs and animals, plus the humans that live there. It could be transformative to live with such mindfulness, to be in partnership with Nature, a steward on that land, rather than an owner. Well, why not? Creativity is abundant in our community, and on our small island, we have the opportunity to live as though Nature’s needs are truly our needs--in everything we do. We are already well on our way, as is obvious in the contributions of so many to this catalog, to the Whole Vashon Project, those who have donated, read our newsletters, have joined our Facebook group, and/or who belong to and support the many island organizations working to heal and protect our beautiful home. As the anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Turn the page and be inspired!
Valerie Willson
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Vashon Businesses: Green Goals The Whole Vashon Project began with the idea that our community needed a creative way to pull together to address the climate crisis. What better beginning than to see what everyone in our business community is doing. So the idea of asking about “Green Goals” for the future was hatched. The response was great! As it turns out (you’ll see), there is already a good amount of environmental consciousness motivating people! The reason for the Whole Vashon Catalog is to celebrate and learn from one another as we go forward. Remember to look for our Green Goals decal in business windows! Thank you, one and all! In order of appearance, here are the Vashon businesses participating in Green Goals. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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Vashon-Maury Beachcomber Vashon Bookshop Vashon Theatre Vashon Print and Design Hollander-Lucas Studios Brule´ Illustration and Design Gather Vashon 3 Potters Studio Natfly Productions Giraffe ReGenR8 Kronos Raven’s Nest/Shotridge Studios Spiceberry Home Kitchen and Décor Just Horsin’ Around Vashon Thriftway Vashon Market IGA Harbor Mercantile Minglement All Things Rich Purium Health Jefferson Cakepan The Hardware Store
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Ruby Brink Island Queen O Solé Mio Pizza Bramble House Earthen Bistro Casa Bonita Orca Eats LLC Pure The Roasterie Café Luna Anu Rana’s Kitchen Pollard Coffee Vashon Brewing Pub Camp Colvos Brewing Vashon Pharmacy The Breathable Body Union Vashon Fern Cove Natural Medicine Stephanie Barbee, LICSW Vashon Athletic Club Vashon Bikes Spider’s Ski and Sports Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
US Bank Vashon John L Scott Real Estate Windermere Vashon Island Home Center and Lumber Vashon Ace Hardware Waldron Designs, LLC Artisan Electric Roadside Attraction Design Studio, LLC Healthier Air and Heating, LLC Watershed, LLC Pacific Potager Lavender Hill Farm Forest Garden Farm Emerson Gardening Services Schafer Specialty Landscape and Design Noble Stone Pacific Research Laboratories/ Sawbones Worldwide Andrew Will Winery/Pollard Vineyard Meadow Creature, LLC Island Spring Organics
Arts, Print, and Entertainment vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
THE BEACHCOMBER
VASHON BOOKSHOP
VASHON THEATER
17141 Vashon Highway SW, Suite B Daralyn Anderson, Publisher
17612 Vashon Highway SW Nancy Katica, Owner
17723 Vashon Highway SW Eileen Wolcott
The Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber was founded on March 7, 1957 by two budding newsmen, Carl Nelson and John VanDevanter. The island’s newspaper of record, The Beachcomber continues to provide our ferry-dependent community with in-depth coverage, producing news and feature stories on education, arts, business, sports and more. Contact: PO Box 447, Vashon, WA 98070, (206) 463-9195, VashonBeachcomber.com Green Goals
In support of the efforts of The Whole Vashon Project in addressing the climate crisis, The Beachcomber will create space for a whole page in the paper, whenever possible, with a goal for at least every other week, or more, throughout next year. The Beachcomber will also be covering climate crisis stories as they impact Vashon, as it has in the past.
We are an independently owned bookshop
just a 20-minute ferry ride from Seattle! We carry a mix of new and gently used books for readers of all ages. We also feature greeting cards, seasonal calendars, journals and puzzles as well as gift certificates and special discounts for book club members. We offer store credit for gently used books, which can pay for 100% of a used book in the store, or 20% of a new book. We also carry island book club selections. Contact: vashonbookshop@ gmail.com, (206) 463-2616, VashonBookshop.com
Green Goals
We provide movies and live events, as well
as food and beverages. On Tuesdays, we often are a venue for environmental and socially responsible documentaries and discussion groups. Contact: Eileen@theVashonTheatre.com, (206) 463-6845, VashonTheatre.com
Green Goals
We are transitioning to reusable containers and cups for service, as well as using only recyclable and compostable items where reusable is not appropriate. We are interested in finding a way for some items to be separated into compost. We have been giving our unused waste (popped and unpopped corn) to a couple of different farms for feed. Our empty oil cans are used by Ken Burns to make compost burners. We would love to use solar in the future.
We will continue to sell used books and also to recycle cardboard, books, plastic, paper, light bulbs, and reuse office supplies. We will use as much LED lighting as possible. Skip the shipping and the extra packaging! Order from us and your books will arrive within only a day or two. You will reduce waste, shop local and do something good ​for the environment all at the same time.
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VASHON PRINT AND DESIGN
HOLLANDER-LUCAS STUDIOS
BRULÉ ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN
17627 Vashon Highway SW David Hinchman, Owner
21609 Old Mill Road SW Claudia Hollander-Lucas, John C. Lucas
12608 SW 267th Place Annie Brulé
At Vashon Print and Design, we use
renewable resources with sustainable practices—utilizing eco-friendly materials and powered by green energy. I like to call it “eco-print” and it’s our business standard: “Copies with a conscience.” We stock our machines with paper made from 100% recycled materials made from 100% postconsumer waste, using 100% green e-certified renewable energy. We use biodiesel in transport of our supplies, materials and finished products. This decision has reduced our carbon footprint to a mere fraction of what it was when we used petrol gasoline. Contact: Vashonprint@me.com, (206) 463-6100, Vashonprint.com
We create paintings, sculpture, drawings,
prints, photographs, broadsides, poetry chapbooks, and artist-made original books. Contact: hollucas@centurytel.net, (206) 463-6447
Green Goals
We are working towards eliminating all use of plastic from our business. We are a green artist studio that uses solvent-free materials and sustainable practices that cultivate a healthy environment. We have a well on the property and a septic
Green Goals
This year we are asking our customers to bring their own bags to carry away their print jobs. We’ll charge 10¢ for paper and avoid plastic completely. Also, we have an ongoing educational focus on using art in our windows to highlight the environment, and especially the beauty and vulnerability of immigrant populations around the globe, due to climate change. Otherwise, we are continuing our practices of being good environmental stewards.
Brulé, whose artwork celebrates the natural world and draws attention to the diversity and beauty of native fauna and thriving local ecosystems. Brulé Illustration offers top-quality graphic design and publication design to private clients, nonprofits, and institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution, Northwest Indian College, and the Washington Department of Agriculture. Annie has worked since 2011 with tribes throughout the Salish Sea eco-region, using the tools of design and publishing to bring indigenous viewpoints into the mainstream. In 2019, she was part of the team to launch “Tend, Gather and Grow,” a K–12 curriculum teaching indigenous ecology, available to schools and teachers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Contact: annie@bruleillustration.com, (206) 445-2274, www.bruleillustration.com
Green Goals
“If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted, like trees.” –Rainer Maria Rilke
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Brulé Illustration is the design studio of Annie
In 2020, Brulé Illustration and Design will increase education for clients around green printing choices. We will strive to be a carbonsequestering company by offsetting car and air travel by tree-planting with the international NGO iGiveTrees.org. We will continue to prioritize and give preferred pricing to indigenous-led organizations and initiatives, and to use the power of high quality design to place indigenous voices and perspectives in the spotlight.
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GATHER VASHON
3 POTTERS STUDIO
NATFLY PRODUCTIONS
17600 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon Kathy Raines
12714 SW Cemetery Road, Vashon Liz Lewis
PO Box 1435, Vashon Natalie Kosovac
Gather is a spacious, light-filled gallery designed to showcase the creativity of Vashon Island artists. We offer a variety of events to inspire you. Whether you’re interested in art and jewelry classes, meditation, house concerts, pop-ups, or community activism, you’ll find something to pique your interest. Gather is also available to rent for private parties. Whenever you need a respite from your daily routine—an opportunity to relax, create and restore your soul—you are welcome at Gather. We look forward to seeing you soon! Contact: Kathy@GatherVashon.com, (206) 408-7414, GatherVashon.com
I make a variety of handcrafted, often brilliantly colored and decorated pottery, and am especially known for my plates, cups, and bowls in different sizes and with a wide variety of colors and patterns. In my studio, there are three potters who produce regularly, as well as 20 adult students and up to 75 kids who attend my weeklong clay camps. Contact: lizpots@gmail.com, (206) 463-6691
Graphic Design and Business Services: Books, Catalogs, Logos, Shirt Printing and Embroidery, Labels, Signs for Properties and Vehicles. Project Management. Marketing. Contact: natfly@wagonsofsteel.com, (206) 818-5816
Green Goals
Rely more heavily on electronic filing and communication, and digital marketing to eliminate the use of paper as much as possible. Use recycled packaging materials whenever possible.
Green Goals
Clay is recycled, but still there is “slurry” that remains, and our biggest environmental concern is our glaze waste from brushes, etc. This year, we continue our goal of recycling the waste in a creative way: we use a 3-part system to thoroughly wash all items in three different buckets, let the contents settle, and then decant the clear water. We then mix the consolidated glaze with leftover slurry, add sand, and then pour the contents in simple molds, to make “paver tiles.” These are stamped with texture as they dry out and then they are fired and the finished product is given away to interested customers at Art Studio Tour. We also reuse the heat from our kiln by having placed it between the studio and my home. When it cools after a firing, the house benefits by the released warmth!
Green Goals
Maintain a paperless office; print using soy inks on recycled paper; use local vendors for shorter shipping distances; gang up errands when driving; keep home office for minimal commuting and low fuel consumption; use public transportation when possible; and use online banking for fewer trips to bank. Volunteer for local nonprofits.
~Wishes and Dreams~ “Let’s save our Amazon packaging for a week in some central location, then photograph the pile for the Beachcomber or Seattle Times or Internet, then box it up and ship it back to them!”
~
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GIRAFFE
ReGenR8
KRONOS
17626 Vashon Highway SW Priscilla Schleigh
17600 Vashon Highway SW, Suite B 150 (next to Licensing) Roxy Hathaway, Nancy Scott Wienker
17610 Vashon Highway SW Claudia Kimball, Eugenie Mirfin
Fair Trade and Ethically sourced goods for
your Home. Green, Local Artisan Crafted.Our products are made following Fair Trade standards (good working conditions, fair pay, gender equity, no forced child labor), with an eye for not only good design and quality, but also cultural integrity (promoting handcrafted products made with traditional methods: block printing, weaving etc.). Other standards include: Earth Friendly (promoting reclaimed and recycled materials); Pure Elements (committed to the use of essential oils, natural fibers); Giving Back (we love working with groups that share our values and promote global health and welfare). Contact: giraffevashon@gmail.com, (206) 463-1372, Giraffehome.com
Green Goals
We are continuing to look for ways to minimize packaging waste and plastic, taking any styrofoam to Sawbones for their use, not automatically offering shopping bags (even though our bags are made from postconsumer paper), looking for products in glass rather than plastic. I call vendors who send goods in plastic and register a complaint with them. I also work to educate consumers, for example, by using creative packaging, such as wrapping a present in one of our attractive dishtowels.
For 15 years, ReGenr8 has been committed
to using found materials and giving them a new life through fashion. Roxy Hathaway finds beautiful textiles and then enhances denim jackets, re-fashions kimonos, and builds one-of-a-kind handbags. Nancy Scott Wienker creates artisanal handbags, fingerless gloves out of leftover silk scraps, and beautiful ponchos from wools and velvets. Contact: Roxy Hathaway (206) 496-4174, Nancy Scott Wienker (206) 963-8598, Facebook.com/Studio-V
Green Goals We plan to have monthly events to showcase our recycled art fashion made from leather and natural fabrics in our showroom, Studio V.
Women’s and men’s clothing and gift items. Contact: Eugenie.wa@icloud.com, (206) 463-0061
Green Goals
We will work towards using green packaging for our customers and for shipping. We will eliminate bubblewrap and shift to post-consumer waste boxes and recyclable wrapping paper. We will also work to develop signage to educate and encourage our customers to follow our example. We already take bubblewrap and packing peanuts to The Country Store shipping department for their use. Our clothing is primarily made from whole fibers rather than synthetics. We search out Fair Trade vendors and also recycled materials. We limit our sharing of plastic bags to the occasional customer request when it is raining. We like to work with individual crafters and ethical clothing designers in the US and Europe.
“I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.” –Theodore Roosevelt
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RAVEN’S NEST/ SHOTRIDGE STUDIOS
SPICEBERRY HOME KITCHEN and DÉCOR
JUST HORSIN’ AROUND
17508 Vashon Highway SW Sue and Israel Shotridge
23927 Vashon Highway SW Kevin Strel
Vashon Laura Daughenbaugh
We are a multi- faceted Northwest Coast
Native Art Business in our 30th year, featuring The Shotridge Collection brand, designed by Tlingit Master Artist Israel Shotridge. Sue Shotridge is co-owner, Sales and Marketing Director, who works directly with a team of professionals who assist the Shotridges in fulfilling the company’s mission: Expressing Tribal Traditions. Shotridge Studios produces 16+ art and gift product lines designed by Israel Shotridge, which are made in the USA, then assembled, packaged, and shipped from Vashon Island. We offer a storefront on Vashon Island, two online e-commerce international platforms, as well as a US wholesale division. Contact: sue@shotridge.com, (206) 567-5826, Shotridge.com
Green Goals
In our wholesale production and marketing procedures, we have been recycling boxes for the 30 years that we have been in business, which helps the environment and also reduces expenses. We pursue suppliers and art production companies that use green practices and materials in their products. This year, we have eliminated plastic bags in our retail customer packaging procedures and are working towards creating a more environmentally sustainable company.
We are located in the center of the old
community of Burton on Vashon, where we sell women’s apparel, cookware and Japanese ceramics. Contact: Kevin@strel.com, (206) 463-4628, Spiceberry.com
Green Goals
We plan to continue our work to use carbon neutral shipping methods and recycled packaging materials.
I make clothing, toys and costumes from
repurposed fabrics, and sell them at art fairs and at Pike Place Mrket in Seattle, WA. I also work and volunteer on a regular basis making banners, props, and costumes with the well-known activist organization located on Vashon called ‘Backbone Campaign.’ More details about their work can be found under Nonprofits. Contact: tobineze@gmail.com, (206) 409-5815
Green Goals
“Behold, my brothers, the spring has come, the earth has received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of that love!
In 2020, I would like to lower my business footprint even more, and I’d especially like to find recycled alternatives for the few things I buy new.
Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors have the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.” —Sitting Bull
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VASHON THRIFTWAY
VASHON MARKET FRESH, IGA
9740 SW Bank Road Clay Gleb, Owner/Manager
17639 100th Avenue SW Shawn Hoffman
Founded in 1965, Vashon Thriftway is locally owned and operated by
the Mathews family. We are a full-service grocery store open 8 am to 9 pm every day except for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have been working to become more sustainable for some time now. Contact: (206) 463-2100, VashonThriftway.com
Green Goals
We will install two electric vehicle-charging stations in our parking lot. We will also continue converting our packaging and bag options to compostable items. Here’s a list of initiatives we’ve already completed: 1. Replaced all conventional lights in store with LEDs. 2. Replaced all fan motors with high-efficiency fans in all refrigerated/frozen cases. 3. Replaced multiple open-air refrigerated/frozen display cases with energy-efficient doored cases. 4. Introduced option for compostable cups and straws at the Espresso Bar, compostable containers option at the Deli Olive Bar and in Bulk Foods, compostable bag option in Produce. 5. Introduced recycling container for customer use at front of store. 6. Partnered with local farmers such as Langley Fine Gardens, Gracie’s Greens, and Mukai Farm and Garden to offer a variety of produce, and with multiple local farmers to take produce waste items to help divert from trash stream. 7. We also participate in Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to help customers make sustainable seafood choices.
We are a Full Service Grocery Store. Since buying the store four
years ago, we have upgraded the lighting to all LED, which has cut power consumption and reduced maintenance. We replaced a majority of our open refrigerated cases with glass doors cases, which consume up to 75% less energy. We upgraded our flooring with new vinyl installed over the existing tile to save tear out and disposal costs and waste. (Smarter construction can also be green). Contact: stretchtech@comcast.net, (206) 463-9725
Green Goals
1. Our goal is to provide a sustainable recycling effort here at the store and at several other independent grocers throughout the state. We presently work with Zero Waste Portland consultants to develop a state-wide plastic bag recycle service. We are in contact with other IGA and independent store trade groups to coordinate and promote this
plan. 2. We plan more environmental packaging for meat and deli items, and are expanding our bulk sections. 3. We plan to create rain gardens, to process our parking lot surface water runoff prior to the outflow into the storm drains.
~Wishes and Dreams~ “I wish we had a whole aisle in IGA and Thriftway that was set up like a “Supermarket of the Future”— no waste packaging, green products, sustainably farmed and harvested foods. With lots of signage to educate shoppers!” “If we can get grocery stores to support our shopping choices, we may have more leverage. Time is of the essence!”
~
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HARBOR MERCANTILE
MINGLEMENT
ALL THINGS RICH
24002 Vashon Highway SW Craig Pratt, Dawn Kerber
19529 Vashon Highway SW Eva
20733 87th Avenue SW Rich Osbourne
The Burton Store, officially named Harbor Mercantile, while not the oldest store building on Vashon-Maury Island, is the oldest continuously operating store on Vashon. It is the last of the fourteen community stores that once served the separate communities spread around the island. We sell wine, groceries, gifts, and home goods. Contact: harbormerc@harbormerc.com, (206) 463-2500 Green Goals
In 2019, we accomplished a number of green goals. We recycled all paper, corrugated cardboard and paperboard. And we replaced two old energy hog freezers with Energy Star freezers. Our Green Goals for this year are to recycle all aluminum, plastic and glass. And looking ahead, we plan to finish our appliance upgrade project by replacing one freezer and three coolers with Energy Star coolers. We will also install solar panels along our building’s south-facing roof.
Established in 1973, Minglement is a small neighborhood organic health food store, one of the few left in America today. For over 40 years, Minglement has provided the Vashon Island community with the essentials in natural health products and organic food. We adhere to the meaning of Min-gle (ment). • v., verb To blend or bring together in close association; • v., verb To join or take part with others; • n., noun An amalgam of diverse elements Contact: info@minglement.com, (206) 463-9672, Minglement.com
Green Goals
The people of Minglement— owners, staff and customers alike—embraced an early consciousness of the value of natural and organic food and products. The building is green-powered and we have recycled our waste for over 20 years. We have also switched to glass containers for food and medicines. We continue to support the green choices and healthy lifestyles of our customers.
All Things Rich is my online emporium,
featuring artisan salts, spices, sauces, and extraordinary extra-virgin olive oils. I also sell at the Saturday Vashon Farmer’s Market. A special project is to work towards creating an olive industry on Vashon. Contact: ecotoolsllc@comcast.net, (206) 713-6917, AllThingsRich.net
Green Goals
All Things Rich provides and encourages reusable containers for the olive oils that I sell. I say, “Keep another container out of the waste stream and a couple bucks in your pocket!” To encourage this practice, I replace caps and gaskets at no charge. I am also working with Zero Waste Vashon and Vashon Island Growers Association to reduce our waste stream.
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PURIUM HEALTH
JEFFERSON CAKEPAN
(order via mobile service, online, and via telecommunication) Christopher “Birdz” Van Putten
10743 SW Cowan Road Kim & Rosie Roeser
I was born in 1991 and raised on Vashon Island. I work with Purium Health, which started in 1993, and is an organic foods company. Using their impeccable quality products, I run a catering business, share samples at gyms, yoga studios, and dining room tables, and I teach people to make healthy, delicious smoothies. My business also fundraises for a nonprofit called FriendShyp First, which is about empowering children, so every purchase helps this 501c3! All of our products can be found at: iShopPurium.com/collections/quick-shop (except the hemp-based CBD that is at PuriumCBD.com). During 2018–19, we expanded our compostable packaging line ten times; we’re going plastic-free by 2021. Contact: (253) 459-4738
We are a family-owned bakery on Vashon Island, operating through online and phone ordering, and at farmer’s markets. We make small batches of wonderful cupcakes from scratch, baked fresh daily. Our products are 100% compostable down to each cupcake wrapper and packaging. We strive to create zero waste for our business and for our customers. We can offer expertise on sourcing compostable food packaging and limiting single use food prep items. Contact: jeffersoncakepan@gmail.com, (206) 453-8934, Jeffersoncakepan.com
Green Goals
My goal is for a habitable planet; I will not sacrifice our Earth-Mother to try and live in space; instead, I live with friends, practice permaculture, and help raise kids up and down the coast. I haven’t had children yet because I won’t apologize to them for not doing enough, facilitating the 6th global mass extinction, which will likely include our own species. My goal in the future is to share more, and to empower others who desire to do so, too.
Green Goals
We will work on continuing to lower our carbon footprint. We hope for Vashon Island to obtain and provide compostable services for less food and yard waste.
~Wishes and Dreams~ Reducing Fossil Fuels “Use of Colvos Passage to generate electricity?” “I have a dream of Vashon having their own green electrical grid and internet. That would be a huge step. “ “A dedicated bike/pedestrian path, separated from cars, like Burke-Gilman or like those in the Netherlands.” “It would be great to have electric bikes to rent from ferry dock.” “An Island-wide trail system for hiking and biking.” “Expand the passenger boat service schedule.” “Bus service on Wax Orchard and Westside highway.” “Streetlights along Vashon Highway.” “I wish that there were “no idling” signs along the ferry line on both sides. If “no idling” was a national practice, it would be like taking 5 million vehicles off the roads!”
