Whole Vashon Project --Educational pages in Vashon Beachcomber Newspaper, 2020

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Our mission is to make addressing the climate crisis a Main Street reality, and a response to our children and their future.

It’s our one-year anniversary and we’ve come a long way!

More than 100 businesses and nonprofits have set green goals for 2020. We’re creating a “Whole Vashon Catalog” to highlight their efforts, and to share some climate basics, resources, and wishes and dreams. Our list of supporters, donors, and volunteers has grown to more than 700, including the nearly 400 following our Facebook group. Vashon Rotary is sponsoring this bi-weekly page ( thank you! ), where we will be sharing news about the climate, covering the work of Vashon environmental organizations, following the outcome of some of the green goals, asking hard questions about the future, and combining the arts, inspiration and also contributions from Vashon kids.

How can we stop the hurt and start the healing? Actually, we’ve already begun. Stay tuned, and join us!

Volunteers

Business Partners Advanced Massage All Things Rich Alliance Tompotika Conservation Andrew Will Winery Anu Rana’s Healthy Kitchen Artisan Electric Backbone Campaign Bramble House Burn Design Lab Café Luna Camp Colvos Casa Bonita Chautauqua Elementary School Columbia Institute for Water Policy DOVE Project Earthen Bistro Emerson Gardening Services Episcopal Church of Holy Spirit Fern Cove Natural Medicine Forest Garden Farm Gather Vashon Geology in the Public Interest Giraffe Girl Scout Troop #41621 Harbor Mercantile Healthy Air & Heating Hollander-Lucas Studios Island Queen Island Home Center & Lumber Island Spring Organics Jefferson Cakepan John L. Scott Just Horsin’ Around King County Green Schools Program King County Library/Vashon King County Vashon Recycling & Transfer Kronos Lavender Hill Farm Makerspace Meadow Creature Methodist Church Minglement

Mukai Farm & Garden Natfly Productions Noble Stone Orca Eats LLC Pacific Potager Pacific Research Laboratories/ Sawbones Pollard Coffee Roasters Puget Sound Zen Center Puget Sound Community Credit Union Pure Purium Health Re Gen R 8 Red Bicycle Roadside Attraction Stud ios Schafer Specialty Landscape & Design Solutionary Rail Spiceberry Spider’s Ski and Sports Stephanie Barbee LICSW Sustainable Vashon The Breathable Body The Harbor School The Hardware Store The Ruby Brink Bar & Butcher The Vashon-Maury Beachcomber Union Vashon US Bank VARSA Vashion Center for the Arts Vashon Bookshop Vashon Theatre Vashon Thriftway Vashon Pharmacy Vashon Nature Center Vashon Heritage Museum Vashon Park District Vashon Household Vashon Presbyterian Church Vashon Bikes Vashon Events Vashon Wilderness Program Vashon Ace Hardware

Vashon Athletic Club Vashon Brewing Company Vashon Climate Action Group Vashon Golf & Swim Club Vashon High School Green Team Vashon Island Fair Skies Vashon Island Pet Protectors Vashon Island Visual Artists Vashon Island Fruit Club Vashon Island Growers Association Vashon Island Green Tech Vashon Market Fresh McMurray Middle School Vashon Partners Education Vashon Seed Project Vashon Soil Ambassadors Vashon Youth & Family Services Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Vashon-Maury Chamber of Commerce Vashon-Maury SURJ Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank Vashon-Maury Senior Center Voice of Vashon Waldron Designs LLC Water District 19 Watershed LLC Windermere Realty Zero Waste Vashon

Andrew Niss Andy James Ann Atwell Ann Spiers Ann Nicklason Ann-Marie Maxson Anna Martinsen Annie Brulé Annie Myers Barbara Huffman Beth Anne Freiling Bianca Perla Bill Garrison Bill Reid Britt Asplund Carol Goertzel Carol Ireland McClean Catherine Henderson Chastity Medlock Chris Szala Christine Ingebritsen Christine Gebel Christine Love Claudia Lorena Cornelius Lopez Daalny Meyer Dan Auer Dan McDevitt Daralyn Anderson Darsie Beck David McClellan Dean Ritz Deb Dammann Deborah Teagardin Deborah Perpetua Deirdre Grace Denis Snow Diana Stanley Don Bunger Donna Baxter Earl Godt Eileen Rossignol Emily Scott Emily Graham Emily Wigley Erin Flory Gale Lurie Gay Rozelle Geoff Fletcher

George Spano Gib Dammann Greg Wessel Heidi Jackson Hilary Emmer Irene Tokar Jaime Kennedy James Freund Jamie Wolf Jan Van Roessel Jane Berg Jane Neubauer Janice Randall Janie Starr Janna Gingras Jason Volk Jean Berolzheimer Jean Emmons Jean George Jen Huntley Jeni Johnson Jennifer Culp Jennifer Terp Jeremy Hale Jessica Wesch Jessica Lisovsky Jim Boardman Jim Meiklejohn Joby Fairchild John Browne John Bean Joy Mann Joy & Chai Mann Juli Morser Julie Shannon Kaj Wyn Berry Karen Chesledon Karen Hedlund Kate Munson Kate Smith Kathy Raines Katrin Fletter Katrin Fletter