~
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THE HARDWARE STORE
THE RUBY BRINK
ISLAND QUEEN
17601 Vashon Highway SW Adam Chumas, Manager
17526 Vashon Highway SW Jake Heil
17705 Vashon Highway SW Jennifer Harvey, Owner
The Hardware Store Restaurant was established to serve “great good food”, perfectly prepared and gracefully presented, the ingredients locally-sourced, organic and all-natural, hormone-free, and in many cases gluten-free. It is also meant to be a community gathering place that embodies the unique spirit and character of the island and the people of Vashon—relaxed, informal, welcoming, caring. Over the years, The Hardware Store has also served as a stage for island artists and musicians and a venue for special events that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for dozens of island organizations and institutions. Contact: For reservations (206) 463-1800, Thsrestaurant.com
The Ruby Brink is a bar and butcher shop on Vashon Island whose values align with tradition, agriculture and craft. We are equally a public house for gathering, and a destination for casually spectacular food and beverages. The Ruby Brink
Green Goals
We will continue our environmentally responsible commitments. We buy alternative energy from Puget Sound Energy and have for 12 years. We aggressively recycle all appropriate materials: glass/paper/ cardboard. We eliminated all plastic straws and any other plastic products. We recycle all post-plate food to a pig farm. We have energysaving light bulbs through the restaurant.
focuses on whole animal butchery, thoughtful sourcing of all ingredients, preservation and curing in the kitchen and comfortably exciting cocktails, cider, wine and beer. Contact: Jake@therubybrink.com, (503) 477-0077, TheRubyBrink.com
Green Goals
We will continue to advance the marketing and education of our program so that the public understands why food systems in America are an important key to sustainability. Furthermore, adjusting the perspective of the passive restaurant consumer to an active, food-aware individual, able to articulate the destructiveness of our past and current expectation of meat and produce convenience–that is to say, outside of health, seasonality, and locality as a consideration. We also intend to wean our program off summer citrus behind the bar, plastic wraps, and reduce our waste to near zero.
We are a family restaurant serving high-
quality food, which does not come out of a box or can. For example, our burgers are made with grass-fed beef, our fries are handcut and the entire potato is used. Any extra onion pieces are fried to sprinkle on burgers and salads. When available, and as much as possible, we use biodegradable straws, cups and napkins. We do our cutlery shopping at Granny’s. We are very conscious of our water usage, minimizing waste when we clean and wash. We have very little food waste in the kitchen, even after a very busy selling day. All of our boxes are recycled as well. Contact: Jennifer@platetopillow.com, (206) 463-7777
Green Goals
We will increase our education of our customers about energy usage, recycling and food waste, creating materials so that they can learn about how to take some of our “green practices” home. For example, we’ll try to help people learn what to do with leftovers from their meals here, so that they don’t throw them away.
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O SOLE MIO
BRAMBLE HOUSE
EARTHEN BISTRO
17607 Vashon Highway SW Geran Webb, Manager
17123 Vashon Highway SW Lia Lira, Chef/Owner
17635 100th Avenue SW Christopher Koerber
O Sole Mio offers New York-style pizza on Vashon Island, sold by the slice and also as whole 18” pies with a variety of toppings to choose from. Everything we use is compostable, our ingredients are local and sustainable, we import organic ingredients such as olive oil and cheese, and we have little to zero waste in the restaurant. Contact: (206) 408-7826, Osolemiovashon.com Green Goals
Our goal this year is to increase awareness towards buying and using compostable products, improving how we deal with recycling, including creating more frequent pickups of recyclables, and to find someone who will provide local compost pickup for our food waste.
We are a local restaurant that offers
seasonally influenced, modern American food. Our current green practices include: vegetable waste composting, all-LED lights in restaurant, all compostable take-home containers, local food sourcing. We also save energy by using motion detector lights in bathroom and outside, and only offer straws to guests upon request. Contact: Lia@bramblevashon.com, (206) 408-7159, Bramblevashon.com
We are a casual New American restaurant,
with a special interest in the old world traditions of food preparation and an appreciation for the incredible flavors of locally grown and freshly harvested produce. Contact: earthen@earthenchef.com, (360) 536-8583, Earthenchef.com
Green Goals
Continue to integrate locally sourced ingredients and work to dispose of food scraps to local farms for animal feed and composting.
Green Goals
1. Increasing use of Island farms or local farms as needed; 2. Improving use of produce to decrease waste (preserving, using “waste” for projects); 3. Do more research into meat vendors to
“Right now we are the ones who are making a difference. If no one else will take action, then we will. It should not be that way! We should not be the ones who are fighting for the future. And yet ... here we are.” –Greta Thunberg 30
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CASA BONITA
ORCA EATS LLC
PURE
17623 100th Avenue SW Jose and Nidia Sahagun
20622 Vashon Highway SW Emily Wigley
9925 SW Bank Road Stephanie Morris Knoder, Owner
Serving Vashon since September 1996, we are Vashon’s oldest restaurant serving Mexican food. Our green practices include: No styrofoam, paper use for takeout, no straws unless customers ask, recyclable bags for takeout, energy-saving lightbulbs, energysaving dishwasher. Contact: (206) 463-6452, CasaBonitaVashon.com Green Goals
We want to find someone to take our food waste and work towards better ways to deal with it in general. We are also moving towards using more organic food products.
~Wishes and Dreams~ “As a market vendor and VIGA board member, I recently proposed that the market be plastic-free, especially no single-use plastics at hot food vendors. I don’t know how produce will be bagged, but am proposing to only have all paper, cellophane bags, and small produce boxes and baskets.”
~
Orca Eats is a seasonal food truck serving mouth-watering, locally sourced food April through October. The truck boasts a small and mighty menu that changes every week: entrées, desserts, and beverages truck-made from local ingredients. We strive to offer something for everyone, from omnivores to plant-based to gluten-free. We are committed to the environment and the Vashon community, sourcing, hiring, serving and giving back to the Island. We use only biodegradable, plant-based plates and utensils: wood forks and spoons, palm and cane fiber plates and cups— zero single-use plastic! Extra food is donated to the Vashon Food Bank, and our minimal food scraps are taken to local farm animals. Orca Eats is proud to work with local producers to pack our menus with sustainable, peak-season ingredients sourced as close to home as possible. Contact: info@orcaeats.com, (206) 304-1049, Orcaeats.com Green Goals
1. Zero single-use service plastics (utensils, straws, cups): accomplished. 2. Compost all service items.
Pure Organic Kitchen and Juicery has been
serving delicious, plant-based, organic, all gluten-free fare since 2010. We try to compost our food waste as much as possible, but we need a better system. We do have a person who collects our leftovers from juicing for their chickens and cats. All of our to-go ware is compostable and we have plant-based plastic straws. It costs twice as much to use the compostable dishes and to-go containers, etc, but it fits our mission. We do have to pass on the cost, however. Contact: (206) 259-3179
Green Goals
Since food waste is a huge issue on Vashon, we would like to team up with other restaurants and do hot composting, as well as, find other ways to save money by doing bulk ordering, sharing other kinds of help. We would love to be zero waste. We are buying a high-speed dishwasher to minimize our water usage, and we plan to find ways in the restaurant to help our customers be more organized with their trash and leftovers. We are also going to optimize the way we handle waste behind the kitchen, to help our employees do a better job. We would like to rebuild our relationships with local farms, which we used to do, and then it became too difficult.
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THE ROASTERIE
CAFE LUNA
19529 Vashon Highway SW Eva
9924 SW Bank Road Carly Ward
The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie is
We are a cafe selling coffee, sandwiches,
At our heart is the famous Historic Coffee Roasterie, located where the town of Vashon originated. This charming building, built from old growth island fir well over 100 years ago, remains timeless with its grand front porch, dramatic high ceilings, and well-worn wooden floors.
Green Goals
dedicated to roasting traditionally grown and directly traded coffees, and to preserving a time-honored style of coffee roasting on The Roasterie’s vintage roasters.
The people are welcoming–the coffee fresh roasted. Contact: (206) 463-9800, Minglement.com
soup, pastries. We already recycle plastic and donate plastic containers to projects on Vashon, for example, in the schools; recycle coffee grounds to gardens; provide compostable straws and packaging. Contact: cafelunacarly@gmail.com, (206) 794-6606, VashonCafeLuna.com
We will look for compostable take away cups and someone to take our food waste for composting or for pigs and chickens; we will advocate for a food waste composting facility on Vashon.
“Make Vashon a sanctuary for all wildlife — bugs, birds, “animals—and eliminate all pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and destructive chemicals. Work towards a green building plan for the island.” “Develop plans for food security in the face of radical weather changes that could destroy our food supply from off-island.” “Make Misty Isle a preserve and Public Green Space.” “More public water access on the Westside.”
Green Goals
We will continue to support the green choices and healthy lifestyles of our customers. The building is green-powered and we have actively recycled our waste for over 20 years.
“Signs at the ferry docks: ‘Welcome to Vashon: an Island Growing Green!’” ANU RANA’S KITCHEN 17610 Vashon Highway SW Birbal
Anu Rana’s Healthy Kitchen offers grab
and go, vegan, gluten-free, authentic Nepali cuisine and café and tea house. 100% natural, always homemade. Contact: anuranashealthykitchen@gmail.com, (206) 408-7330, Anuranashealthykitchen.com
Green Goals
To minimize and reduce plastic use and to educate customers to use ceramic cups whenever possible, or to bring their own mug.
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~Wishes and Dreams~
“Pass-through system at Portage for sea life and tidal flow.” “Less grass and lawns, more native and medicinal plants used in home landscaping.” “Develop plans for major fire events on Vashon as a result of droughts and extreme weather events, as well as earthquakes.”
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POLLARD COFFEE
VASHON BREWING PUB
CAMP COLVOS BREWING
17607 Vashon Highway SW Robin Pollard
17205 Vashon Highway SW Cliff Goodman, Owner/Brewmaster
17636 Vashon Highway SW Matt Lawrence, Owner
My true appreciation for coffee and coffee growing regions blossomed when I lived in Washington, D.C. I would shop at a small roaster run by a quiet Yemeni gentleman who patiently taught me about the different beans and the roasting process. I experimented with different brewing techniques and later when travels took me to Central America, Europe and Asia, I sought out the local favorite coffee, bringing samples home with me to savor. My coffee consists of specialty custom blends, sold both over the Internet and also at my coffeeshop in Vashon downtown. I also create custom blends to suit my online clients’ personal tastes. Contact: robin@pollardperse.com, Pollardperse.com
Green Goals
Pollard Coffee employs a number of environmentally-friendly practices, ranging from using compostable paper products to composting the coffee grounds which are then tilled into my garden and landscaped areas. We also compost all of the grounds and food waste from the Café.
Vashon Brewing Community Pub is Vashon’s We are brewing on an old 10 bbl oldest craft brewery, started 2011 as a commercial brewery, then switched to retail in 2018 and opened the pub. We want to make our beer accessible, in a family-friendly environment. Contact: cliff@vashonbrewing.com, (206) 853-1719, VashonBrewing.com
Green Goals
We hope to host community meetings to help facilitate climate crisis discussions and further the educational goals of the Whole Vashon Project. We will continue to work to be sustainable: 1. To save water and energy, water used to produce our beer is stored in an insulated solar hot water storage tank for use as pre-heated water for the next batch; 2. Spent grain and yeast is given to local farmers for their animals; 3. We buy malted barley from Skagit Valley Malting, who partners with local Skagit Valley farmers. Our primary malt is a winter-grown variety that doesn’t need irrigating water and helps to build soil humus and protect soils from rainwater erosion in the winter; 4. The pub and brewery use PSE’s renewably sourced energy; 5. The Pub is heated and cooled using a high efficiency mini split heat pump; 6. Food scraps are collected daily to feed local pigs.
distillery set up, in a log cabin surrounded by blackberries, flanked by an old ski manufacturing shop and a coffee roaster. Check out our taproom located in town open 7 days/week; 1–8pm. We’d love to pour you a pint! Food available, family-friendly, and dogs welcome outside on the patio. Contact: (206) 408-7309, CampColvos.com
Green Goals
Rather than buy plastic forks for to go orders, we are giving away silverware from Granny’s. People will be invited to return or keep it!
“We’re in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone’s arguing over where they’re going to sit.” —David Suzuki
“Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.“ —Standing Bear, 1879
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VASHON PHARMACY
THE BREATHABLE BODY
UNION VASHON
17617 Vashon Highway SW Amy Young
17318 100th Lane SW Robert Litman
Emily Herrick
Vashon Pharmacy is the island’s go-to
supplier of health care supplies. Services include prescription filling, vaccinations, medication synchronization, dental care products, vitamins and supplements, women’s health, first aid, and much more. Contact: (206) 463-9118, (509) 981-4745, Vashonpharmacy.com
Green Goals
Our goals are to only use recyclable bags and to install a hand dryer in the bathroom. We also plan to stock a number of green products for customers including bed wrap (alternative to plastic wrap), reusable produce bags, reusable shopping bags, and bento lunch boxes. In 2018, we installed LED lighting throughout the store. We now sell toys that are made out of recyclable material. We also sell a lot of wooden toys. Compared to most other toy shops, we don’t have many plastic toys. We have a medicine disposal box in the back of the pharmacy. Pill bottles are challenging for recycling. However, it is legal to refill if it is an identical refill, same prescription, same bottle. Bring your used bottles in, we’ll fill it for you and save waste!
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We teach our clients the skills to enable
them to regulate bodily levels of carbon dioxide which plays a critical role in depriving the body of oxygen. Our training provides insight into the breathing difficulties people so often encounter in life. We provide special programs for learning to control asthma, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety and panic through awareness and by restoring healthy breathing rhythms. We bring the issue of climate change to the immediate and personal level of the internal climate of our bodies, which is where the effects of climate change are having its most deleterious effects. Contact: robert@thebreathablebody.com, (206) 707-1639, Thebreathablebody.com
Green Goals
Clean, breathable air for everyone, everywhere. Currently 92% of the world’s population does not have clean air to breathe. We teach how to keep the body breathable and realize the full and nourishing potential of breath and the dangers we are facing from air pollution. The Breathable Body teaches the science of respiration and how to maximize one’s health through using the breath to create sustainable health in the face of air that is becoming less breathable, especially in fire season.
Since moving to Vashon I’ve become more and more certain of the benefits of Restorative Yoga in our stressful lives and completed a Restorative Yoga teacher training with Judith Hanson Lasater in 2019. I teach private Yoga and small-group sessions with an emphasis on Restorative, and yoga sessions for wedding parties at my beautiful home studio in the woods on Vashon Island. I’m also a wedding officiant and believe it’s so important for anyone getting married to feel grounded and present for their big day! We all need to give ourselves the space to restore, relax and to come home to ourselves. It would be an honor to assist you in that journey. Contact: emmylouherrick@gmail.com, UnionVashon.com Green Goals
Restorative yoga helps increase general wellbeing and mindfulness. I help people to be less anxious about the future and less stressed about climate change. Weddings where I officiate have a zero food waste policy and are plastic free.
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FERN COVE NATURAL MEDICINE
STEPHANIE BARBEE, LICSW
VASHON ATHLETIC CLUB
17510 Vashon Highway SW Lisa Morse, ND
Full Circle Wellness Center 18017 Vashon Highway SW
19120 Vashon Highway SW Nick Maier
We offer naturopathic medical care
focused on addressing the root cause of your symptoms, using diet, lifestyle, hydrotherapy, herbal medicine, laser therapy, and homeopathy. Contact: drlisamorsend@gmail.com, (206) 463-2322, FernCoveNaturalMedicine.com
Green Goals
We are switching from disposable cups to ceramic, from plastic bags to paper, from oral thermometers w/disposable covers to temporal artery thermometers. We will replace expired fluorescent lighting with LEDs; switch to a programmed thermostat to reduce energy use when clinic is closed, and educate patients to reduce plastic use in their lives to limit exposure to chemicals.
I practice Climate Informed psychotherapy,
facilitate Climate Conversations for small groups, am certified in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy for individuals, and am available for consultation on a range of behavioral issues. Contact: sgbarbee@centurytel.net, (206) 275-2250, Fullcircle-vashon. squarespace.com/stephanie-barbee-english
Green Goals
In 2020, you will find me continuing to support people waking up to the climate crisis, facing the distress and channeling their anxiety, grief and anger into adaptive responses. I will continue to train and support other therapists in their work with people suffering from climate and environmental distress.
We are a full service Health and Fitness
Center. Contact: info@vashonathleticclub.com, (206) 463-5601, Vashonathleticclub.com
Green Goals
We will reduce waste by promoting the use of personal refillable water bottles instead of throw-away paper cups. We recently replaced our water fountain with a bottle filling station/water fountain combination to help promote this goal. We will continue with our other recent improvements. They are: high efficiency low flow toilets in both locker rooms, low flow shower heads, and sink faucets with automatic water shutoff. We worked directly with Puget Sound Energy to replace all light fixtures in the club with new LED’s. Instead of single use paper towels, we have reusable towels to disinfect machines.
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” –John Muir
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VASHON BIKES
SPIDER’S SKI AND SPORTS
9926 SW Bank Road Brian Starr
17624 Vashon Highway SW Lane “Spider” MacLeod
We are a locally owned and operated bicycle repair and full service
shop including bike rentals. We generally buy US-made rather than overseas products because the US product has a lower carbon footprint. We’re always looking for quality products that will last, and we do educate customers on the environmental impact of their choices, both in repair and in retail. We’re having a dramatic increase in E-bike sales to energy- conscious customers. PSCCU gives loans for bikes; they cost around $1,500 to $2,000. Highercost bikes have better components and will last longer, saving money in the long run. Contact: vashonbikes@gmail.com, (206) 999-1551, Vashonbikes.com
We are a full service bike, ski/board, tennis, kayak and watersports shop. Contact: spidermacleod@gmail.com, (206) 408-7474, Spidersportsvashon.com
Green Goals
To continue to run as green an operation as we can through energy-saving practices such as recycling, and advocating for new material to be added to King County’s list of accepted materials.
Green Goals
Our goals are to refine the sustainable practices we have already established. We save and renew our bike components when possible. We try to source parts that are rebuildable from US manufacturers. We are conscious of the type of green practices of our vendors: how they package, ship, and the type of product itself. We try to avoid plastics and non-recyclables. We pay to have used tires recycled, and although our inner tubes are basically waste, we pass them on for secondhand use, such as for bungee cords. We give our old bike parts and gears to artists to use for their projects. We recycle foam packaging and can happily report that some companies are moving towards corrugated cardboard instead. We also save packaging to reuse in our shipping.
“I wish for more time to fix what we have broken. But at this point, we happen to be fresh out of time. So I’ll settle for a little determination.” —Daalny Meyer age 15
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PUGET SOUND COOPERATIVE CREDIT UNION, PSCCU
US BANK VASHON 9910 SW Bank Road Jill Heryford
9928 SW Bank Road Lori Nelson, Vashon Branch Manager
PSCCU and our Vashon branch team are proud to be the local, not-
for-profit financial cooperative that not only helps our members, but our communities thrive by supporting local events. Socially-responsible banking... it’s sort of our thing. Contact: lorin@psccu.org, (206) 408-7453, Psccu.org
Green Goals
As Washington’s socially-responsible green credit union, we’re committed to supporting our members, the communities we serve, and being a proactive contributor to environmental sustainability. Your deposits (checking, savings, etc.) help us fund our variety of Energy-Smart, Solar and GreenUp Loans. Through our EnergySmart loan programs, we’ve helped create high-quality, living wage “green” jobs, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce energy dependence, while improving housing stock. That’s how PSCCU practices community and cooperation.
We care deeply about promoting sustainable business practices
while supporting economic growth. It’s one of the reasons we have invested $20.5 Billion in green initiatives since 2008. In 2018, US Bank provided 1 billion to help finance the development of over 1.5 gigawatts of solar energy across the country, creating enough renewable energy of power for more than 240,000 homes. The carbon offset of these investments is equal to removing 377,000 passenger vehicles from the road, or planting 2 million acres of forest. Contact: jill.heryford@USBank.com, (206) 463-9161
Green Goals
We will encourage reduction in paper use through paperless statements, online banking and digital banking. In our Vashon branch, we will put a container for bottles and cans that have been going in the garbage, rather than our combined recycling container. Tellers will discuss and reduce paper products distributed (receipts when not requested and/or envelopes for cash).
“Vashon is not a geranium-planted-in-the-wheelbarrow, wagon-wheel-against-the-fence, Ye Olde Tea Shoppe community. Our ugliness is rawboned, useful, natural and honest. Our beauty is accidental, untampered with, often breathtaking.” —Betty McDonald
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JOHN L. SCOTT REAL ESTATE
WINDERMERE VASHON
13401 Vashon Highway SW Ken C. Zaglin, Owner/Broker
17429 Vashon Highway SW John de Groen, Beth de Groen, Owners
What sets John L. Scott apart is our commitment to the core of what
makes our community healthier. Supporting environmental causes, our Food Bank, the arts, education, safety and health care, are unseen but an aspect of what makes our Island so special. We value continuing education and have heard from speakers regarding Puget Sound Energy programs on solar energy as well as many organizations on Island that focus on green building and affordable housing. The support of Vashon Household has been a key concern through board memberships and financial support. We have also been significant supporters of the Land Trust. We look forward to our involvement with the Whole Vashon Project in 2020, as a part of our community committment to working on the climate crisis. Contact: (206) 567-1600, Vashonoffice.johnlscott.com
Green Goals
We recently replaced our full HVAC systems with multi-stage high efficiency heat pumps, incorporated with a NEST thermostat to increase the efficiency and lower our energy footprint. We added a 20 amp circuit in our parking area allowing for charging for plug-in hybrids. We are converting all of our lighting to LED and hope to complete that conversion this year. Recycling has always been a part of our office but we are also cutting our use of paper as we continue moving toward full computer and webbased transactions and file storage. We support the careful removal of residential hazardous wastes that are often left in garages and basements when home transfers occur. Finally, you will often find our office carpooling as we cut our use of fuels when touring homes for sale on Vashon.
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Windermere Vashon is a family-owned real estate agency whose
brokers and agents are deeply knowledgeable about local properties and the island community. Our office opened its doors in 1948, making us the island’s oldest real estate brokerage. We’ve sold more homes than any other island realtor because we know the ins and outs of this unique market. We passionately support local schools, organizations, and events, both financially and through volunteering. From the start, a percentage of our profits are committed to giving back to island non-profits dedicated to helping the homeless and low-income families. We are interested in enhancing the lives of our elders and youth, supporting the arts on all levels, investing in our schools, protecting our pets and preserving our island’s heritage. Contact: vashon@windermere.com, (206) 463-9148, Windermerevashon.com
Green Goals
In 2020, we are working on reducing our use of paper, adding a charging station for electric cars at our office location, and beginning an installation of solar panels on our building.
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ISLAND HOME CENTER AND LUMBER
VASHON ACE HARDWARE
17633 97th Place SW Earl van Buskirk, Owner
9750 SW Bank Road Kevin Linnell
More than just a lumber yard, we are Vashon’s Home Center offering energy-efficient lighting and appliances, environmentally safe cleaning supplies, natural pet food and supplies, wholesome farm and feed, ecofriendly paint supplies, TREX decking made of 95% recycled materials, farm shelters and ranch supplies, a Benjamin Moore paint center, kitchen and bath Design Center, equipment rentals and sales including Husqvarna and Stihl, propane, clothing for men, women and children, specialty gifts and food, wine, beer, spirits, and more. We also have a complete lawn and garden center with bee-friendly garden products, local organic composts and fertilizers, water-smart irrigation systems, a variety of perennials, trees, annuals, shrubs, bulbs, seeds and drought-tolerant plants, outdoor furniture, and knowledgeable staff for one-on-one information. Contact: (206) 463-5000, Islandlumber.com Green Goals
We have already done the following: 1. Changed out all of our facility lighting to LED, low-consumption fixtures, cutting our power consumption by 40%. 2. We will continue providing eco-friendly products for all aspects of home environments and properties, and educating businesses and consumers on LED lighting options. 3. We will also be upgrading with more eco-friendly products, as we have done with removing Roundup and all glyphosate, replacing with natural products. 4. We only have paper shopping bags. 5. We recycle our boxes by providing them for customer use. 6. We also are stocking recyclable items, and products made with recycled materials.
We are a full-service hardware and home store. At the Vashon
Ace Hardware Service Center, we sell and work on many kinds of equipment, such as Simplicity, Honda, Stihl, Echo, and many others. We also work on engines: Briggs and Stratton, Kohler, Honda, Tecumseh and Kawasaki. We repair window screens and cut window glass. Our Service Center is a Just Ask Rental Center and we rent a variety of tools. Contact: Store (206) 463-3652; Service Center (206) 463-4019; Rental Center (206) 463-4019
Green Goals
This year, we will offer 10% off all DeWalt outdoor power equipment. We will continue to look for more power equipment that reduces our carbon footprint, like the Eco Power Equipment, Goal Zero generators, Makita cordless tools and DeWalt outdoor power equipment. We will also continue the following programs that benefit our community: 1. Oil recycling. 2. Compact fluorescent bulb recycling. 3. Battery recycling.
“We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it teach us and show us the way.” –Chinook Blessing 39
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WALDRON DESIGNS, LLC
ARTISAN ELECTRIC
ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
2311 Vashon Highway SW Rachel Waldron
969 South Nebraska Street, Suite A, Seattle Jason Williams, President, Evan Leonard, Vice President
9816 SW Bank Road Judith A. Neary, Certified Master Kitchen & Bath Designer
Interior Architectural Design: We are driven to create high-quality designs, preserving nature and life through client collaboration. Contact: rachel@waldrondesigns.com, (206) 249-9860, WaldronDesigns.com Green Goals
By 2020, we will have pulled all manufacturers from our resource list who are not making huge strides forward in regards to sustainability. We have discontinued working with wholesale furniture manufacturers and instead encourage consignment shopping or 100% custom furnishings where we can guarantee that pieces are built with FSC certified wood, FSC certified 100% natural latex, recycled steel springs, utilize screws and/or dowel construction over adhesives, and GOTS certified textiles! We are working toward creating sustainable specifications that require the contractors we work with to operate in a manner that considers the environment and the interior air quality in the use of finishes, adhesives, and application methods. While this secondary portion can be a bit more challenging, we are aiming high and in constant pursuit of responsible practices and influence.
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Founded in 2007 on Vashon Island, Artisan
has grown to a company of 35 professionals installing residential and commercial solar photovoltaic installations throughout the Puget Sound area. Our core business and home is still Vashon, and we are more committed than ever to moving the island towards energy independence, one PV system at a time. About 75% of our Vashon customers finance their systems through Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union on the island. PSE green loan programs help you implement solar, give back to the community, and keep your dollars in Washington state. There is a Federal tax credit you can use immediately to pay down the loan and refinance. Contact: info@artisanelectric.com, (206) 412-4840 cell, (206) 557-4215 office, ArtisanElectric.com
Green Goals
1. Install 90 new solar PV systems on the island and reach 300 total Artisan-installed solar PV systems on Vashon. 2. Design a microgrid for the island and find champions and funds for a 2021 installation. In order to achieve our Green Goal for Vashon, we would need to add 90 more systems. We will also need to design a community solar project with commercial battery storage as the main components of a microgrid.
Roadside Attraction Design Studio, LLC is a certified Master Kitchen and Bath designer specializing in re-imagining and renovating kitchens and baths. Contact: Judith.neary@gmail.com, (206) 661-5902, Roadsideattractionstudio.com Green Goals
I will continue to provide and recommend sustainable design solutions that consider the home, its occupants, the source of material used and the finished installation.
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HEALTHIER AIR and HEATING, LLC
WATERSHED, LLC
8754 SW 190th Street Kris Pedrin
PO Box 2315, Vashon Michael Laurie
My daily workload consists of replacing oil, propane and electric heating systems/appliances with energy-efficient air source heat pumps. These leave a much smaller footprint on the environment and save the homeowner more than half their heating costs. Contact: krisdp45@comcast.net, (206) 463-4265
Watershed, LLC offers sustainability consulting for residential, commercial,
Green Goals
I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, but make sure that any materials that are recyclable are disposed of at a recycling facility. I try to do that presently. Also, any batteries or potentially harmful materials will be disposed of properly. Since properly maintained equipment runs more efficiently and cleaner, I’ll promote the importance of regular system maintenance to my customers.
and industrial customers. I assist clients in finding ways to reduce their water use and energy needs associated with buildings and landscapes. Examples of projects include providing solutions for air leakage and energy and water saving assessments for homes and businesses. I also have found water savings in residential and commercial irrigation systems; designed and installed drip irrigation; and I have consulted on rain gardens. I have offered trainings on water efficiency, including for commercial building operators, taught commercial landscapers and retailers about safer alternatives to Roundup, and consulted with designers and builders on green building methods. My wife, Diane Emerson, and I also grow and teach about medicinal and native plants. Recent Trainings: Certified in national Watershed Wise Landscape Professional program. Certificate of Completion in Healthy Home Training for Building Professionals. Healthy Homes. Contact: mlaurie@mindspring.com, (206) 406-7153
Green Goals
Watershed LLC has a two-part climate change goal: 1. Assist people to reduce their energy and water use, build in a more sustainable way, and make their landscapes and gardens more sustainable. I will continue several personal efforts including not eating meat, growing some of my food and medicine, buying a lot of local organic food, restoring and protecting our 3 acres of forest, composting food and landscape waste and using it in our garden, continuing use of our compost toilet, using drip irrigation, making use of our many energy and water saving measures, minimizing flying, and continuing to learn more about sustainability and putting it into practice; 2. Reduce my transportation carbon impact. I will ride my bicycle more often and I will work harder to keep more of my business close to home. I will develop a guideline with Tom Balderston that will help people learn where to buy carbon offsets, and how to compute and reduce their carbon impact.
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PACIFIC POTAGER
LAVENDER HILL FARM
FOREST GARDEN FARM
27918 Vashon Highway. SW Michelle Crawford
10425 SW 238th Street Catherine MacNeal
10515 SW 140th Street Lisa Hasselman, Chris Hedgpeth
At Pacific Potager Farm and Nursery, I grow
organic plant starts of over 800 varieties of NW Veggies, flowers and herbs, and produce of the same. My plant nursery and farmstand is open from early spring to late fall, located right on the southern stretch of Vashon Highway. Contact: michellecfarm@gmail.com, (206) 463-2750, Facebook.com/Pacific-Potager
Green Goals
Education around sustainable regenerative growing is always my goal and I would like to do MORE of this for the community, and continue to learn MORE myself as I trial different methods of growing and support Northwest small scale seed growers. Growing food in healthy ways for the soil and ourselves is a community conversation! We will need to be talking and problem-solving together. My farm plan supports being ready for climate change by buying seed from companies that take the safe seed pledge (OSSI–The Open Source Seed Initiative): no GMOs, no patented seed, no terminator seed (that makes second generation seeds sterile). It’s called “adaptogenic seed.” They confirm that their buyers have the freedom to use their seeds in any way they choose, and agree to not restrict their use in any way. I focus on buying from regional seed companies that offer varieties for our location, our health and promise that all of their seeds can be subsequently grown by the buyer.
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We offer a vacation rental on a lavendar
farm overlooking Quartermaster Harbor in Burton. We also offer fresh and dried organic lavender, essential oil, use of our farmhouse for short-term rentals and events and meetings. Contact: cathy@lavenderhillvashon.com, (206) 463-2322
Green Goals
For rentals and events: no single use plastics or paper products. Organic linens, no single use soap, shampoo, conditioner. Dish towels, not paper towels. Information on recycling, conserving energy with heat and a/c, bus and ferry information easily accessible to encourage public transportation, find uses for leftover food. For our U-Cut lavender and farm store: charge for paper bags, recycle or compost paper cups. Encourage use of public transportation.
Our small family farm sits on 24 mostly forested acres towards the north end of Vashon Island. Formerly a berry farm run by the Fujioka family, we now grow certified organic vegetables, flowers and fruit on about one acre of land and are working to restore the majority of the property to native evergreen forest. Contact: lisa.hasselman@gmail.com, (206) 408-7299, Facebook.com/pages/ Forest-Garden-Farm Green Goals
This year, we will: 1. Continue to sequester carbon and build living soils through regenerative practices, including low and no-till permanent beds, cover-cropping, diverse crop rotation, perennial and native planting, and mulching. 2. Design and apply for funding to install an upgraded irrigation system that incorporates large volume (20,000+ gallon) water catchment. 3. Reduce our packaging footprint by developing systems that use less and find more sustainable alternatives while still delivering high quality, long-lasting produce and flowers to our customers. 4. Research and document the stories of those who came before us on this land to better understand and appreciate their and our impacts.
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EMERSON GARDENING SERVICES
SCHAFER SPECIALTY LANDSCAPE AND DESIGN
NOBLE STONE
PO Box 2315 Diane Emerson
PO Box 2165 Melissa Schafer
PO Box 1054 Joshua Barwick
I specialize in sustainable and organic
Landscape Gardening; I am licensed and insured. I have extensive training, including in IPM (Integrated Pest Management). I have a Master Pruner Certificate awarded from the University of Washington and Plant Amnesty, 2018. I am a past president, Minnesota State Horticultural Society and have a Permaculture Design Certificate 2012. My services include: Ornamental and food garden design, installation, and maintenance; Tree and shrub pruning, including fruit trees, formal hedges, Japanese maples. Drip irrigation systems; Native plants, pollinator-friendly gardens; Careful, fast, accurate, thorough weeding; Garden renovation; Sheet mulching to reduce weeds in existing gardens, or to create new garden spaces from lawns; nontoxic pest guidance: weeds, insects, slugs, disease, deer, and moss. Contact: dianeemerson@yahoo.com, (206) 567-5492, Emersongardening.com
Green Goals
I don’t own a gas-powered vehicle. I will continue to get to my clients primarily by using my e-bike with trailer, the bus, or meeting clients uptown if they are there for another purpose. In addition, I will offer a 25% discount off my hourly rate to any client who does not own a fossil-fuel powered vehicle (not even a gas powered motorcycle).
Sustainable Landscape Designs, Installation
and Maintenance Services. Contact: Melissa@schaferspecialty.com, (206) 240-7167, Schaferspecialty.com
Green Goals
Our business will continue to commit to practicing the principles of ecological sustainability by creating landscape designs that limit environmental impact, reduce waste, restore habitat, conserve water, and promote soil fertility and plant health. We choose not to use pesticides in our service.
Noble Stone builds dry stone constructions,
such as freestanding and retaining stonewalls without the use of cement or glue. I also build patios, walkways and ‘ruins’ (grottos)– and sculptural works. Aside from the permaculture nature of my work, my constructions consider site-specific relationships in the environment, which create habitat for the wildlife that lives on the land; I also build with consideration for water management, especially with issues such as runoff into Puget Sound and other areas. Contact: Joshua@ noblestoneconstruction. com, (206) 604-1066
Green Goals
I will continue to only source materials from within a 60 mile radius of Vashon, minimizing my carbon footprint, as well as fostering sustainability for Washington economies.
“When you walk across the fields with your mind pure and holy, then from all the stones, and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their souls come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire in you.” –Hasidic saying
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PACIFIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES/ SAWBONES WORLDWIDE
ANDREW WILL WINERY/ POLLARD VINEYARD
10221 SW 188th Street Casey Lawrence
12526 SW Bank Road Will Camarda
Pacific Research Labs is a small-run design, engineering and
Andrew Will Winery: Begun in 1989, moved to Vashon in 1994,
manufacturing company, headquartered on Vashon Island and with over and every year since then we have expanded and tried to improve our 100,000 sq ft of manufacturing, engineering and production support artisanal skills as winemakers, while conforming to the simple ideas space. Sawbones creates the world’s best anatomical medical training we started with. We make about 4500 cases of wine a year, getting and simulation models. our fruit from Ciel du Cheval, Champoux, May’s Discovery, and Two Blondes vineyards in the We already strive to minimize our impact on the environment and Yakima Valley in Washington. maximize the wellbeing of our employees and our neighbors. Adherence to these values has resulted in wiser energy Pollard Vineyard: Located in the usage, recovery and generation, comprehensive supply upper Yakima Valley, sells wine chain networking with a focus on sustainability and grapes to other risk management, incentivized transportation and wineries. It trip-reduction options for our employees, minimizing also impervious surfaces while improving greenspaces on provides our campus, even providing bio-degradable and compostable for our eating utensils in our break rooms. Pollard wine, which is produced at the Andrew Contact: info@pacific-research.com, (206) 408-7603 Will production facility on Vashon.
Green Goals
Continuous Improvement is the guiding principal at Pacific Research Labs and the foundation of our success. We will continue to work with public and private parties to maintain and improve the state of the industry by voluntarily reporting a pollution prevention plan, participating in corporate social responsibility initiatives, and prioritizing sustainable business practices that emphasize healthy social equity, economic and environmental factors.
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Contact: info@andrewwill.com, (206) 4639227, AndrewWill.com, Pollardperse.com, open only by appointment
Green Goals
Each year during winegrape harvest and crush, Andrew Will Winery composts the grape skins and seeds, which are then added back into their Vashon garden and used for mulch around their fruit trees and flower beds. This not only enriches the soil but helps with water retention. The winery also has set up a water drainage system where water used at the winery feeds an organic blueberry patch.
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MEADOW CREATURE, LLC
ISLAND SPRING ORGANICS
PO Box 2112 Bob Powell
PO Box 747 William M. Lukoskie
Meadow Creature, LLC is a Vashon metal products manufacturer. Since 2009 we have made and sold 15,000 Meadow Creature® broadforks: a human-powered earth-friendly alternative to a rototiller, for home gardens and market farms. Our product is built to last a lifetime, and we’d like to think we’ve prevented the sale of thousands of gas-powered rototillers. We also manufacture the Avalon® Cider Press: the ultimate home cider press. Through our sister brand, Metal Creature, we make metal components for industry, kickstarts, building contractors, artists and other machine shops. We believe a fair and equal society is central to a healthy democracy, and sustainable resource use is key to survival of our civilization, and so we practice what we preach by providing living wage jobs with full benefits, and leveraging our shop resources in support of our community and like-minded non-profits. Contact: sales@meadowcreature.com, (360) 329-2250, Meadowcreature.com and Metalcreature.com
Green Goals
Our products are inherently resource- intensive, so we are careful to build them to last a lifetime, to minimize waste, to use earth-friendly, employee-friendly and/or recycled materials wherever possible, and to re-use whatever is possible within our own shop. We continue to press our suppliers for greener alternatives: our steel is made from recycled metal, as is most steel, but it’s still energyintensive. Our scrap metal is sorted and either re-used or recycled. Our cardboard packaging is not recycled, but we keep it plain brown and encourage its use for sheet-mulching. One of our Green Goals is to replace what little plastic packaging we use with recycled paper. Meadow Creature continues to sponsor Burn Design Lab, a nonprofit developer of clean-burning, fuel-efficient cookstoves for the developing world. BDL began inside our shop in 2010. To date we have donated over $100,000 in metal components and services for Burn’s R&D work. Our goal is to continue to meet Burn’s needs as both organizations grow.
We make organic fresh, locally made Tofu. We take soybeans, the
most efficient protein known to science, and produce a variety of edible foodstuffs from them. Each time you eat soy, you interrupt the environmental effects of animal protein production. CO2 and methane numbers dive. Water usage comparing animal protein to plant-based soy is 50 to 1. Contact: William M. Lukoskie, info@islandspringorganics.com, (206) 463-9848, Islandspringorganics.com
Green Goals
We just installed Impact Bioenergy’s proprietary technology digester. This may be the FIRST entirely circular manufacturing process in the world. It is a perpetual motion machine: just add soybeans, water, and mix. It will do the following: 1. Utilize all vegetable waste from soy production; 2. Produce liquid and dry granular fertilizers comparable to fish fertilizer to enrich Vashon gardens; 3. Produce daily the energy equivalent of 140 gallons of diesel fuel in the form of Certified Organic Renewable Natural Gas or ORNG; 4. ORNG will be used to power an electrical generator to provide electricity to power our tofu production!
“What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth” –Chief Seattle
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Are you an Activist or a Steward? Or Both? “We need lots of people now, to help with the crisis. We need people to go into service…to help save the planet!” —John Liu, founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps Worldwide
Take a walk through the history of the fight to save the planet and you’ll start in the late 19th century. You’ll meet people in the “Back to Nature” movement in England: John Ruskin, William Morris, Edward Carpenter. Travel around the US pre-1900 and you’ll meet John Muir, Henry Thoreau. Fast forward to post-World War II and listen to writer Aldo Leopold talk about his “land ethic”—a moral imperative “to maintain the beauty, integrity and health of natural systems.” Then kneel at the feet of Rachel Carson, writing her world-changing “Silent Spring”, fighting against radioactive fallout, smog, food additives, and pesticides (DDT). 1969 and the beginning of covert rebellions against formidable pollution industries. Earth Day founded in 1970. Greenpeace. Anti-nuclear protests. Earth First! Powerful and compelling voices across the centuries. Riveting, life-threatening acts of rebellion, people chained to redwoods in old-growth forests, anti-nuclear protestors herded off to prison. And on Vashon, 2010, winning the great fight to save southern Maury Island from becoming a vast gravel mine. The power of the Backbone Campaign, founded in 2003 to bring an intersection of arts and activism to initiate change around the US. Other organizations, focused on stewardship and education: The Land Trust. The Nature Center. Most have entries in this Catalog. Such a long history. So hard to see what we are facing now, given the many, many years of fighting to keep our Earth whole. But we can’t give up! We just have to find our individual niches and then commit. Andy James, of the Vashon Climate Action Group, has this to say about activism:
I propose the following permissions we activists can grant each other to keep ourselves together: • You can be imperfect in your daily habits. • You can do good according to your skills. If you don’t like protesting, don’t. If you don’t like doing heavy policy work, don’t. • You can work at the scale of your backyard, your region, the whole earth. Something that unites three people or affects 10,000. • You can speak your fears out loud. Don’t be cheerful to keep hypothetical, half-hearted people involved. • You can try a big idea that fails. • In return for all the above permissions, I only ask:
Stay in. We need you.
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The Tree of Life A pull-out poster by Hodari Nundu
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All living beings that exist on our planet, as shown by both genomics and the fossil record
(and as understood by many ancient cultures) are descended from one common ancestor— a single-celled organism that lived up to four billion years ago! As such, all creatures from all kingdoms of life—animals, plants, fungi, etc—are related to each other. We are indeed one big family. The tree of life represents this; instead of the old idea that evolution is a straight line going from primitive to advanced, we find that it's instead a complex branching structure, in which none is superior to the other, but merely divergent. This structure becomes all the more complex when we remember that all species are interconnected not only by kinship, but by ecological interdependence. In truth, the tree of life is also a web of life; a miracle of wondrous diversity millions of years in the making. Note about the drawing: There is no particularly close relationship between the sunfish and the opossum, they just happened to be close to each other in this artistic configuration of the tree, because of space issues! To see the actual relation between the different life forms one needs only follow the branches. The opossum is a bit further away from the other mammals because it belongs to a separate mammal group that diverged relatively early, the marsupials, whereas all the other mammals shown are placental (like us). The orangutan is most definitely very closely related to humans. There are other apes that are closer to humans (chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas), but I chose to portray the orangutan because it's the most critically endangered of all great apes and it needs attention. Besides, it's more colorful! —Hodari Nundu
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About the Artist "Hodari Nundu (March 18, 1989) is a Mexican artist, writer and passionate naturalist. Having fallen deeply in love with wild nature from a very early age, he has worked as a teacher, a zookeeper, and a curator in a Natural History Museum, as well as a cartoonist, always trying to use such platforms to promote the respect for life in all its forms, and the preservation of wildlife. He believes that just as the origin of mankind lies in wilderness, so does the future. He dreams of a world in which all creatures are equally respected and admired, even those normally considered ugly, dangerous or insignificant. He currently lives in Jalisco, Mexico, with a number of cats better left unspecified.
Vashon Non-Profits: Green Goals The Whole Vashon Project was conceived as a creative way to pull the community together around addressing the climate crisis— getting Green Goal commitments, not just from island businesses, but also non-profits, to highlight how many have dedicated volunteers who are already deeply involved in healing the Earth. In this section, the Whole Vashon Catalog honors our list of givers and visionaries, looking forward to finding ways to pool resources and knowledge, to meet the climate crisis in even bigger and more impactful ways in the future. In order of appearance, here are the Vashon non-profits participating in Green Goals.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Vashon-Maury Land Trust Vashon Nature Center Vashon-Maury Audubon Vashon Island Growers Association Vashon Seed Project Vashon Soil Ambassadors Vashon Island Fruit Club Vashon-Maury Island Garden Club The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation Backbone Campaign— Artful Activism Solutionary Rail— Backbone Campaign Indivisible Vashon Vashon-Maury SURJ Vashon Climate Action Group Vashon Island Fair Skies Vashon Island Pet Protectors Vashon-Maury Island Chamber of Commerce
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Vashon Park District Vashon Library Water District 19 Vashon Heritage Museum Mukai Farm and Garden Granny’s Attic Zero Waste Vashon Vashon Makerspace Sustainable Vashon Island GreenTech Geology in the Public Interest Vashon Island Rotary Club Burn Design Lab Green Schools Program Chautauqua Elementary School McMurray Middle School Vashon Island High School Vashon Partners in Education The Harbor School Vashon Green School
• Vashon Wilderness Program • Western Washington Girl Scouts • Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse • The Dove Project • Vashon Household • Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank • Vashon Youth and Family Services • Vashon-Maury Senior Center • Vashon Center for the Arts • Voice of Vashon • Vashon Island Visual Artists • Vashon Events • Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit • Vashon Presbyterian Church • The Vashon Havurah • Puget Sound Zen Center
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LAND TRUST
VASHON NATURE CENTER
10014 SW Bank Road Tom Dean, Executive Director
23509 Landers Road SW Bianca Perla
The Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust
was founded in 1990 by a dedicated group of islanders who were concerned about preserving Vashon and Maury. Since that time, the Land Trust has been instrumental in the acquisition and permanent preservation of over two thousand acres of carefully chosen property on Vashon and Maury. An additional 3000+ acres, enrolled in King County’s current use taxation program (the Public Benefit Rating System), are protected and being stewarded by private landowners. We provide regular educational programs for Vashon residents, and intend to play a central role in helping Vashon understand and address climate change on the island. Other goals include recreating a trail system that will allow islanders to travel from north to south without using main roads. Contact: (206)463-2644, Vashonlandtrust.org, Facebook.com/ vashon.landtrust
Green Goals
See page 8 for a special statement from the Land Trust on how climate change is expected to impact Vashon and what we can do about it.
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Creating transformative nature experiences
through community science, research, and education for the benefit of our home island and the entire Salish Sea. Contact: info@vashonnaturecenter.org, (206)755-5798, Facebook.com/groups/ vashonnaturecenter
Green Goals
Engage over 450 children and adults (3000+ combined volunteer hours) in monitoring island beaches, streams, and forests to contribute important information to regional databases that help track species needs due to climate change. We monitor forage fish spawning on beaches to learn how they will respond to changing sea levels. We monitor creeks to identify those most at risk of impact from higher expected winter rainfalls. We work with managers and the public to share our information and come up with solutions locally and Salish Sea-wide. We believe climate change is one symptom of an underlying cultural approach to nature that needs reworking. Underpinning all our work is the desire to help elevate awareness and care for nature so that attention to nature becomes a daily part of our societies and individual lives. We will work with Vashon-Maury Heritage Society and other partners to design Wild Wonders, a natural history exhibit opening on Vashon in June. One of the cross-cutting themes in this exhibit is climate change. We’ll work with Vashon Center for the Arts to steward Heron Meadow, creating a climate sanctuary for wildlife and better capturing and cleaning of run-off from Island Center.
Vashon Nature Centers Tools and Tips
Our social media sites are forums to
ask any questions you have. We have a 30-member science adviser panel to turn to if we don’t know the answers! We provide space for community discussion and learning in our Facebook group. We offer an annual Beach Naturalist course where climate change impacts on Puget Sound beaches is one of the main topics addressed. We offer multiple community science opportunities for anyone wanting to help monitor our natural areas and species and contribute directly towards solving complex environmental challenges like climate change. Come see the natural history exhibit ‘Wild Wonders’ at the Vashon Heritage Museum to learn even more about our ever-changing ecosystems! We are working on further decreasing our carbon footprint by enrolling in the King County Community Van Program for transport to our field sites. Right now we carpool! We are seeking sponsors and support to make the ‘Wild Wonders Natural History’ exhibit the best it can be and to increase our capacity as an organization in general. We remain considerably short-staffed for the high level of demand for our programs. We are always looking for new partnerships and ways to work together with other organizations and individuals to create even better outcomes than we could accomplish alone.
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VASHON-MAURY AUDUBON
VASHON ISLAND GROWERS ASSOCIATION
PO Box 838, Vashon Julie Burman, Sylvia Soholt
PO Box 2894 Lisa Hasselman
Our mission is to enjoy, learn about, and
Our mission and purpose at VIGA is to
preserve birds and their diverse habitats on Vashon and beyond. Founded 1989, with 179 households and 283 individuals. Contact: info@vashonaudubon.org, VashonAudubon.org, Facebook.com/Vashon-Audubon
promote farming, access to healthy food, and a sustainable agricultural economy on Vashon Island through education, advocacy, and a vibrant farmers market. Contact: lisa.hasselman@gmail.com, (206)408-7299, Facebook.com/VIGAVashon
Green Goals
Green Goals
We are advocating for legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will increase education of our community about action steps to counter climate change. We promote the use of native plants to create an environment that’s good for birds and people. We are highlighting over 30 birds on Vashon threatened by loss of habitat by creating a ”parade of the species” event, a large bird mural at the Vashon Center for the Arts, and offering an Audubon Bird Calendar. We hope to grow our membership and volunteer base. We offer citizen science to improve national Audubon climate models to forecast changing habitat, a Christmas Vashon bird count to track status, tracking of health of the NW seabird Pigeon Guillemot and free public presentations.
Our goal is to support and increase the amount of locally grown, produced and consumed food and crafts on Vashon-Maury in order to reduce transportation miles, packaging and refrigeration, and to strengthen our local economy through: 1. A vibrant and welcoming farmers market; 2. The Food Access Partnership’s Farm Bucks and community outreach programs, which strive to get more local food to islanders experiencing food insecurity while supporting our local growers and island community partners; 3. Making VashonFresh.com, Vashon’s midweek, local farmers’ online market selfsustaining, so it can remain an incubator for newer growers; a mid-week outlet for more established farms and producers; and provide island consumers a way to access multiple islandgrown and produced goods in one place; 4. Educational programs such as CRAFT (focusing on farmers and interns) and Get Growing (focusing on home growers) which share and build our knowledge about sustainable and regenerative agriculture through community-based, inclusive workshops.
VIGA Tools and Tips
Vashon Island Growers Association has a long tradition of seasoned and emerging growers working towards agricultural practices that mitigate climate change. We discuss and share this evolving knowledge through our educational programs and at our annual potluck and events. Please join the discussion! We can use input and support from other experts who can inform our increasing numbers of local growers: environmentalists, engineers, packaging experts. VashonFresh.com needs more community participation from both shoppers and producers to use the service in order to become self-sustaining. Please shop next year or sign up to sell! Start your own Climate Victory Garden! Help us build a sustainable and thriving local food system that also helps to reverse the negative impacts agriculture has had on our climate.
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THE VASHON SEED PROJECT
VASHON SOIL AMBASSADORS
VASHON ISLAND FRUIT CLUB
13129 SW 248th Street Jennifer Williams
PO Box 245 Merrilee Runyan
PO Box 2242, Vashon Charon Scott-Goldman
We seek to ensure abundance and
biodiversity in our food system for generations to come by educating our community as well as growing, saving and breeding openpollinated seeds for all. Contact: jennifer@wilddreamsfarm.com, (206)302-8297, Facebook.com/ groups/732040683899568
Green Goals
Open-pollinated seed is the foundation of a resilient local food system. Our goal is to continue to educate Island gardeners and farmers about the importance of and the skills needed for saving their own seed. We will host a series of workshops at Wild Dreams Farm to re-skill our island neighbors on the fundamentals of seed-saving and basic plant breeding. We will increase the amount of locally grown seed on Vashon available for free and for sale by growing seed crops at Wild Dreams Farm and in the many home gardens across the island. The Vashon Seed project is committed to research, education, and production of seed as a hopeful and restorative effort in times of uncertainty. The Vashon Seed project hosts educational workshops demonstrating the knowledge and skills needed to save one’s own seeds. Also, we organize the annual Seed Swap in February where anyone can come and exchange or just take free seeds to grow their own food, medicine, and beauty in their garden.
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We are a new, informal group that will
grow and improve as we learn more about regenerating soil and are able to share resources with the Vashon community. Our central teaching: “Transform your land to support the food web of life.” Contact: merrileerunyan@gmail.com
Green Goals
We plan to introduce a new paradigm around soil as a microbial habitat for possibly the most essential and vital community on our planet, develop an educational platform for shared knowledge about regenerative practice, including workshops, presentations and other resources, and network as “soil ambassadors” with other Vashon organizations.
Tools and Tips
Plant trees; Retire the rototiller; Cover the soil with compost, mulch, cover crops; Compost for a healthy microbial habitat; Plant, save and share open-pollinated seeds; Ditch the chemicals and practice integrated pest management; Plant for diversity of beneficial insects and pollinators; Create edible ecosystems with perennials and companion planting.
“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” –Franklin D Roosevelt
The Club promotes the successful growing
of fruit in an environmentally responsible manner, through education and enthusiasm, supporting fruit research relevant to our region, and thereby improving fruit production and fruit products on Vashon-Maury Island. Contact: charon@centurytel.net, (206)463-2019, Facebook.com/groups/ VashonFruit
Green Goals
Continue to educate members on building soil, composting, use of biochar, conserving water using drip irrigation systems, and continue research on best varieties of fruits that will grow well in our maritime climate. The Club is committed to reuse, repurpose, and recycle products. We now use only recyclable or compostable utensils, cups and plates at program meetings, and encourage members to bring their own metal or glass dishes to social events. We also carpool or hire a van or bus to transport members to off-island events. We have a large and engaged membership and continue to look for ways to collaborate with other island like-minded non-profits for the betterment of our island.
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VASHON-MAURY ISLAND GARDEN CLUB
THE ALLIANCE FOR TOMPOTIKA CONSERVATION (AlTo)
PO Box 2113 Cathie Crouse, President
21416 86th Avenue SW Marcy Summers
We are in our 67th year! Founded in 1952, we incorporated in
1998. Through its educational programs and charitable projects, the Garden Club promotes fun and interest in gardening among Islanders, while educating club members and the larger community on environmentally-sound gardening practices and the preservation of native plants and wildlife. Our website is a source of information providing speaker handouts (Non-Toxic Weed Killer tips) and also links to horticulture content from Monthly Chores to a Green Garden Calendar. Contact: You can reach us through our website: Vmigc.org. We meet in the social room at the Vashon Lutheran Church on the second Monday of every month from September through June.
Green Goals
As in the past, we will continue to support our members and community in projects to preserve and educate for the health of our planet. We have sponsored presentations on key environmental topics, shared and promoted information about alternatives to Roundup and other glyphosate products in our local stores, and contributed to an effort by Vashon resident Julia Lakey to certify Vashon as a Wildlife Habitat. In our general meetings, we now promote Zero Waste habits by only sharing finger foods and requiring members to bring their own mugs.
The Alliance is an international partnership founded in 2006 at the
request of local people and dedicated to conserving the unparalleled natural and cultural heritage of the lands and waters surrounding Mt. Tompotika, Sulawesi, Indonesia. AlTo is having a direct impact on preventing climate change by helping to preserve more than 10,000 hectares of tropical rainforest on the island of Sulawesi. AlTo protects endangered species, tropical rainforests, and coral reefs while promoting the dignity and self-sufficiency of local communities in a changing world. Contact: marcy@tompotika.org, (206)463-7720
Green Goals
In our programs: Due to its high rates of deforestation, Indonesia is one of the world’s greatest greenhouse gas emitters. AlTo is on the front lines, trying to keep the precious tropical rainforests of Sulawesi— with all of their benefits to the climate, for air, water, and soil health and for wildlife habitat—standing and healthy. We hope to amp up our efforts with expanded public education and outreach, leading to even more forests protected. In 2019, we reduced our airmiles to Indonesia by 25% (compared to 2017) and we pledge to reduce them further. We pledge to continue to seek out all possible ways to reduce our carbon and overall footprint as we work to create a healthier planet for wildlife, humans, and all living things.
“We have started to clean up your mess! And we will not stop until we are done!” – Greta Thunberg
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BACKBONE CAMPAIGN Artful Activism PO Box 278, Vashon Bill Moyer, Founder
Founded in 2004, Backbone Campaign amplifies the aspirations
Tools and Tips
Green Goals
As a 501c3 not for profit, we receive almost no grant funding; we are reliant on individual donors to keep “making our movement beautiful.” Join the Lumbar Club with a small recurring monthly donation; Vashon donors provide our financial foundation. Contribute between $5 a month to $1,000 a month; it all adds up to keep our doors open and props going out across the US. Also consider sponsoring new Solidarity Brigades across the US. Each costs Backbone about $1,400 in gear. Churches, indivisible groups, organizations, and individuals can thereby help ensure a community has the tools they need to protect what they love!
of “We the People” with creative strategies and artful activism to manifest a world where life, community, nature, and our obligations to future generations are honored as sacred. Contact: info@BackboneCampaign.org, (206)408-8058, BackboneCampaign.org
Backbone Campaign’s goal is on sharing skills in light projection, freeway blockades, creative props, bannering, kayaktivism, campaign design and movement organizing with groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Sunrise Movement, the Moving Forward Network, and with communities on the front lines of the climate crisis and fossil fuel pollution. We also plan to: 1. Write and publish an Artful Activism manual to share what we’ve learned over our 17 years of activism; 2. Host our 11th Localize This! Action Camp on Vashon Island, bringing together activists working on a just transition and on confronting the fossil fuel industry, for a week of workshops, action planning, community building, and skill shares; 3. We currently have 35 Solidarity Brigades working across the country with lights and banners; our goal is to increase that to 50 cities that have a Solidarity Brigade; 4. Our Builder’s Guild meets every Wednesday in our Vashon Island Warehouse to build more props and to respond to the requests we receive for creative action support. Our Goal for this service is to increase our collaborations with climate-related organizations by more extensively sharing these props and tools. 52
Our props, which include inflatables, LED Letter Light Panels, banner toolkits, light projection, digital projection, and banners, are available for groups and individuals working on the climate crisis (and other actions to protect what we love). We need volunteers, no skills necessary, to attend our Wednesday Art Builds at the Sheffield Building Warehouse. Contact us for details.
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SOLUTIONARY RAIL A Project of Backbone Campaign PO Box 278, Vashon Bill Moyer, Founder
Solutionary Rail (founded 2017) is a grassroots campaign to electrify
US railroads and open rail corridors with trains that would run on clean, renewable energy, while overhead transmission lines would use the rail right-of-way corridors to transmit electric power from the solar and wind-rich areas of the country, out to the urban metropolises. By developing energy infrastructure on the railroad easements, Solutionary Rail also offers a mechanism to move solar and wind power from generation points to markets with high-energy needs. Solutionary Rail is a public-private partnership that invigorates our transportation and energy infrastructure, creates jobs, enhances tribal rights and improves public health for those most impacted by poor air quality. Solutionary Rail also addresses tribal sovereignty, Right of Way justice, and the opportunity for redress. Contact: info@BackboneCampaign.org, (206)408-8058, BackboneCampaign.org
Green Goals
1. Continue outreach, including to Presidential candidates and get them to adopt SR into their platforms; 2. Build Stakeholder Alliances by convening stakeholders for briefings to Congress; 3. Continue offering our roster of experts to the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, in order to better inform recommendations by Congress on addressing the climate crisis and a Green New Deal; 4. Build a database of clean energy (wind and solar) projects in the US, as well as electrified rail projects; incorporate key lessons into the growing and evolving SR platform.
Tools and Tips
1. Our current rail system could be modernized relatively quickly, increasing both efficiency and speeds to better serve communities, farmers and manufacturers. Drawing freight and people off highways and airplanes, and back onto tracks, would decrease the “climate cost” of travel; 2. Financing for SR could be through an innovative tax exempt, nonprofit “Steel Interstate Development Authority” (SIDA)–a public-private partnership of government with the railroads to finance, build and operate the electrification and transmission infrastructure. This is an alternative to corporate financing.
Current Needs to Grow and Improve
The Solutionary Rail project is in the process of becoming a subsidiary not-for-profit organization under the Backbone Campaign. Donations are tax deductible and are urgently needed so that we can build a staff that will make Solutionary Rail a truly national campaign to decarbonize transportation and energy. We also need volunteers who can help with building a database, office work, and many other tasks. Solutionary Rail is a viable plan to make a significant impact on decarbonizing transportation and energy, within a 5-year window. The time for pitching in and investing in this project is now!
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INDIVISIBLE VASHON
VASHON-MAURY SURJ
PO Box 2607 Kevin Jones
Showing Up for Racial Justice Janie Starr
Our mission is to Resist and Replace the current administration. A better world is possible. Together, we can make it happen! Anyone can help by signing up to receive Legislative Calls to Action on our website by clicking Join! Help us register voters and encourage them to vote at the State and Federal levels. If we all do a little, we will achieve a lot! We train you, you save the climate. Drop by one of our meetings, the third Wednesday of each month at the Vashon Library (or sometimes elsewhere) from 7– 8:30PM (doors open at 6:30). Friends, camaraderie, snacks and song! See our website for details. Contact: GetOutTheVote@indivisiblevashon.org, Indivisiblevashon.org, Facebook.com/IndivisibleVashon Green Goals
1. Pass good environmental WA State legislation. In 2019, we helped pass the Clean Energy Transformation Act–which requires carbon-free electricity by 2045! This year we support bills that accelerate State greenhouse gas reductions and other critical climate benefits; 2. Elect Climate Champions to the WA State legislature. In 2017, we helped elect Manka Dhingra, giving Senate Democrats a majority. In 2018, we helped elect five more climatefriendly legislators. In 2019, they passed the strongest climate legislation in the country! 3. Elect a new President and restore the US Senate to Democratic control. The current administration and their Senate supporters have implemented historic setbacks to climate change progress. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and rolling back environmental protections makes climate progress virtually impossible at the Federal level. The best thing we can do for the climate? Elect climate-aware leaders.
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We envision a society where we struggle
together with love, for justice, human dignity, and a sustainable world. Many environmental hazards today occur in areas with overwhelming residential segregation; climate issues are often tied to race. We have many resources that provide principles of environmental justice and document profound racial inequities in environmental quality. Just two out of many research-related resources are “Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality” by Robert D. Bullard; and “Water/Color: A Study of Race & The Water Affordability Crisis in America’s Cities” by the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Contact: vmsurj@gmail.com, Facebook.com/VashonMauriSURJ A community-based membership without an office.
Green Goals
Our goal is to reduce the impacts of catastrophic climate change on communities of color regionally, nationally and globally through education, research, and inspiration. One way to begin understanding the issues and address racial environmental justice: visit Racialequitytools.org/plan/issues/ environmental-justice.
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VASHON CLIMATE ACTION GROUP
VASHON ISLAND FAIR SKIES
PO Box 2607 Vashon
Vashon Beth Anne Freiling
We form teams of individuals who wish to take daily positive
actions to address climate change. We are non-partisan, practical, and community-focused. Start a climate change campaign, we can help. Drop by one of our meetings, typically held the second Sunday of odd numbered months from 3–5PM at the Vashon Havurah (15401 Westside Highway SW). Contact: andy.james@vashonclimateaction.org, Suzanne.greenberg@ vashonclimateaction.org,Kevin.jones@vashonclimateaction.org, Facebook.com/Vashon-Climate-Action-Group
Green Goals
1. Make Puget Sound Energy Go Carbon Free– We will continue our work to remove the carbon pollution equivalent of 3.7 million cars by working with PSE, legislators, regulators, environmental groups and community members to ensure that PSE shuts down its coalfired electric power plant in Colstrip, Montana. We will collect and publish evidence, on our website, that PSE is not working in good faith as a steward of our environment, in order to prompt action by regulators and legislators to strengthen Washington State environmental laws to address the climate emergency. Our Watch Dog website: sites.google.com/view/psewatchdogs/home; 2. No Tacoma LNG Facility–Our public activism will prevent the PSE Tacoma Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facility from becoming operational; 3. Beyond Fossil Gas–We will create a coalition of like-minded groups who will develop realistic, timely and effective plans to remove fossil fuel-derived gas from our energy infrastructure. We will engage community leaders, community members and elected officials to incorporate our work into regional carbon reduction plans and start to implement this transition on Vashon.
We’ve been fighting the plane noise pollution over Vashon for two
years. In 2019 at Strawberry Festival, we featured a large map of the Island; people could put colored pins where they live if they’re being oppressed by the new (and completely unfair) plane noise on Vashon Island. We asked people to self-identify arrivals vs. departures, which often helped to explain the changes NextGen has wrought upon the Island. We’ve also had public meetings and purchased 100 AirNoise buttons, which we sell at cost. (Airnoise.io.com) Using the button automatically files a complaint with the airport, detailing the specific plane with its location and altitude, based on your address. Visit our website for more information. Contact: gofreefarm@gmail.com, (206) 913-9557, Vifs.org
Green Goals
To continue our mission of restoring the peace and natural environment to Vashon and Maury Islands that the FAA’s NextGen Program has stolen. NextGen is designed by the FAA to reduce noise and save fuel, which can involve changing flight patterns.
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VASHON ISLAND PET PROTECTORS P.O. Box 245 Geoff Fletcher
Vashon Island Pet Protectors is a no-kill and non-profit 501c3
animal rescue organization run by compassionate and animal-loving volunteers. No More Homeless Pets. We strive to reach the mission by providing islanders with low cost spay/neuter and microchipping, relinquishment and adoption services, lost and found services, high-quality care for dogs and cats in our program and emergency financial support. Contact: info@vipp.org, (206)385-1089, Vipp.org
Green Goals
Reduce plastic by replacing plastic water bottles with a water cooler; Research possibilities for composting litter at the cat shelter; Replace plastic bags for waste with compostable bags; Reassess insulation in the cat shelter and augment as possible. More volunteers to assist with dogs and cats in our care. Funds to defray expenses, particularly veterinary expenses.
~1920’s Environmental News~ Vashon Heritage Museum
February 26,1920 “If one is in quest of beautiful scenery, the view from ‘Inspiration Point’, will certainly arouse enthusiasm. No finer view of the mountain ranges, the Sound, or of Tacoma can be obtained.” July 29, 1920 “Puget Sound Salmon–The press of Puget Sound is warning the public that the salmon industry is becoming extinct from over-fishing and underproduction.” August 26, 1920 “Paradise Valley Oats Yield 100 Bushels Per Acre– Bonnell and Smith of Paradise Valley have just threshed 81 sacks of fine white Russian oats from 2.5 acres.” January 21, 1921 “Conrad Anderson is busy laying out work to utilize the stream running across his ranch to develop power to put in electric lights in his new house.” June 24, 1921 Maury Island–”Henry Faulhaber has begun the harvest of his gooseberry crop, and a most wonderful crop it is. Gooseberries as large as pigeon eggs.” December 16, 1921 “Last weeks rainstorm was the worst in the history of the weather bureau. The precipitation was as follows: Saturday, 1.15”; Sunday, 2.61” and Monday, 2.47”, making a total of 6.23”. June 23, 1922 “Strawberry Acreage Declining Because of Diseased Ground–100 Acres of Raspberries; 500 Strawberries; 550 Loganberries.”
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VASHON-MAURY ISLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
VASHON PARK DISTRICT
17141 Vashon Highway SW Jim Marsh, Executive Director
P.O. Box 1608 Eric Wyatt
Our mission is to create opportunities for island-based businesses.
Contact: executivedirector@vashonchamber.com, (206)463-6217, Vashonchamber.com
Green Goals
Continue to reduce waste by eliminating the use of single-use mugs, utensils and plates at our membership meetings. We are reducing paper billing and using more online billing methods. For the Strawberry Festival, we are creating an event recycling program that keeps recycled materials clean. We will encourage vendors to use reusable cutlery. We are also exploring the banning of singleuse water bottles at festival. Staff uses e-bikes for in-town errands. We have a recycling kit available to any organization to help clean and sort recyclable materials at events.
“Anyone contemplating island dwelling must be physically strong and it is an added advantage if you aren’t too bright!”
Founded in 1983. The mission of the Vashon Park District is to provide public access to the District’s parks, facilities, and recreational programs by responsibly acquiring and maintaining these assets to appropriate defined standards, so Island citizens and visitors will be provided opportunities to improve the quality of their lives. Contact: ewyatt@vashonparks.org, (206)463-9602
Green Goals
Vashon Park District wishes to encourage our visitors to think about their carbon footprint while on the island. We can do this by encouraging lodgings guests to: 1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—This 3R rule provides the key to going green. Reduce the resources you use. Re-use whenever possible and recycle when the first two options don’t work. We offset some of this by offering reusable shopping bags and containers for recyclables; 2. Pedal Power—Bring your bike or rent one on island. We are currently teamed up with Vashon Adventures to give our guests rental discounts on bikes and we will be exploring other possible green partnerships; 3. Eat Local—We want to encourage our visitors to eat local by visiting our Farmers Market and encourage lodgings guests to patronize local eateries that utilize local farms. Eating local helps sustain our island food production and reduces fossil fuels needed to transport food; 4. Vashon Park District is in the process of switching to recycled paper for our activity guides. We hope to have this in place soon!
–Betty MacDonald
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VASHON LIBRARY (KCLS)
WATER DISTRICT 19
17210 Vashon Highway SW Amelia Lincoln
17630 100th Avenue SW James McRae
The Vashon Library, founded in 1983, has the mission to inspire the people of King County to succeed through ideas, interaction and information. Our vision is of a world where knowledge allows diverse communities to prosper and grow. Contact: aalincoln@kcls.org, (206)463-2069, kcls.org/locations/1545 Green Goals
The Vashon Library, as part of KCLS, is beginning to implement the Green Initiative which has a goal to “reduce paper and plastics waste, cut supplies and maintenance costs, and improve operational efficiencies.” We will continue to offer Fix-It Cafes in partnership with the Vashon Makerspace, which returns items to usefulness, keeping items out of the landfill and preventing the need for new purchases. We will also continue to offer programs utilizing recycled and natural materials and educating islanders about the natural world. Checking out books instead of buying them saves paper and other resources! We also have ebooks and online databases, including magazines and streaming music and movies. As an informational organization, we are here to help people find facts and authoritative sources on the science of climate change. KCLS has a lot of great resources that can help combat climate change. Although we have a lot of visibility in the community, spreading awareness of what we have to offer would lengthen our reach!
“The climate, about ten degrees warmer and wetter than Seattle and vicinity, is ideal for primroses, currants, rhododendrons, strawberries, mildew and people with dry skin who like to read.” –Betty MacDonald
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Our mission is to provide a clean, safe, sustainable supply of drinking water for district customers, and where feasible, water for fire protection. Contact: water19@water19.com, (206)463-9007, Water19.com Green Goals
In 2019, WD19 began work on a 10-year, $7 million capital improvement plan to address the worst of its aging infrastructure, primarily replacing miles of leaky 40+ year old water mains, with the objective of reducing water waste by millions of gallons per year, saving both the water and the energy and chemicals required to pump and treat it. This plan also includes fish passage improvements, and communications and electrical upgrades to improve water quality and reduce waste. Longer term, WD19’s next small road vehicle is anticipated to be electric. Please visit water19.com to read about efficiency measures you can take, and services offered through WD19 to help reduce water waste and cost. WD19 has imposed a moratorium on new connections since 1996, with new customers served only through a waiting list. WD19’s water supply is fundamentally limited to the rain that falls on our island and permeates to a complex aquifer that our stream and fish health also depend upon. While WD19 has added some new sources, our ability to serve new customers is primarily met through conservation efforts. Our long-term planning is complicated by increasing agricultural use and climate change. Our long-term community interest is served by drought-tolerant landscaping, unwatered lawns, efficient appliances, and overall thoughtful water use.
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VASHON HERITAGE MUSEUM
MUKAI FARM and GARDEN
10105 Bank Road SW Elsa Croonquist, President
P.O. Box 2603 Lynn Greiner
Our mission is to collect, preserve, interpret and exhibit materials reflecting the unique history and culture of Vashon-Maury Island and to serve as a resource for the community and region through educational programs, the collection of documents and data, and the operation of the Vashon Heritage Museum. Contact: elsacroonquist@vashonheritage.org, (206)463-7808, Vashonheritagemuseum.org
Our mission is to restore and preserve the Mukai Farm and Garden; interpret the historical impact of the Mukai family and the broader Japanese-American immigrant community on 20th century agriculture, business, and community life; and celebrate the ongoing role of this historic landmark in our community. Contact: lgreiner@seanet.com, Mukaifarmandgarden.org
Green Goals
A major tenet in our Preservation Plan is restoration and operation of Mukai in a sustainable manner. We plan to: 1. Weatherize and insulate the 1927 Mukai house to lower electricity needs; 2. Use recycled tiles, slate and other materials for the restroom restoration; 3. Purchase an electric riding mower to maintain the lawns and field; 4. Secure funding for an extensive solar array on the back-side of the Fruit Barreling Plant.
Our goal is to share the wonders of our island’s natural history through our new exhibit “Wild Wonders”. This interactive, collaborative exhibit allows us to experience life through the wings, hooves, leaves, paws, roots, fins, tentacles, and feet of local species as we uncover connections in natural systems across space and time and reflect on our own place as a member in this wondrous web of life. Experience climate change from the perspective of another species!
Green Goals
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GRANNY’S ATTIC
Zero Waste Vashon
17707 100th SW Street Tim Johnson, Manager
PO Box 441 Nancy O’Conner, Board President
The mission of Vashon Granny’s Attic, a non-profit organization, is to contribute to the necessities for residents of Vashon Island by fostering the charitable and educational needs of the community. More than 100 volunteers keep our venerable non-profit going as a beloved institution on Vashon. Contact: grannysattic@grannysattic.org, (206)463-3161, Facebook.com/Vashon-Grannys-Attic Green Goals
To keep getting greener and greener! We reuse and recycle everythig we can and do not accept items that will just end up in the landfill. We give away anything that we can’t sell, both on and off-island, to Goodwill, shelters, individuals and also island non-profits. We recycle metal, plastic bags, even try to get rid of broken crockery to artists for mosaics, for example. We have begun changing over to LED lighting as we can afford it. We try to keep our temperature as low as is comfortable for our volunteers to save money and minimize use of fuel (gas). As part of our recycling, we take in cleaning supplies that are half-used. Any supplies we can harvest from donations, we will make use of to avoid having to buy them.
Tools and Tips
We are open 10 am–5 pm Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We accept donations at the south end of our building on SW 178th Street. The dock is open Tuesday–Sunday 9:00 am–4:30 pm.
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Zero Waste Vashon actively works to make Vashon Island “a model waste-to-resource
community”. As a non-profit and 100% volunteer-driven organization, ZWV’s goal is to inspire the Vashon and Maury Island communities to “Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Rethink”. We benefit from collaboration with many like-minded Vashon organizations and businesses and communicate to our community through our website, e-mailed quarterly newsletters, social media, and booths at local events (Strawberry Festival, Earth Day, etc). We need volunteers to share our mission and we hope to build a network of environmentallyfocused Vashon residents, organizations, and businesses to increase awareness and improve collaboration. Contact: info@zerowastevashon.org, zerowastevashon.org
Green Goals
In 2020, ZWV will continue to educate the community about sustainability and resilience with a variety of events aimed at improving our ecosystems and reducing our collective carbon footprint. Specifically, we will continue to focus on determining the feasibility of an on-island compost facility, and reducing single-use plastics. We will also continue to fund and support recycling efforts to reduce styrofoam, electronic and food waste. Projects underway include: 1. Working with King County Solid Waste to establish and promote the successful yard waste/ food waste drop-off program at the Vashon Island Transfer Station with steady increase in organic waste getting converted to compost and diverted from the landfill; 2. Working with King County to improve on-island recycling; 3. With Impact Bioenergy, supporting installation of the Vashon Bioenergy Farm, a new anaerobic digester (AD) at Island Springs Organics on Vashon Island; 4. Partnering on a first Sunday monthly styrofoam recycling program; 5. With the King County Eco-consumer program, Vashon Tool Library and community members, we continue to hold Vashon Fix-It Cafes where we repair thousands of pounds of useful items so that they don’t go to the landfill; 6. With the Vashon Theater, we provide recycling and Zero Waste documentaries for Green Tech movie nights; 7. We host educational events including visiting lecturer seminars and information events on compost, biochar, anaerobic digestion and bokashi composting demonstration workshops; 8. We work on projects and talks at our local schools including internships and a yearly environmental scholarship.
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VASHON MAKERSPACE
SUSTAINABLE VASHON
PO Box 1235 Neil Wiesblott, Board President
24007 99th Avenue SW Merrilee Runyan
A MakerSpace is a place where anyone can gather to work on projects while sharing interests, ideas, equipment, and knowledge. Our MakerSpace is one of many that exist in communities across the U.S., including in Tacoma (FabLab Tacoma) and South Seattle (SoDo Makerspace).
We have 3 major initiatives: 1. Vashon MakerSpace, our umbrella organization for all of our initiatives, educates the community with a variety of classes (e.g., woodworking, shed construction, and chain saw safety) ultimately reducing our carbon footprint by teaching self-reliance and reducing the need for hiring or purchasing services or skills; 2. The Vashon Tool Library, founded in 2014, is believed to be the largest rural tool library in North America! It presently has 900 borrowing members who have access to a collection of over 1,400 tools and equipment donated, maintained and supported by the community. It is staffed on a volunteer basis to provide free or low-cost access to tools. Industry standard “MyTurn” inventory software helps catalog the tool collection, provides on-line access to the Library inventory and is expandable as the collection grows. The motto is: “Everyone Contributes What They Can, Everyone Gains”; 3. The Vashon Fix-It Café is a semi-annual collaboration with the Vashon Eagles and Zero Waste Vashon. Its goal is to reduce the amount of household items that break and end up in the landfill. Volunteers offer their skills to repair clothing, appliances, bikes, electronics, and furniture, or make informed referrals for Do-It-Yourself or professional repairs. Contact: info@VashonMakerSpace.org, VashonMakerSpace.org
Green Goals
The Vashon MakerSpace is a way to practice and live into a Vashon of the Future. We strengthen our community as we develop shared resources to support community education, self-reliance, innovation, creativity, sustainability, and resilience. Although this effort first began in 2014 with the Vashon Tool Library, our goal is to continue to expand and become more accessible and active in our community that ever before. We are seeking a location to host studio spaces for disciplines such as woodworking, technology, metalworking, and fiber arts. These can support a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities. We need volunteers with social media and promotion skills. The Vashon Tool Library needs volunteer tool librarians to help with current activities. The “MyTurn” software used by VTL could be applied to other inventory-loan-type systems. To further the Vashon Shared Economy vision, we’d like to see “Libraries of Things” like the “Take it or Leave it” project on Lopez Island, where there is a free exchange of goods at their local recycling center. We would also like to see our numerous local progressive environmentally-aware organizations develop a network of common goals and activities.
Sustainable Vashon is a learning and action network with a shared commitment to discover, model and advocate for the environmental, social and economic sustainability of Vashon-Maury Island. We welcome contact from individuals and community groups who have a sustainability idea and want help in moving forward. Contact: merrileerunyan@gmail.com, (206)463-6647 Green Goals
We will continue to provide support to learning and action projects, initiated by individuals and groups in our community, that address the impact of the climate crisis on Vashon-Maury Island. Currently we support Vashon’s NoTrashBashStash, a complete source of dinnerware for all kinds of events. The Stash eliminates paper and plastic or expensive compostable products. We also have a projector available to individuals and groups for their use. We serve as fiscal sponsors for sustainability groups just getting started. And we offer Green Seed Grants of up to $500 to an individual or group to support a project or program that inspires sustainable practices in the community.
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ISLAND GREENTECH
GEOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
PO Box 1847 Tag Gornall
PO Box 1135 Greg Wessel
GreenTech seeks to catalyze activity consistent with Island economic and environmental ethics by facilitating discussions with the Island community and coordinating intellectual and physical resources for businesses and non-profits. We are a community of accomplished Island residents who, on a pro bono basis, assist the Vashon community with advice and assessment on vision, business plans, mission and goals, management plans, and product design, development and marketing. We led the effort to preserve the Vashon Theatre that now hosts regular GreenTech nights. We also took the lead on bringing a credit union, PSCCU, to Vashon, which offers many low-interest loans for green home upgrades. We are now working on the formation of a shared woodworking shop/center. Contact: Islandgreentech.org, (206)718-5392 Green Goals
Island GreenTech recently received grant funds to develop an educational program about Plankton and to do related field studies in the marine environment. This will contribute to an understanding of climate change effects on the ocean. Previously, we supported an electric vehicle initiative on Vashon, and founded Zero Waste Vashon to develop a Vashon-based composting project.
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Our mission is to enhance the application of the geosciences to further local and regional efforts to advance resilience and sustainability, to mitigate geological hazards, promote sustainable economic activities, restore and protect the environment. We identify opportunities where geoscience and engineering can solve environmental and social problems, especially in resource-poor communities. Geoscience underlies most, if not all human activities whether they be commercial, governmental, nonprofit, or community-driven. In our efforts to offer assistance, we might help find financial aid, provide scientific or technical oversight, or wider-scale organizational efforts and long-term planning. We need greater exposure to other organizations and increased interest from other geoscientists. In March of 2019, for example, we cohosted the Geoscience and Society Summit in Stockholm (Connect.agu.org/gss/home). We will present a short course on “Geoscience and Sustainability at the Grassroots: Facilitating Social Change for Sustainable Livelihoods� at the European Geosciences Union general assembly in Vienna. We are also planning a global-scale internet-based sustainable development exchange platform. Interested geoscientists (and geofriendly people) are invited to join us. Contact: gwessel@publicgeology.org Green Goals
Our climate-change goal is to continue to further true sustainability through our efforts. We advocate that all new development and redevelopment should be designed to be carbon-free from the outset or even include provisions that remove carbon from the atmosphere in perpetuity. We see no reason that such a high standard cannot be met for the wider community over the longer term if the will is there to do it.
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VASHON ISLAND ROTARY CLUB PO Box 1742 John Bean, Community Service Co-Chair
The Vashon Island Rotary Club was founded in 1986 and currently
has 35-40 active members. We are an organization of business and professional men and women, united worldwide to conduct humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and build goodwill and peace in the world. Our motto is “Service Above Self.” New members are encouraged to become involved in community, regional, or international service. We are always looking for new service-oriented people to join Rotary, and for good ideas for community service projects. Consider attending our 3rd Thursday Rotary meetings where you can hear our climate-focused speakers. (Time and place will be announced in the Community Calendar.) All Rotary meetings that include speakers are always open to the general public; Read the Rotary-sponsored “climate page” articles in the Beachcomber (produced by the Whole Vashon Project); Submit climate-focused community service proposals to the Vashon Island Rotary Club; Consult Zero Waste Vashon for any questions about handling waste products to promote Earth care. Contact: jbean@seattleu.edu, (206)567-4372 home phone
4. To continue Rotary’s on-going support for Zero Waste Vashon. The Vashon Rotary Club was a strong initial supporter of Zero Waste Vashon, and we use ZWV at all our events. For example, at our Blues and Brews Festival in June, ZWV coordinated the Garbage, Recycling and Food Waste collection. According to their website, at the festival they collected over 1700 “commercially” compostable cups, clam-shells, bamboo plates, and food waste, totaling about 250 gallons. ZWV also collected commingled recycling (85 gallons) along with mixed garbage (250 gallons); 5. To award some of our grants for money or labor to projects that combat climate change. Rotary will award a monetary grant to Friends of Mukai to help fund professionally installed insulation in the attic of Mukai House. Rotary is also providing a work party to install ceiling bat insulation in the Mukai House basement.
Green Goals
1. To do volunteer work directly related to climate/ environmental action. Rotary work parties will participate in two tree-planting projects with the Vashon Land Trust; 2. To support climate change education. Rotary is purchasing twelve one-page “climate pages” in the Beachcomber for informational articles produced by the Whole Vashon Project; 3. To invite climate-focused speakers to present at Rotary meetings. We plan to have one climate-focused speaker each month.We have already featured five speakers addressing climate issues: Daniel Poppe from Spark Northwest, Rondi Lightmark from the Whole Vashon Project, Srirup Kumar from Impact Bioenergy, Mark Hickling and Greg Wessel regarding their takeaways from the Geoscience & Society Summit talk in Stockholm, and a Burn Design Lab speaker scheduled for December;
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BURN DESIGN LAB 18850 103rd Avenue SW, Suite 220 Claire Weitnauer
Our mission is to improve lives and protect the environment through the research, design, and development of outstanding clean-burning cookstoves. Contact: info@burndesignlab.org, (203)871-1824 Green Goals
We engineer and make clean burning cookstoves for the developing world. Nearly 3 billion people around the world cook over open fires. This cooking method produces greenhouse gas emissions, and the biomass fuel demands contribute to deforestation. The clean-burning cookstoves we design reduce emissions, save trees, and improve the health of the women and children responsible for domestic chores like cooking. Our projects for the coming year include an Extended Life charcoal stove in East Africa, an improved Shea Nut roaster for women in Ghana, and a Plancha style stove for Central America. We help raise awareness about an important and often overlooked issue, and provide a tangible cause for people to become involved in. We welcome support from the Vashon community.
~1920–1945 Environmental News~ Vashon Heritage Museum
August 10, 1923 Local News—“The island is undergoing the worst drought known for many years. Despite the fact that there were late rains, the ground is much drier than last year. The north winds seem to have taken all the moisture. C.L. Garner reports that the ground is so dry that many of the telephones will not ground, necessitating the pouring of water on the grounding apparatus to complete the circuit.“ August 11, 1922 “The fire that has been burning over Southern Heights and threatened the Lara home some weeks ago, crept upon the Hall place for several days, but because of the smoke its danger was not appreciated.” September 29, 1922 “J.W. Forrest is adding a fourth large cistern to the water supply of the Forrest Home ranch. He says the drought this season was a warning to be prepared.” February 16, 1923 “The entire Pacific Northwest has been in the grasp of one of the worst February blizzards on record. Snow began falling Saturday night, and all day Sunday a driving wind piled it up in good-sized drifts. It was the greater part of Monday, until, all told, there was an average of about 15 inches on the level and drifts 2 to 3 feet.” April 13, 1923 “J.K. Hawkins, a deputy from the county horticulturist’s office, is touring the island with the view of compelling everyone owning one or more fruit trees to spray them within the next week or ten days. If the owner does not comply with the order, the county steps in and does the work and charges liberal costs up to the owner.”
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GREEN SCHOOLS PROGRAM
CHAUTAUQUA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
201 South Jackson Street, Suite 701, Seattle Dale Alekel, King County Solid Waste Division
9309 Cemetery Road Rebecca Goertzel, Principal
The King County Green Schools Program mission statement is to provide King County schools and school districts with tools and support needed to involve the whole school community in environmental stewardship, initiate and expand waste reduction and recycling practices and other conservation actions, and operate environmentally efficient and responsible facilities.
We teach all students to care for themselves, others, and the
We offer hands-on assistance tailored to each student Green Team or other student group, each school, and each district. The program also offers recycling bins, a variety of conservation signs, website resources, and recognition. Program participants begin with Level One (Waste Reduction and Recycling) and can progress to Level Two (Energy Conservation), Level Three (Water Conservation), and then the Sustaining Green School level in which recognition can be earned each year beyond Level Three. Other program areas are Green Building, Healthy Schools, Litter Reduction, and Transportation. Resources and tips to address climate change are included in our following “Best Practices Guides: Waste Reduction and Recycling; Energy Conservation; Water Conservation; and Transportation.” When schools and districts complete criteria in each program level, the program recognizes them as King County Green Schools or Green School Districts. Visit www.kingcounty.gov/GreenSchools for more information about the program and to read school success stories. Please share information about the program with schools not yet participating and with your entire community. Contact: dale.alekel@kingcounty.gov, Kingcounty.gov/GreenSchools
We have a school Green Team with children and staff working together to make a positive change in our environment. The Green Team will be exploring the effects of climate change and discussing solutions we can implement locally. Our understanding of the climate is critical to making changes. We will focus on leading by example and by being educators in our community. We welcome community activities that engage students with climate change education. We have reduced the number of paper towels used for hand drying and have increased recycling and composting. Our food waste is lower because we send food waste scraps to a pig farm on the island. Students learn about the impact of plastics on the oceans and the problem with single-use plastics. We discuss many ways to protect our precious planet.
Green Goals
King County Green Schools Program will continue to help schools and school districts to: 1. Educate students and employees about everyday choices and practices that reduce carbon emissions; 2. Reduce their carbon emissions by preventing waste, reusing materials, collecting materials to be recycled and composted, purchasing recycled content materials, conserving energy and water, and encouraging and facilitating modes of transportation such as walking, biking, public transportation, and carpooling.
environment. We educate the youth of the island about climate change and how our choices impact our environment. Contact: rgoertzel@vashonsd.org, (206)463-8575, Facebook.com/Chautauqua-Elementary-School
Green Goals
McMURRAY MIDDLE SCHOOL 9309 Cemetery Road Greg Allison, Principal
McMurray Middle School helps our students to engage, thrive and contribute to an ever-changing world. Our curriculum offers students a rich, core element, dynamic instruction that provides challenges and support. Our electives and courses cultivate students’ intellectual, creative, kinesthetic, and social development. We also focus on preparing all students during the transitions from elementary school to high school. Contact: gallison@vashonsd.org, (206)463-9168 Green Goals
We intend to reduce waste; increase recycling and composting; build student awareness for conservation; and lower our energy consumption. 65
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VASHON ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL
VASHON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
THE HARBOR SCHOOL
9600 SW 204th Street Jordan Browning, Educator
11419 Asta Lane SW Jenna Riggs
15920 Vashon Highway SW Mark McGough, Principal
As Vashon High School students and staff,
we lead community-based environmentalism. We have a Green Team and raise awareness about environmental issues by learning, educating, and encouraging ourselves and others. We take action by donating time and money to the causes we support. Contact: jbrowning@vashonsd.org, (206)463-8722
Green Goals
We will spend $2,020 to support environmental causes, and restore and replant 5 acres of natural ecosystem. We are excited to become involved with projects outside of the high school. We believe taking action is better in community.
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Vashon Partners in Education (PIE) enhances The Harbor School inspires young scholars the learning environment in our public schools. We fund activities and materials requested by those closest to the educational process—our teachers. Chautauqua, McMurray, and Vashon High School teachers, staff, and community members submit grant proposals identifying specific needs or opportunities not addressed by the existing school budget. Grants are evaluated on educational value, innovation, need, and impact. Contact: jenna@jennariggs.com, (206)992-2550
Green Goals
Vashon PIE’s fall granting cycle will go almost entirely online to significantly reduce paper consumption. We will also use reusable dinnerware when we feed our callers at our annual phone-athon. We encourage our grant recipients to buy local when possible (for instance, if books are part of their grant request, we ask that they try and purchase them through the Vashon Bookshop first.) We also have “The Robin Appleford Enrichment Fund” which funds initiatives that in new ways support student engagement, leadership and active participation in our focus areas. PIE is particularly interested in supporting the funding needs of students and student groups trying to tackle climate change.
to contribute their wisdom, compassion, and personal best in the classroom, the community, and the world. We have 94 students who can be active tools of change in addressing and ameliorating the effects of climate change Contact: mark@harborschool.org, (206)567-5955, HarborSchool.org, Facebook.com/harborschool
Green Goals
Our 6th Graders will reduce food waste at school. Our 7th Graders will reduce emissions by changing how we get to school and how we get home again. Our 8th Graders will reduce use of plastic bags and plastic utensils at school.
“You can’t just sit around waiting for hope to come. Then you are acting like spoiled, irresponsible children.” –Greta Thunberg
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VASHON GREEN SCHOOL
VASHON WILDERNESS PROGRAM
Western Washington GIRL SCOUTS
16245 Westside Highway SW Dana Schuerholz, Director
PO Box 712 Stacey Hinden
Vashon Troup #41621 Judith Beggs, Leader; Natalie Kosovac, Advisor
Vashon Green School is an independent
primary school serving students ages 5–12. Farm and forest classrooms offer each student the chance to build an ongoing relationship with the more than the human world. Our curriculum helps children deepen awareness of and connection to the natural cycles, as well as to themselves and their community. We integrate math, reading, writing, science and Spanish language with art, hands-on projects and civic action. Social justice and emotional literacy are also a key component. Contact: vashongreenschool@gmail.com, (206)466-7398
Green Goals
Our students are climate justice activists. We will plant over 400 native trees and shrubs on Vashon to help sequester carbon and sustain wildlife, especially birds. We plan to collect 375+ pounds of trash on Vashon. We will continue to volunteer at the Food Bank garden to help provide local organic vegetables to Vashon residents. We will make our own wax cloth food bags and stop using plastic bags for our lunches. VGS is investing in solar to transition our entire 7- acre campus to electric use. VGS families are encouraged to carpool. We’ll have two 6-week lesson themes on Climate Justice and Renewable Energy Systems. We’ll write to political leaders urging policies that combat climate change.
The Vashon Wilderness Program (VWP), in
the 13 years of our existence, has helped over 4500 children and youth deepen their connection to nature through our weekly and monthly school-year programs, camps, workshops and celebrations. Our all-outdoor, experiential programs engender a powerful set of nature, wilderness, and community-building skills that help students live, learn, and lead with joy, vitality, peace, passion, and care. We support deep connection with the wonder and awe of nature for healthy individuals, communities and the planet. Contact: stacey@vashonwildernessprogram. org, (206)651-5715, Vashonwilderness.org, Facebook.com/vashonwildernessprogram
Green Goals
Following the rhythms and seasons of nature, we explore, learn powerful nature skills and practices, and embrace the diversity of the natural world. We help people make a direct and sustainable relationships with nature through our programming: a wide array of trainings, camps, workshops, celebrations and experiences for children, youth and adults. Areas of our teaching include safety in nature; edible plants; wilderness survival; creating items of function/beauty from nature; tracking mammals; understanding bird language; and “Leave No Trace”.
Girl Scout troop #41621 is a group of
Vashon middle school girls who work, travel and play together with a special emphasis on skill building, self-reliance and outdoor adventuring. Our motto is to “Be Prepared” and “Leave a Place Better than We Found It.” Contact: jbeggs@centurytel.net
Green Goals
Girl Scout troop #41621 is dedicated to learning about and dealing with climate change. We are are engaged in several “clean air take-action” projects, including partnering with The Land Trust and Vashon Nature Center for grounds work parties. We also plan to: 1. Increase use of reusable bags and decrease purchase of plastics and single use products; 3. Volunteer for tree planting projects; 4. Build and establish a free-standing beehive to help pollinate new plantings at Vashon Nature Center (Cadette Silver Award project); 5. Learn about fire prevention and ways to improve air quality; 6. Appreciate nature through visiting parks in the states of Washington and Alaska.
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Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse
The DOVE Project
PO Box 2341 Lisa Bruce
PO Box 1341 Heidi Jackson
Our mission at VARSA is to reduce and prevent underage drug and
alcohol use by engaging, educating, and empowering all sectors of our community. Over the last decade, data from the statewide Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) has consistently indicated underage alcohol and drug use is higher on Vashon than state averages across all grade levels, with first use starting as young as sixth grade. Many students don’t understand the risks, have friends who drink and use drugs, and believe that social norms and the changes in legislation promote drinking and drug use. We seek to educate all sectors of our Island on the dangers and impact of underage drug and alcohol use, and empower our youth to make healthy choices. Contact: lisab@varsanetwork.org, (206)567-2647, Varsanetwork.org, Facebook.com/varsanetwork
Green Goals
To work within our community to lessen our carbon footprint and reduce waste, and as we stand with our youth, to have our actions follow our words.
The DOVE Project is a catalyst for social change, fostering zero
tolerance for interpersonal violence. We do this by providing individualized support to empower survivors and through cultivating focused prevention education that inspires community action. Our goal is to build a community in which abuse is eliminated and personal empowerment is promoted through prevention, education, and training. DOVE is part of a global movement that links antiviolence work to other progressive social change movements. This is our guiding principle. Our movement promotes safe, loving and equitable relationships in strong, connected communities that can assist in sustaining those relationships. We work collaboratively to support survivors of domestic violence and to build safe, peaceful and accountable communities. Contact: info@vashondoveproject.org, (206)940-6430 office, (206)462-0911 hotline, Vashondoveproject.org
Green Goals
Our climate change goal is to analyze our systems at the office to see how we can be more environmental. We can encourage each other to use reusable containers both in the office for lunch and also for events we hold where food is served. As much as possible, we can carpool to trainings and events. When applicable, we can encourage those around us to have better environmental practices as well. We can also reassess how much paper we use in the office. Paper is a necessity for legal documents but there is a lot that can be saved on drives and read on devices rather than printed. Our overall goal is to reduce our carbon footprint in our office.
“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.” –Native American Saying
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VASHON HOUSEHOLD
VASHON-MAURY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK
12825 SW 264th Street Sue Gardner
10030 SW 210th Street Emily Scott, Director
Vashon HouseHold is a community-based non-profit organization. We protect the culture, character, and people of Vashon by providing and preserving affordable housing for those with modest incomes. In the face of sky-rocketing home costs and high-priced rentals, affordable housing enables teachers, tradespeople, business owners, artists, seniors, and others to remain in their own community. Since 1990, Vashon HouseHold has renovated old rental units, built single-family homes, provided rental assistance, established neighborhoods, and constructed new apartments. We have helped hundreds of Islanders remain in the community. We provide beautiful, livable homes while working to preserve our environment and the integrity of our neighborhoods. Contact: gjimsue@centurytel.net, (206)259-0289, Vashonhousehold.org
Green Goals
We embrace environmentally-sensitive building methods and systems and encourage our governmental funding sources to be open to new ideas. We have employed low-impact construction, green building, green lighting, and solar. We are currently working with our funders to implement a graywater and rainbank system in our next residential project.
Founded in 1991, the Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank provides
food to 200 to 250 Vashon households per week. This amounts to one out of seven households and one out of nine individuals. We work with the community to ensure that no Vashon Islander goes hungry. Contact: director@vashonfoodbank.org, (206)463-6332, VashonFoodBank.org
Green Goals
We will develop a system to account for our use of single-use plastics using a metric to track how many are used in a month and in a year. We will then reduce that amount by at least 10% within a year. We will work with Zero Waste Vashon to improve recycling and composting systems at the Food Bank and during our summer Ober Park lunch program “Picnics in the Park.” We will continue to partner with Zero Waste Vashon on the monthly Styrofoam recycle program, loaning our Food Bank truck for collecting the material to take to Seattle, and then filling the truck on the return trip with the food products that we distribute on Vashon. This minimizes the carbon footprint of our food transport truck. We also stay abreast of, and in step with, state and nationwide efforts to reduce food waste and loss (FWL).
“We need lots of people now, to help with the crisis. We need people to go into service… to help save the planet.” – John Liu
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VASHON YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES
VASHON-MAURY SENIOR CENTER
20110 Vashon Highway SW Carol Goertzel
10004 SW Bank Road Catherine Swearingen, Executive Director
Vashon Youth and Family Services (VYFS) fosters a thriving
community of emotionally healthy and resilient children, youth, adults and families. We empower all islanders to realize their full potential through a variety of constructive services and comprehensive programming for children, youth, families and individuals. Contact: cgoertzel@vyfs.org, (206)463-5511, Vyfs.org
Green Goals
We will always partner with ZeroWasteVashon at our fundraisers to properly dispose of waste. In our day-to-day operations, we will use washable plates and cups, recyclable materials, natural cleaning products, and recycle all our office waste. We keep our records electronically and minimize the use of paper products, saving trees. We will also put up signage to encourage our staff and clients to minimize waste and recycle.
The Senior Center enriches the lives of older adults through entertaining and informative programming and numerous services, including community lunch, a free van transport to the Center, volunteer help for in-home needs to help seniors remain at home, and off-island transportation for medical appointments. The Senior Center offers recycling for light bulbs via returns to Puget Sound Energy. Members regularly share garden produce and baked goods with one another, promoting a sharing economy. And the Center also provides affordable meeting space with a commercial kitchen to local organizations and producers. We need volunteers to implement some of our green goals ideas: How to create a sustainable model to support cloth napkin use? Who will deliver food waste daily to appropriate users? Who will research and produce affordable compostable or reusable to-go containers? We are open M, T, W, F from 9am–3pm. Contact: reception@vashoncenter.org, (206)463-5173, VashonSeniorCenter.org Green Goals
“Vashon was different then, abounding with wild cranberries, small wild blackberries (none of these tame ones gone wild), huckleberries, black currants, salmon and thimbleberries; fish, clams, once in a while a black bear, many deer, otter, mink and raccoon; many, many beautiful wild birds, including grouse. Wild flowers in profusion– yellow Johnny-jump-ups, purple violets, lady slippers, very fragrant ‘maternity’ vine, elkhorn moss, lupine, and on Maury, avalanche and tiger lilies and deep purple violets.” —from book “Past Remembered”
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This year, we will: 1. increase member and public understanding of climate change-related issues through surveys, reminiscences by members, TED Talks, other movies and videos, local speaker presentations, and posters; 2. We plan to reduce waste by adopting zero-waste principles for events, using cloth napkins for meals, redirecting food wastes to local gardens and composts, implementing reusable containers for take-out meals, and promoting worm bins; 3. We will also reduce the carbon footprint of the building by fulfilling recommendations of an energy audit and pursuing options for rooftop solar.
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VASHON CENTER FOR THE ARTS
VASHON ISLAND VISUAL ARTISTS
19600 Vashon Highway SW Allison Halston Reid, Executive Director
Vashon Brian Fisher, President
For over 50 years, Vashon Allied Arts, now Vashon Center for the Arts, At VIVA, we seek to connect artists to each other and the community, has been a foundation stone for the island’s art and cultural scene. Since that time, the organization has grown in every possible way to become the largest non-profit on Vashon and home to five uniquely different program areas: visual arts, performing arts, arts education, dance, and Vashon Artists in Schools. Contact: info@vashoncenterforthearts.org, (206)463-5131
Green Goals
In partnership with the Vashon Nature Center and Vashon-Maury Island Audubon, VCA will continue to use art and arts education as a platform to raise awareness of climate change. VCA will dedicate time to specific conservation-centered programming in our gallery, auditorium, and campus at large. We will continue the process of restoring our meadow with native plantings, and in our ongoing partnership with Vashon Nature Center, will re-invigorate our wetland as a dynamic, used, loved, and maintained outdoor classroom and gathering place. We will also continue to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint in our marketing efforts (by exploring more online and social media platforms) and concessions (by continuing to use re-usable cups, silverware and dishware).
VOICE OF VASHON (VOV) PO Box 2397 Kate Dowling
Our mission is to connect our diverse community through a virtual town square to inspire a shared island culture. Find us at KVSH 101.9 FM or 1650AM ALERTS. Contact: Kate.Dowling@voiceofvashon.org, (206)463-0301, VoiceofVashon.org Green Goals
Voice of Vashon will provide a platform to keep the community informed of climate action programs through radio interviews and Public Service announcements.
to support the needs of our members personally and artistically, to empower creativity through education and exhibition, and to preserve the artistic culture fundamental to our Island community. Contact: Brian@BrianFisherArt.com, (206)463-9311, VivaArtists.com
Green Goals
The green goal of VIVA will be to expand climate change awareness by promoting creative links between visual art and climate change solutions. As a consortium of artists, we will work in our everyday lives to lessen our individual impact on our environment. In our work we will seek and adopt new ways and materials that are more environmentally neutral.
VASHON EVENTS PO Box 2124 Allison Shirk
Vashon Events is a non-profit organization founded in 2013 with a
mission to inspire and connect the community as the premier source for entertainment events, to support local artists and musicians, and to create events that engage our community. Our vision is a community where musicians can earn a living wage creating music. Contact: allisonjshirk@gmail.com, (206)734-6521,Vashonevents.org
Green Goals
Continue to have plastic-free events and work towards having wastefree events. We will continue to provide musicians with boxed water rather than plastic bottled water at music concerts. We loan out stemless wine glasses for events. There is a growing movement in the music industry to create plastic-free events and we can share information and educate others. Musicians will be asked to include language in their riders about plastic-free concerts. We also operate a free musical instrument lending library. We are seeking more volunteers and board members who can help us strategically grow to the next level. We would like to acquire water dispensers for musicians to fill up their own water containers at concerts and have reusable branded non-plastic water containers for sale. 71
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EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
VASHON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
15420 Vashon Highway SW Kit Bean, Chair of Outreach
25910 Stuckey Avenue SW Beverly Skeffington
We are an open, inclusive, affirming community of Christian spiritual seekers and believers.
Our parish is made up of individuals who come from a variety of religious traditions, including Episcopal, Catholic, various Protestant denominations, Buddhist, Spiritual-not-Religious, and “none of the above.” The Episcopal Way is defined by Scripture, Tradition, and Reason, with a tolerance for mystery, questioning, action, and personal search. We affirm each member of the parish in their own journey toward a deeper spiritual life. Our unofficial mission statement in part is “to help the marginalized.”That includes all those hurt by climate change, including those whose lives are impacted: victims of unseasonable weather, those seeking refuge, or from wars. Contact: kitbean@gmail.com, (206)567-4488, Facebook.com/pages/category/ReligiousOrganization/Church-of-the-Holy-Spirit-Vashon-Episcopal
Green Goals
1. To increase awareness of our individual opportunities to address climate change and to extend our efforts to address it. The national Episcopal church has introduced a Climate Change Pledge to stimulate individual commitment to personal action. 2. To designate the church property as a Natural Wildlife Habitat and to increase a connection to the natural world with our woodland trail; 3. To educate our church community and the Vashon community about climate change issues. We recently sponsored a talk by members of the Miller Hull architectural firm (designers of the Bullitt Center) to speak to the community on sustainable architecture, and we will be sponsoring a talk by an immigration attorney on immigration law and policy. (Many immigrants are fleeing places affected by climate change); 4. To continue our community composting program; 5. We plan to disseminate particular knowledge or skills found within our local community.
Tools and Tips
The Vestry at Church of the Holy Spirit completed the national church’s “Creation Care Pledge,” which focuses on climate change from three perspectives: a. We will share our stories of love and concern for the Earth and link with others who care about protecting the sacred web of life; b. We will stand with those most vulnerable to the harmful effect of environmental degradation and climate change—women, children, poor people and communities of color, refugees, and migrants; c. We will change our habits and choices in order to live more simply, humbly, and gently on the earth. 72
Listening to God, embracing all, living in
joy. Historically VPC has purposefully served Vashon Island in a variety of ways. With God’s help, we are committed to addressing our community’s ever-changing needs as we worship God and advocate for justice, equality, and respect for all people. Our church needs to attract more members, especially younger, to help us carry out our values/service in the community. Our aging congregation won’t be able to sustain our efforts. Contact: beverlyskeffington@gmail.com, (206)354-8921
Green Goals
Solar panels were added in order to lower electricity costs from nonrenewable sources. We plan to: 1. Reduce plastic use by our church members and members of the schools that we host; 2. Require groups that use our facilities to hold “green” events, or else to take away any non-recyclables brought into our building (we need advice on enforcement).
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THE VASHON HAVURAH
PUGET SOUND ZEN CENTER
15401 Westside Highway SW Suzanne Greenberg
PO Box 2644, Vashon Karen Hedlund, Board President
The Vashon Havurah is a welcoming home for the spiritual, social and intellectual needs of our
local Jewish Community. We aim to foster the exploration of Jewish life; to create an egalitarian setting where each member’s individual Jewish path is honored and supported, and to cultivate the tenets of Judaism through Study (Torah), Justice (Tzedakah), Prayer (T’filah), Deeds of loving Kindness (G’milut Chasidim), and Healing the World (Tikkun Olam). Climate change should be woven into every teaching in faith groups; we are all the voices of morals and ethics, and there is nothing more crucial at this moment in history than saving our future and our planet. Contact: Vashonhavaruh@gmail.com, (206)226-3779, Facebook.com/vashonhavurah
Green Goals
1. Change our heat source to something with a lower carbon footprint (ideally, solar panels with a heat pump); 2. Weatherize our building with better insulation, double-paned windows and a new door; 3. No disposable plates, cups, napkins, and utensils at our gatherings; 4. Be diligent about recycling and composting; 5. To purchase an electric lawn mower instead of our gas mower; 6. Sponsor a Tu B’Shvat Seder (Birthday of the Trees) program every year with the Vashon Climate Action Group and discuss climate change and actions people can take. We will hand out trees to be planted! 7. Partner with climate-focused groups, on- and off-island to extend our reach and increase our opportunities to heal our planet; 8. Have climate teachings interspersed in our services and holidays, following the ancient Jewish value of “Tikkun Olam”, or “world repair.”
The Puget Sound Zen Center is a community
dedicated to practicing Zen, to teaching and living Buddhist principles, to supporting a vibrant sangha, and to serving our wider community. Our community is open to all regardless of age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, disability, or gender identity, or sexual orientation. Contact: 4estlvr@gmail.com, (206)356-5690, Pszc.org
Green Goals
To eliminate use of single use plastics at all PSZC events and eradicate noxious weeds on the new Zen Center property, future home of the Puget Sound Zen Center zendo.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is a symbolic, as well as actual beauty, in the migration of birds, the ebb and flow of tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature— the assurance that dawn comes after the night and spring after the winter.“ –Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
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Resources This section could have easily been a whole publication in its own right! We welcome your ideas for inclusion on our website. There are a wealth of sources in our non-profit section if you want ideas about where to go to get more support. The following pages offer a few references that might prove helpful:
• Check ‘em off! Your Green Checklist • Good Green Reads • Heroes and Teachers • Care for Puget Sound means Care for Ourselves—Tag Gornall • Vashon Birds At-Risk: How You Can Help—Sylvia Soholt • Plant First for Nature’s Needs—compiled by Fran Brooks • Risky Pesticides and their Safe Alternatives—Diane Emerson and Michael Laurie • Can You Afford to Go Solar? (Yes! says Artisan Electric) • Should You Buy an Electric Car?—Rondi Lightmark • Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station
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Check ‘em off!
30 ways to Take Care of Vashon and Our Planet compiled by Steve S. Bergman
Reduce Waste
Save Water
p p p p p p p
Install drip irrigation. Plant native, drought-tolerant plants. Install a greywater system.
Install rainwater-harvesting barrels. Sheet mulch a lawn. Retain water with mulch and earthworks (think swales). Conduct a DIY water audit for you and your neighbors.
Grow Food
p p p p p
Start or join a school/community garden, or plant or expand an edible garden. Start a compost pile and/or worm bin for your neighborhood or school. Plant a food forest throughout your neighborhood. Host a plant or seed swap in your neighborhood. Endorse the Vashon Food Bank and get others to do so.
Conserve Energy
p p p p p p
Replace incandescent or compact fluorescents with LED bulbs; hand out free LEDs to others. Install a Solar Energy system in your home. Carpool or use mass transit; get an electric car if your driving range is limited. Buy from local Farm Stands/Farmer’s Market or organize a community-supported agriculture (CSA program). Perform a DIY energy audit for yourself and your neighbors. Sign up for Green Power at PSE.
p p p p p p
Go reusable and BYO (water bottle, cups, food containers, shopping bags, diapers, hankie, batteries,etc.). Buy in bulk and avoid individually wrapped items. Weekly menus reduce food waste (and save money!), also use that compost/worm bin. Participate in a Vashon Fix-It Cafe to avoid disposing of broken appliances and items. Buy thrift, “lightly used”, or consignment items (upcycle!), donate your used goods to Granny’s. Start a Re-Use facility in your community for building and other materials.
Build Community
p p p p p p
Inspire others to move their money to a local bank or credit union and invest in sustainable investments…followed by a potluck! Volunteer at the Vashon Tool Library and other local not-forprofits…followed by a potluck! Organize a clean-up day in your neighborhood…followed by a potluck! Organize or join the NERO (Vashon Be Prepared Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization)… followed by a potluck! Get your workplace or school to join the Community Resilience Challenge…followed by a potluck! Start a ‘Garden Wheel’ club in your neighborhood, share knowledge and bounty…POTLUCK!
Modified from http://transitionus.org/sites/default/files/2016-crc-toolkit-community-online.pdf
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Good Green Reads! (From facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject)
If you could recommend just one environmental book to a friend, what would it be?
Prophets and Teachers “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson (Anne Spiers and 7 others) “Hope, Human and Wild; True Stories of Living Lightly on the Earth (The World as Home)” by Bill McKibben (Molly Cadagin) “Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)” by Aldo Leopold (Ellen Kritzman) “The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry” with an introduction by Paul Kingsnorth (Rondi Lightmark) “The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot” by Robert McFarlane (Deborah Perpetua) “Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness” by Edward Abbey (Ann Leda Shapiro) “The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution” by David Rains Wallace (Susan Powell) “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver (Carla DeCrona)
Land and Water
“Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World” by Judith D. Schwartz “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard” by Doug Tallamy (Seana Bird Cullinan) “Wilding: Return of Nature to a British Farm” by Isabella Tree
Animals “Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology” by David Abram (Kate Munson) “Being Salmon, Being Human: Encountering the Wild in Us and Us in the Wild” by Martin Lee (Kristina Turner) “Mama’s Last Hug: Animals Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves” by Frans de Waal (Hodari Nundu) “The Secret Life of Animals: Pioneering Studies in Animal Behavior” by Lorus Johnson Milne (Lynn McClain) “Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” by Ben Goldfarb (Jane Neubauer) “Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear” by Bryce Andrews (John Dally)
“The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World” by Peter Wohlleben (Jayne Quig) “The Killer Whale Who Changed the World” by Mark LeirenYoung “The Overstory: A Novel” by Richard Powers (Rosellen Albers)
“An American River: from Paradise to Superfund” by Vashon writer Mary Bruno (Geoff Fletcher) “Mycellium Running: How Mushrooms Can Save the World” by Paul Stamets (Eugenie Mirfin)
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Food and Agriculture “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappe´ (Lindsay Hart) “Food Fix: How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and Our Planet—One Bite At a Time” by Mark Hyman MD (Fran Brooks)
Good Green Reads! “Letters to a Young Farmer: On Food, Farming, and Our Future” by Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (Compiler) Martha Hodgkins, Ed. (Rondi Lightmark)
“The Lost Words” by Robert MacFarlane, illus. Jackie Morris (Laura Weston of Vashon Bookshop)
Healing, Learning a New Earth
“The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan of Food” by Dan Barber (Rondi Lightmark) Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming” “Kiss the Ground; How the Food You Eat Can edited by Paul Hawken (March E Twisdale)
Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body and Ultimately Save Our World” by Josh Tickell (Rondi Lightmark) “Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, a New Earth” by Charles Mas (Laura Daughenbaugh)
Indigenous Wisdom “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Julie Grunwald) “Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-based Change” by Sherri Mitchell (Mary Beth Moser)
Poetry, Art, Inspiration Sierra Club and Audubon calendars (Terry Donnelly) Any poetry by Mary Oliver (Elaine Summers) “The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling” by John Muir Laws (Jean Emmons)
“Thinking in Systems: A Primer” by Donella H. Meadows and Diana Wright (Michael Laurie) “Climate: A New Story” by Charles Eisenstein (Lotus ) “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis” by Christiana Figures and Tom Rivett-Carnac (Christina Marie Jensen) “The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities” by Didi Pershouse (Sheila Brown) “Two Percent Solutions for the Planet; 50 Low-Cost, Low-Tech, Nature-Basic Practices for Combatting Hunger, Drought, and Climate Change” by Courtney White (Rondi Lightmark)
“NOLS-—Wilderness Wisdom: Quotes for Inspirational Exploration” compiled by National Outdoor Leadership School, edited by John Gookin (Darsie Beck) “The Man with Bees in his Beard” by Brian Dempsey (Eleanor MacNamara) “Earth Prayers From Around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems and Invocations for Honoring the Earth” edited By Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon (Rondi Lightmark)
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Heroes and Teachers Need some inspiration? Here are some recommended videos and movies, mostly on YouTube or TED.com. Some 20 minutes long, some full-length
documentaries. They will inspire and educate you about our Planet. So binge on excitement and hope for tomorrow and share widely. Just copy the links into your browser and enjoy! Nature and the Art of Seeing “Dare to be Wild”—Biopic about Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds and youngest winner of the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in England—creating awareness about the natural, wild beauty of landscapes, rather than rigid, formal gardens. (Netflix and Amazon Prime) “Lean Into the Wind”—Mesmerizing YouTube movie about artist Andy Goldsworthy—who uses only nature and photography of his work before it disappears. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_6aWkLA2 Nk&feature=youtu.be) “The Plankton Chronicles”—Ted Talk by Christian Sardet, Research Director with the French National Center for Scientific Research, cofounder of the expedition Tara Oceans, shows amazing photos of plankton around the world. (www.ted.com/talks/ tierney_thys_and_plankton_chronicles_project_the_secret_life_of_ plankton#t-348876)
Understanding Climate Change “Soil Carbon—Putting Carbon Back Where it Belongs: In the Earth.”—Australian rancher Tony Lovell shows how land degradation and destruction of biodiversity leads to changing weather, and then climate change. (youtu.be/wgmssrVInP0) “How to Fight Desertification and Reverse Climate Change”—One of the all-time top TED talks, by Zimbabwean Allan Savory, who inspired the adaptive management grazing movement that is now leading to the restoration of millions of grasslands around the globe (www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_fight_desertification_ and_reverse_climate_change) “Polyface Farm, Part 1”—Joel Salatin has been at the forefront of grass-based farming for more than forty years (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sYWYU5V8JOo) 78
“Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm” with owner Isabella Tree—(youtu.be/kvD1DGSS8Aw) “How Hydrologist Peter Andrews rejuvenates drought-struck land in Australia”—(youtu.be/-4OBcRHX1Bc) “50 years ago, this was a wasteland”—He changed everything. Tycoon David Bamberger in Texas restores his degraded property. (National Geographic: youtu.be/ZSPkcpGmflE) “Dried Up Aral Sea springs back to life”—The chronicle of one of the greatest environmental disasters on the planet. (youtu.be/ pk4v0uu5rkY) “Restoring the ancient Caledonian Forest”—TEDx talk by Trees for Life Founder Alan Watson-Featherstone. (youtu.be/nAGHUkby2Is) “Hope in a Changing Climate”—Restoring China’s Loess Plateau, with cameraman and ecologist John D. Liu (youtu.be/bLdNhZ6kAzo) “Regenerating a Native Forest”—New Zealander Hugh Wilson spends 30 years regenerating farmland into 1500 hectares of native forest, where birds and other wildlife are abundant and 47 known waterfalls are in permanent flow. (youtu.be/3VZSJKbzyMc)
Our Health and the Environment “GFE 2019—Grassfed Exchange Conference”—Dr. Zach Bush, triple-board-certified physician, speaks about the environment, the immune system, and the effects of glyphosate on the digestive system. (hyoutu.be/L5jTbCUimV4) “Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Rocked the Boat and Started a Scientific Revolution”—A film about Lynn Margulis, a scientific rebel who challenged entrenched theories of evolution to present a new narrative: life evolves through collaboration. (Full-length documentary available for rent or sale on amazon.com)
Care for Puget Sound Means Care for Ourselves Tag Gornall
Environmentally speaking, it’s a lot easier to be concerned with what we can see going wrong on Vashon—endangered birds, prolonged drought, extreme storms—than it is to notice what’s hidden beneath the surface of the waters of Puget Sound.
But let’s cultivate a little curiosity, starting with Prochlorococcus, the most ubiquitous plankton in the waters of the world. It’s so small, 160 of this tiny photosynthesizing cell will fit inside a red blood cell. And it’s not doing so well, due to chemicals leaching from plastic pollution. It’s the one that produces most of the oxygen on the planet. Which we like to breathe. Take a look down underwater: there’s beauty, but much more ugliness—ask any scuba diver. Piles of trash, plastics, sunken boats and debris, “ghost nets,” still trapping fish, no longer attached to their origins. On island, notice the junk and tires in streams, degrading and dissolving to toxins that are heading downstream. Antibiotics and other pills, bobbing around like Skittles in tanks at our water treatment plant. Consider the pesticides and artificial fertilizers on our gardens, and drugs we take and excrete—they all journey through our waters down to the Sound, where they affect the fish and their ability to live, breed, and/or escape from predators. Think about that drink of plastic-bottled water, 93% of the water in those bottles tested positive for dissolved microplastics. Which can become part of human cells. Or, look for the degrading asphalt in our parking lots, where some car parked and dripped oil that dissolved the surface—-oil that became a slick, went down a storm drain and killed an adult salmon in less than 3 hours. If we’ve looked and really seen, we can insist that we find alternatives or do without all of the above, plus plankton-killing sunscreen, glitter that looks like fish food, and fireworks that litter, pollute, terrify and harm birds and fish and put toxins in the air and water. We can also agree that the Sound and Vashon’s shoreline ecosystems need one another a lot more than our properties need to have bulkheads. It’s time to look as deep as the ocean’s Marianas Trench—almost 7 miles deep, where microplastics are found as well. Okay, we can’t see that deep, but we can make sure everyone hears about this fact, that it’s crazy and wrong. Face it: we can’t have it “our way” if we want to survive—Nature is letting us know this. And reminding us we are 60% water to boot, which does not bode well for us. What can we do about this mess we’ve created? Tell everyone. And let’s be powerfully, deeply committed and curious about how to do better! 79
Vashon Birds At-Risk How You Can Help! Sylvia Soholt
Many of Vashon’s favorite birds may be at risk of extinction due to the effects of climate change, not only because of global warming affecting their food supply, but also because of loss of habitat due to industrial farming and increased urbanization. Using an interactive online tool at www.audubon.org, you can discover which birds in King County are in this category. How many of the following do you recognize • American Robin
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Black-headed Grosbeak
• Rufous Hummingbird
• Bufflehead
• Song Sparrow
• Bushtit
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Canada Goose
• Spotted Towhee
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Stellar’s Jay
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Purple Finch
• Violet-green Swallow
• Red Crossbill
11 Things You Can Do For Birds! 1. Make windows bird-safe (Google this topic for tips).
7. Speak out for bird-friendly public policies.
2. Keep cats indoors; for extra safety, fit them with a Birdbesafe collar.
8. Nurture the next generation of conservationists.
4. Avoid all pesticide use, including rat poison.
11. For inspiration, read “Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm” by Isabella Tree, or do a search for her lectures on YouTube.
9. Participate in projects to plant habitat and to count 3. Replace lawn with native trees and shrubs to increase birds. bird habitat. 10. Share this list with your friends. 5. Drink only shade-grown coffee; the forest-like farms create habitat. 6. Use less plastic—it is killing swans, geese, gulls, and many more. 80
Plant First for Nature’s Needs! Compiled by Fran Brooks for the Vashon Wilderness Habitat Project. Contact fbrooks18@comcast.net
Native plants attract native insects, birds and bees, each critical to building diversity and a healthy ecosystem.
There’s always room for more of these woody plants, often obtainable at local nurseries or already growing wild on your Vashon land. The plant genus is listed. Look for native species that fit the spot, considering needs of sun, water and space. Native Plants for Birds Oemleria. Indian-Plum or Osoberry—harbinger of spring Malus. Native Crabapple—an early pollinator Mahonia. Oregon Grape—traditional food and medicine Vaccinium. Evergreen blueberry or deciduous huckleberry Rhododendron. Our native is a first class beauty Prunus. Bitter cherry—birds love ’em Acer. Vine Maple—adds a graceful light Rubus ursinus. Native Blackberry blooms before the ubiquitous Himalayan blackberry Salix. Willow—supports loads of wildlife
Native wildflowers are at their best if you can grow our local Western
Washington species. Nursery plants are easiest, while growing from seed expands your options of availability and volume. Plan to have one or more blooming at any given time. Most are perennials.
created by Jim Evans and Cindy Young
• • • • • • • • •
Salal Oregon Grape Sword fern Trailing Blackberry Fringe cup Western red cedar Cascara Red huckleberry Vine maple
• • • • • • • • •
Serviceberry Red elderberry Thimbleberry Snowberry Indian Plum Salmonberry Red twig dogwood Red flowering currant Twinberry
Strawberry, Sedum, Yarrow, Buckwheat, Blanket Flower, Pearly everlasting, Fireweed, Asters, Goldenrod
Garden variety herbs and edibles for people, bees and bugs. All party hearty! Thyme, Oregano, Mint, Basil, Sage, Hyssop, Cilantro, Dill, Borage, Alkanet Brassica family includes: Flowering Kale, Arugula, Mustards
Common garden flowers beloved by bees and/or beneficial insects. Start from seed or buy small plants. Grow them
in your edible garden to increase complexity of the ecosystem. The more the merrier. These are not native to Vashon. Dandelions, Clover, Poppies, Siberian Wallflower, Bergamot or Bee Balm, Coreopsis, Mallows, Cosmos, Rudbeckia, Sunflowers (varieties with pollen that make seed)
If you plant smart and pick the right place for the right plant, you create conditions that will help your garden thrive.
Choose useful plants that can gradually support an expanding ecosystem.
Also: Know your weeds! Say ‘no’ to invasive plants, a train-wreck for species diversity. Pull them, cover them, mow them, remove their flowers, learn what it takes to suppress their growth. It may take years to clear them out. 81
Risky Pesticides and Their Safe Alternatives Diane Emerson and Michael Laurie of GardenGreen.org
People want to know that products they use to solve lawn and garden challenges are not harmful to children, pets, bees,
wildlife, groundwater, and the Salish Sea. But people also want effective, safe methods and products. To have the best results with alternatives, it is important to take the time to learn how they work…and their limitations. Listed below are examples of effective green methods and products. For more detail on which are best for specific problems, visit our website, www.gardengreen.org/green-ways-that-work. Pesticides Can Harm Wildlife and Us Pesticides have been found in the Salish Sea and its streams at levels harmful to salmon and other wildlife. Pesticides have also been found in groundwater across the US. According to a study by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Chlorpyrifos, malathion, and diazinon—all organophosphate pesticides that kill via nervous system and respiratory injuries—harm salmon and their habitat to the point that their survival and recovery are at risk. Trifluralin, the active ingredient in several weed-prevention products, is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA, with the potential to cause endocrine disruption.
Pesticides Can Be Harmful to Beneficial Soil Organisms Beneficial soil organisms help keep plants healthy, help the soil to hold on to carbon (critical for addressing climate change), help provide nutrients to plants, and often reduce the need for additional fertilizers beyond what can be provided by compost. Studies have shown that pesticides can reduce their quantity and beneficial functions.
Safe Solutions Disease
• Choose native and/or disease resistant plants for our climate, soil, and microclimate • Organic compost and fertilizer • Serenade Disease Control Concentrate • Southern Ag Garden Friendly Biological Fungicide • Bonide® Sulfur Plant Fungicide RTU • Move sun-loving plants to better conditions if shade is an issue • Use drip irrigation and timer to help avoid overwatering
Insects • • • • • • •
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EcoSMART 33103 Organic Ant and Roach Killer Citronella incense sticks Zap-It! Bug Zapper Racket Live Ladybugs for aphids by Bug Sales EcoSMART 33105 Organic Wasp and Hornet Killer Tree Tanglefoot Insect Barrier Eco-Smart organic insect killer, granules version only
Weeds • Allow a few weeds to live in the lawn or garden--some are edible! • BioSafe Weed Control • Mulch, including Sheet Mulching: cardboard first, then mulch on top to kill grass and weeds underneath • Water deeply but infrequently, if soil is not shallow • Plant temporary cover crops in bare soil: such as annual clovers, peas, oats and buckwheat • Occultation tarps (silage tarps) Heavy-duty tarps that can be re-used • Drip irrigation and timer can provide accurate watering, to limit watering weeds • Horticultural Vinegar product that is 20% acetic acid (Be sure to protect your eyes) • Flame weeder • Sawtooth Shovel (Best for digging out blackberry roots) • Weeding Tools (For example: Hori Hori knife and Hula Hoe)
Can You Afford to Go Solar? (Yes! says Artisan Electric) In April 2019, Washington state passed a law mandating that all of its electricity come from carbon-free sources by 2045. Puget Sound Energy will pass on the cost of the transition to consumers. By 2025, solar will be the less expensive option for many homeowners and businesses with sunny roofs and properties. Solar is a smart investment, but many people can’t afford the upfront cost without financing. The great news is that you can finance your solar project 100%. And, you can refinance at no charge once you’ve paid down the loan, using investment tax credits and other incentives. In many cases, the loan payment is offset by the solar production. So, here’s how you CAN afford to Go Solar: • Low Costs: Solar system prices fell by 75% over the last ten years and have never been cheaper. • Financing: PSCCU’s Solar Loans finance the whole project with no money down and low monthly payments. • Home Value: Increase the value of your property. • WA Sales Tax Exemption: Solar is 100% sales tax exempt. • Federal Tax Credit: 26% tax credit (dollar-for-dollar) for the overall installation cost, no limit. • Net Metering: Use solar to power your home or business directly. Many customers produce enough solar to get rid of their electric bill year-round. • REC’s: Sell Renewable Energy Credits to PSE annually for extra income. How much? The average Vashon home needs about 40 solar panels, costing roughly $35k to offset all of its power for the next 30 years. Smaller homes, or even tiny houses, will cost around $7,500–$10,000. —ArtisanElectric.com, p 40, Whole Vashon Catalog
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Should You Buy an Electric Car? Rondi Lightmark
Guess what? You can buy a used Nissan Leaf for around $6,000 and there’s a lot to love. No more guilt about taking more than one trip to town in a day. No oil changes, fuel filter, belts, radiator, starter motor, carburetor, and every other dang thing that costs so much to maintain in a gas-powered car. Above all—no carbon emissions! Plus—$7,500 tax credit on purchase-qualifying cars. Both new and used vehicles carry a sales tax rebate, as of August 2019. Really, if you primarily tool around the island without a lengthy commute, it makes a lot of sense to own one and the prices are getting more reasonable for new ones too. And for a longer trip, it's probably still cheaper to just rent a gas-powered car or else take public transportation. Or car share with a like-minded, energy-saving neighbor. This PSE calculator is pretty convincing: PSE.com/pages/electric-cars/electric-cars-calculator For example: How far will $3.60 take you? Comparing the typical cost of a gallon of gas @ 24 mpg, with $3.60 worth of electricity? The answer-: 24 miles with gas, 110 miles with electricity! How much to drive 15,000 mi/yr, comparing gas vs electric? $2,250 for gas, $489 for an EV. We’re only talking gas, mind you— think of the maintenance savings! There are a lot of used Nissan Leafs available within a 50-mile radius of Vashon. The Kelly Blue Book website (Kbb.com) has details. There are definitely pros and cons to buying a used Electric Vehicle. Here’s another website to take you through those questions: Edmunds.com/car-buying/the-pros-and-cons-of-buying-a-used-ev.html If you are able to spend more and get a brand-new electric car, know that there are new batteries and faster ways to recharge them in the works, including alternatives to the current lithium-ion batteries. There is certainly more to know. Do your research, or just stop any electric, or hybrid car owner and pick their brain. I haven’t run into one yet who isn’t over the moon about their purchase.
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Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station operated by King County Solid Waste Division 18900 Westside Hwy SW, Vashon, WA 98070; dale.alekel@kingcounty.gov
King County Solid Waste Division’s mission is to continuously improve waste prevention, resource recovery, and waste disposal. Our goal is Zero Waste of Resources by 2030, meaning that materials of value, whether for reuse, resale, or recycling, will not be disposed. King County also has a goal to recycle 70 percent of solid waste generated in King County (outside the cities of Seattle and Milton which are not part of the County’s solid waste system). Garbage collected at the Vashon facility is transported in covered trailers from Vashon to the King County Cedar Hills Regional Landfill 45 miles away. Recyclable materials are transported to companies where materials are separated by type and distributed to local, national, or international markets for processing into recycled content products. Reusable materials (textiles) are handled by a nonprofit organization. Compostable materials currently are transported to the private company Cedar Grove Composting where they are used to make a variety of soil amendment products. Tools plus helpful tips we can offer Recycling at Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station is free except for yard waste and refrigerant-type appliances. King County’s Cleanup LIFT program offers a $12 discount for low-income residents who present a current EBT, ORCA Lift, or Provider One (Medicaid) card at the scale house. The station accepts recyclable and compostable materials listed below. Look for signs in front of each recycling container or area. Visit www. kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/facilities/transfer/vashon-transfer.aspx. See the Recycling Guide or request one at the station.
• Appliances* (refrigerant-type such as refrigerators and air conditioners, and nonrefrigerant appliances such as stoves and washing machines) • Comingled materials if empty and dry—NO liquids or food. Place loose in blue compactors (NO plastic bags): • Paper (mail, newspapers, magazines, paper food boxes, paperback books, and cartons for milk, juice, and broth). (Shredded paper is NOT accepted.) • Cans (aluminum, tin) • Glass bottles and jars • Plastic bottles, cups, jugs, tubs, other rigid food containers • Corrugated cardboard* • Food waste (in yard waste area) • Mercury-containing light bulbs, tubes • Scrap metal* • Textiles (reusable and torn, worn, stained clothing, shoes, linens, etc.) • Yard waste* * These materials are not accepted in garbage and must be placed in designated recycling bins or areas at the station.
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Current needs to grow and improve
Although King County’s current 54% recycling rate is among the nation’s best, 70% of what is taken to the landfill could be reduced, reused,
recycled, or composted. To ensure all materials placed in recycling bins are recycled, Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station customers should make sure all materials are empty, clean, and dry with no liquids or food, and should only place items in recycling bins if they know those items are accepted at the facility. Contact King County Solid Waste Division with questions or comments at 206-477-4466 or see “contact us” at the bottom right of www.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste.
More information and Resources Recycling and Transfer Station:
www.kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/facilities/transfer/vashon-transfer.aspx Waste Prevention Tips:
www.kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/waste-prevention/tips.aspx Recycle Right:
www.kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/garbage-recycling/recycle-right.aspx What is the link between your stuff, climate change, and solid waste? www.kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/climate/climate-change-solid-waste.aspx
VASHON RECYCLING EXTRAS: WHAT, WHERE, HOW? • ZeroWasteVashon zerowastevashon.org/what-do-i-do-with/ • Granny’s Attic: grannysattic.org/what-not-to-donate/ • Hazardous Waste Collection usually takes place in spring and fall and is announced each year in the Beachcomber. For more info: www.hazwastehelp.org or call the household haz line Monday-Friday from 9 am to 4:30 pm, 206-296-4692 • Vashon Pharmacy: will refill bottles that have same prescription and collect unused medicines to dispose of in order to avoid polluting our water supply • Ace Hardware: Oil recycling, Compact fluorescent bulb recycling, Battery recycling • Nadine Edelstein and Zero Waste Vashon collect Styrofoam; Expanded Polystyrene; Extruded Polystyrene; Packing Peanuts; Polyethylene; Urethane foam; Insta-pak foam; Clear bubblewrap; and Clear plastic. 1st Sunday of the Month, Nadine@ nadineedelstein.com • Island Lumber offers their used cardboard boxes for second use • IGA will collect plastic bags to recycle • The Senior Center recycles lightbulbs • For individual help, Siobhan McComb offers consulting and public speaking events concerning a sustainable lifestyle with her company One Glass Jar, a zero waste advocacy firm. Oneglassjar.com, Oneglassjar@gmail.com
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A Beginner’s Plastic Primer “Plastics Purge" (2014, St. Martin’s Griffin, NY) by Michael San Clements [National Ecological Observatory Network, Boulder, CO]
The “Good” Plastics: Medical plastics, cell phones, computers, building components, plastics used to lighten up vehicles
(cars, trucks, airplanes), saving lots of energy. The “Bad” Plastics: BPA (bispenol A, an endocrine disruptor) used to make hard clear plastics like polycarbonate, since 1960, used in resins lining food and drink containers. Phthalates are also endocrine disruptors (DEHP, DBP, BBP have been banned in US for use in toys) and may be found in vinyl raincoats, shower curtains, dashboards, packaging, flooring, lotions, cosmetics, and more. Look on labels for details! The “Ugly” Plastics: Single-Use plastics, such as plastic bags and cups, account for 50% of plastic production.
Plastic Purging Tips • STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER. It’s 1000–2800 times more expensive than tap water, yet less regulated. US consumption of bottled water was 9.1 billion gallons in 2011. 17 million barrels of oil are used each year (not including transportation costs) to produce plastic water bottles. • Junk food uses wasteful packaging; fresh foods can decrease BPA in your body 50-70% in 3 days. Also buy fresh rather than frozen foods to avoid plastic packaging. • Use Farmers Markets: Minimal packaging and processing, and buy in bulk (Wholesale clubs). • BYO reusable grocery bags, bulk food containers, reusable cloth bags. • Reuse any plastic bags many times, then recycle at Vashon IGA. • Many canned foods contain BPA liners, so select glass jars, or only buy non-BPA canned products. • Lots of products like salad dressings, juice, ketchup, salsa used to come in glass, now only in plastic. Complain! Only buy glass. • Cut-up 6-ring beer can rings (LDPE no. 4) into loops before recycling. • Stick with bottled wine rather than boxed due to BPA in the liners. • Use Mason Jars and Pyrex containers instead of Ziploc bags (plastic lids are BPA free). • Use stainless steel ice cube trays, real baskets, and metal storage bins. • Use a reusable Water Bottle, however BPA-free bottles generally use BPS, BPB, BPF, which are similarly hazardous. • Drink soda from glass bottles; use a coffee thermos or reusable cup. • Cotton or hemp shower curtains, bar shampoo and conditioners; baking soda or sage oil instead of packaged deodorant; make your own toothpaste (1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide, peppermint oil to taste). • Cloth diapers; look for eco-friendly and plastic-free period products. • Avoid vinyl or PVC school supplies, juice boxes or bags. • Buy recycled fabrics and goods.
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Old Story/New Story: Will We Make the Shift? Rondi Lightmark
“’When the storytelling goes bad in society, the result is decadence,’” said Aristotle. And by decadence, he literally meant the moral decline of culture…“Those who tell stories rule society,” said Plato.’” —Thomas R. Marks
Our times could not be more dramatic and the contrast between decadent versus visionary storytelling could not be more extreme. Below are some examples of Old Stories and New Stories that seems to have been at the core of many of the struggles in Western culture. (Note: this list is just my personal brainstorm, and a future discussion about this model and choices would be welcome and fascinating!)
Old Story
New Story
• Life has evolved through competition and survival of the fittest. (Darwin).
• Life originally evolved from cooperation among various types of bacteria that symbiotically formed more complicated single organisms. (Lynn Margulis). • The relationship between humans and Nature is complex and holistic, involving multiple systems and symbiotic processes. • Humans are not superior to Nature; our survival depends on a respectful partnership with Nature. • Climate change results from the breakdown of relationships among Earth systems. If balance could be restored, much of greenhouse gas excesses can be mitigated. • Technology without knowledge of and respect for the Earth’s complexity will destroy us. • Soil is a complex web of living organisms and the basis of much of terrestrial life on Earth. • 40% of insects worldwide are going extinct because of pesticides and loss of habitat.
• The relationship between humans and Nature is linear, simple cause-and-effect. • Humans are here to rule Nature. • Climate change is mostly the result of human activities leading to an excess of fossil fuel emissions in the atmosphere. • Technology will save us. • Soil is an inert medium located between the atmosphere and bedrock that exists to host plant material. • 40% of insects worldwide are going extinct because of global warming
If this model and the oppositions seem to make some sense, then here is another one for the list: Old Story: Capitalism is an economic and political system, in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. It assigns no value to natural resources and living systems, or social and cultural systems. (Wikipedia) New Story: Natural capitalism states that factoring in the impact on environmental costs and quality of life is essential; only through recognizing this relationship with the Earth's valuable resources can businesses, and the people they support, continue to exist. (Wikipedia)
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In this year of the raging global pandemic, with our existence more in question than ever before, there are certainly opportunities that abound. Despite the fears, frustrations, and tragedies caused by the Coronavirus, the great “Pause,” is allowing Nature to recover and skies to go blue again. It is a revelation—what actions will come out of this? It does spur reflections about how things could be different. In quarantine, we actually have time to spend thinking deeply about what kind of story we want to tell about our future (if we can resist the addiction to Netflix stories, fear-mongering stories, and the constant drain of Political Drama stories). On Vashon, the Backbone Campaign (backbonecampaign.org) has begun taking a leading role in offering access to online speakers and programs that tell new stories, educating and inspiring about a new vision for the Earth. The Whole Vashon Project is looking forward to also contributing in the near future. Islander Greg Wessel proposed a new story for Vashon last year, when he dreamed of a “Vashon Redesigned.” He asked the question, “if you had to design a way to inhabit this beautiful island all over again, one that takes into account the best ways to use energy, provide food, and protect the environment, what would it look like?” A group of about 40 people want to take this challenge further and have had several meetings. Over in Sweden, a new story called “The Natural Step” was created in 1989 by a leading oncologist named Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert. It’s a method for reaching consensus about sustainable futures and is taught in all schools in Sweden. More than 100 companies and organizations have applied the Natural Step framework to their business, including IKEA, Interface, Nike, Starbucks, Home Depot, the US Marine Corps, and the municipality of Whistler in British Columbia. The Natural Step is based on four conditions that scientists agree are essential to sustainable societies: • Nature cannot withstand a systematic buildup of dispersed matter mined from the Earth’s crust (minerals, oil, etc). • Nature cannot withstand a systematic buildup of persistent compounds made by humans (e.g., PCBs). • Nature cannot withstand a systematic deterioration of its capacity for renewal (e.g. harvesting fish faster than they can be replenished, degrading fertile land to desert, etc.). • Therefore, if we want life to continue, we must (a) be efficient in our use of resources and (b) promote justice—because ignoring poverty will lead the poor, for short-term survival, to destroy resources (e.g., the rain forests) that we all need for long-term survival. So much hope in such stories! There is an urgency about waking Vashon up now, manifested not only in the Green Goals that so many in this Catalog have already achieved, but also in the new energy coming into discussions about renewing Vashon’s Community Council. Terry Sullivan is a good storyteller for the future, with his regular, thoughtful columns in the Vashon Loop. He has the last word here, an excerpt from a column he titled “Confessions of a Slow Learner.” It’s the only story, which ultimately says it all: “In trying to think of something that would motivate us to act, I came up with something that we all know in a religious context and that has been bandied about for so long that few of us even hear it anymore. It is the only thing that we will go to the mat for regardless of personal cost, and we will do it joyfully. That thing is love—not the cute, warm, fuzzy love, or sexual love, as wonderful and important as those are. I’m talking about the fierce love that one has for their young children, or for a place, or an idea, or an art. It is the love that we will forsake for our own welfare to protect and nurture. We have to love the Earth and everything on it in such a way that we personally feel the hurt that it or any part of it may feel. And our act of addressing those hurts would then be something that we take great joy in. 89
The Whole Vashon Project: What’s Next? “When we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality.” —Friedensreich Hundertwasser
We hope you’ve been inspired by the nearly 120 of our Island’s businesses and non-profits and the commitments they’ve
made to ‘green up’ their enterprises this year and beyond. We hope the writing, resources and other content has been informative and worth sharing with friends and family members. The contributions from artists (including our kids), writers, designers, readers and dreamers…Wow! If you have been part of this production…double Wow!
Now what? Well, “We’ve only just begun!” This Catalog is a launch pad for more creativity and provocation under the umbrella of The Whole Vashon Project. We have always envisioned that our island might become a laboratory for effective action against the climate crisis. (In truth, so much is already underway since the Project began in March of 2019, it’s hard to know where to focus)! Our Future Dream has been to build an “Art Bank” of contributions from Islanders in various media—posters, videos, productions, signs, storytelling, ceremonies…all dedicated to connecting us to the Earth and to one another. In community with the creative efforts of other Vashon organizations, we hope to: • Engage speakers who’ve pioneered novel approaches to Climate Crisis for the long term; • Work with our schools to amplify the youthful energy they’re already nurturing on behalf of the Earth. • Continue to support and promote existing Island environmental organizations; • Host community forums to jointly address any issue that threatens the well-being of our Island home. • Help each of us find a unique place in the effort to turn back the Climate Crisis. Our mantra is, “Many Hearts Make Light Work.” We are counting on our community’s LOVE of the Earth to keep Climate Action top of mind as we march on beyond 2020 into a healthy future for the Island’s flora and fauna, and for the children and families who live here. Join us! Contact us through WholeVashonProject.com, sign up on our mailing list, and please join our Facebook group: Facebook.com/groups/ WholeVashonProject!
A heartful thank you, one and all!
Small Island,
Big Idea
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About Vashon-Maury Island
You’ll find our magical island in the southernmost part of Puget Sound, Washington.
It’s accessible only by ferry from three different locations: Seattle, Tacoma and Southworth (on the Olympic Peninsula). It’s a beautiful10–20 minute ride, with glorious views of the Olympic range and Mt. Rainier. If you get lucky, at certain times of the year, the ferry will slow down so passengers can watch Orca whales breaching as they make their way through the Sound. There are two islands: Vashon and Maury, connected by a narrow link called Portage. With 45 miles of shoreline, Vashon is approximately 13 miles long and eight miles wide. There is a year-round population of about 11,000. It’s quite amazing to live in a peaceful rural setting, with two major cities only minutes away. Vashon attracts artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, retirees, lovers of an alternative lifestyle, healers, farmers and passionate gardeners, and commuters to the “Mainland.” And of course, a good number of visionaries who want to make the world a better place! Vashon and Maury were named by the explorer George Vancouver in the 1700s, in honor of two of his colleagues. Today, we acknowledge that the true history is that we are living on the lands of the original peoples, residents of this place for thousands of years, the sxwobabc, who are part of the Coast Salish tribes. Their respect for life on this land, and their ways of using and preserving its abundance, are an inspiration for us to learn from, and which can help guide us into a more conscious way of life.
Come Visit!
To learn more about Vashon: VashonChamber.com and VashonHeritageMuseum.org The Whole Vashon Project was begun in March of 2019. Please visit our website: WholeVashonProject.com, join Facebook.com/groups/ wholevashonproject. To read the Catalog online: Issuu.com/groups/whole-vashon-project. For More Information, contact rlightmark@gmail.com 91
Acknowledgements Just over a year ago, the idea of The Whole Vashon Project/Whole Vashon Catalog was hatched. It is truly incredible to see the results of so much talent, commitment, and heart! We are so very grateful to those who’ve helped bring us to such wonderful conclusion. May this small publication travel far and inspire many to believe in the creativity and determination of a community to help heal our beautiful Earth. —Rondi Lightmark, Founder/Director and Susan McCabe, Co-Director
Showers of Gratitude to: Early Believers, Cheerleaders and Advising Team: Jim Marsh of the Vashon Chamber of Commerce, Annie Brulé, Lynn McClain, Lynn Greiner, Steve Bergman, Sheila Brown, Terry Sullivan Our Bi-weekly Beachcomber Page: The Vashon Rotary Club; The Vashon-Maury Beachcomber and publisher Daralyn Anderson Fiscal Sponsor: The Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust Our Bookkeeper: Katrin Fletter “Gratitude” calligraphy for donation thank yous: Kaj Wyn Berry Design Team: Charlotte Masi: Graphic Designer, Whole Vashon Catalog; Kristine Dahms: Designer/Webmaster for WholeVashonProject.com and bi-weekly Beachcomber pages; Natalie Kosovac: Production Artist, Whole Vashon Catalog Cover Art: Sue Hardy Inside Covers: Bird Paintings by 4th graders, Chautauqua Elementary, Vashon Artists in Schools residency with illustrator Bruce Morser, 2019 “Tree of Life” Centerfold Poster: Hodari Nundu “Prayer for the Earth”: Michael Meade Contributing Photographers: Susie Fitzhugh, Jim Diers Contributing Artists: Annie Brulé: Map of Salish Sea; Brian Fisher; Charlotte Masi; Darsie Beck; Elaine Hanowell; Israel Shotridge; Jean Emmons; Lynn McClain; Sandra Noel; Valerie Willson Writers and Editors: Rondi Lightmark; Susan McCabe; Rachael Osborn; Juli Morser: Juliana vs Federal Government lawsuit article; Diane Emerson; Fran Brooks; Gale Lurie; Jen Huntley; Lynn Greiner; Michael Laurie; Steve Bergman; Sue Trevathan; Sylvia Soholt; Tag Gornall The Vashon Heritage Museum, for advice and excerpts from Vashon History: Elsa Croonquist; Laurie J Tucker; Bruce Haulman; Rayna Holtz Volunteers: Catalog and Whole Vashon Project, Phase 2: Bretta Beveridge; Carol Ireland McLean; Claudia Lorena; Claudia Northcott; Deirdre Grace; Eva deLoach; Janna Gingras; Jean Berolzheimer; Jennifer Terp; Jeremy Hale; Kate Smith; Laura Daughenbaugh; Linda Fox; Lisa Hasselman; Liz Illg; Mary Nerini; Melvin Mackey; Michael DeBlasi; Susan Lewis; Suzanna Leigh Contributors for “Wishes and Dreams” and favorite “Good Green Reads” The 435 members of Facebook.com/WholeVashonProject The 225 people who’ve joined our mailing list Our 44 Generous Donors! Let us know if we’ve forgotten you? We sure hope we haven’t! (But the Catalog can always be updated online). Contact Rondi Lightmark through our website: WholeVashonProject.com/contact
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