Kay Longhi Kelly Meyer Kevin Hoffberg Kim Richards Kiya Bolding Kory Kirby Koshin Chris Cain Kristine Dahms Kyle Britz Laura Daughenbaug h Lauren Forest Leslee Stockton Lin Holley Linda Lotus Lisa Hasselman Liz Illg Lyn Holley Lynn Greiner Lynn McClain Madeline Thomson Marcy Summers Margaret Roncone Maria Porter Stewar d Mark McGough Marnie Boardman Martha Woodard Mary Van Gemert Melanie Salonen Melvin Mackey Meredith Pickerel Michael Meade Michael DeBlasi Michele maurer Morgan Brown Natalie Kosovac Nicky Wilks Pamela Godt Patty McKinnon Paul Means Penny Grist Rachael Osborn

Anne Hetrick Rhoda Karusaitis Rich Osborne Rick Dahms Rik Reed Robert Litman Rondi Lightmark Roxy Hathaway S. Pritikin Sam Biro Sandra Noel Sara & Sam Fleet Scott Grigg Sheila Brown Shirley Ferris Slade McSheehy Sooze Bloom Grossman Stacey Hinden Stephanie Harlan Steve Bergman Sue Trevathan Sue Hardy Sue Weston Susan McCabe Susan Pitiger Susan Lee Cohen Susie Kalhorn Suzanna Leigh Suzanne Moore Suzanne Hubbard Suzanne Mager Sylvia Soholt Tami Brockway Joyce Teresa Louis Terry Sullivan Tom Dean Valerie Willson Will Lockwood Yvonne Kuperberg Zabette Macomber Zoe & Geo Cheroke

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject Vashon Rotary Club

Next Time: Susan McCabe & Greg Wessel on imagining a Vashon in the future.

WHOLE VASHON PROJECT

SMALL ISLAND

BIG IDEA

“If you want to make small changes, change the way you do things. If you want to make major changes, change the way you see things.”

— Don Campbell, Canadian rancher

“What If?” Greg Wessel Re-Imagines Vashon

by Susan McCabe

Imagine what Vashon Island looked like before any humans got here. That’s what Island geologist Greg Wessel is doing.

Wessel’s idea is to organize our Vashon community around the idea of envisioning Vashon’s development as it could have been if we had honored the environment as our first priority, rather than using outdated development standards. The goal is to identify ways to make the island (and the greater Puget Sound Basin) more sustainable and address climate change in a substantive way.

“When people hear about the potential catastrophic effects of climate change,” Wessel said, “they get a deer-in-theheadlights look. They can’t comprehend it because it is so far outside the human experience, so they end up not doing much.”

Wessel is trying to simplify the process of understanding our climate crisis by taking the community through a simple exercise: comparing what the island looks like today to what it would look like if we had known in the past how to do it better, using higher environmental standards. His idea is that by comparing the two views, some things we can do to correct the problem should become obvious. With this in mind, he is structuring an exercise of looking at three different states of Vashon Island:

There wouldn’t be as much clearing on the island except for those areas best suited for agriculture. Homes would be located in different areas than they are now. “We’re currently honoring property boundaries that were established beginning in the 1800s,” says Wessel, “which in no way reflect the topography, geology, or ecology of our island. We have to protect the environment,” he says, “because for humans to live here in a sustainable fashion the land and ocean have to be conserved. Nothing we do now is sustainable.”

Greg Wessel is also inspired to export this process to other communities.

“We should be able to put boundaries around any community on the planet and run it through the same exercise.

It could be done by people without any pre-existing knowledge of these conservationist topics.” He uses the example of church groups gathering around an issue, conducting their own research and holding a series of meetings to develop simple ideas for making a difference.

About a year ago, Wessel gathered a group of Vashonians to consider the idea of an island re-design. He’s currently inviting more community members to answer the question,

“What kind of Island would you like your grandkids to inherit?”

And he predicts that with the re-design, islanders will identify opportunities for 1. Vashon Island with all the people changing land use regulations that could removed. What did it look like in its be proposed to the King County Council natural state?

Vashon Island high school student, Daalny Meyer, and that would move the county at Strawberry Festival 2019 further toward sustainability. The 2. Vashon Island of the present day, ultimate goal of the process is to identify actions to take, simple which was developed using standards from the late 1800s actions that are welcomed by the community and easy for local and early 1900s, standards our grandfathers used that do government to support. not reflect current knowledge.

3. A completely re-designed Vashon Island. Starting with the same number of people we now have and the same needs for energy and food, how would we re-design Vashon for the 21st century applying environmentally friendly standards?

By comparing present-day Vashon to our ideal 21st century Vashon, we could see just how wrong we are living now, and we could begin to make some of those changes. On a re-designed Vashon, there would be no development in critical areas.

Rotarians are people of action connecting the world.

Federal and state governments get mired in politics. “It’s the people on the ground who are going to do the work of environmental recovery,” says Wessel. “It’s the grassroots that must be mobilized, but until the average person can understand the magnitude of the problem and begin to imagine solutions upon which they can take action, we’re not going to succeed.”

Vashon Re-Designed: What Vashon Was and What it Might Be Again If you want to be a part of this community effort, contact Greg Wessel at gwessel@publicgeology.org

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject

WHOLE VASHON PROJECT

SMALL ISLAND

BIG IDEA

Land is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals.

- Aldo Leopold

Introducing Vashon Soil Ambassadors: A Conversation about Hope What is it like to have a climate conversation that’s sparked by optimism and joy instead of despair? Join the Vashon Soil Ambassadors, who have been delving into the exciting intersection of new scientific research and indigenous land management practices from all over the world, as a powerful way to mitigate the climate crisis. By paying more attention to the natural world we love, and nurturing its processes when we grow food, we can restore soil that has become degraded and lost its vitality. We can regenerate life and cultivate hope.

The Vashon Soil Ambassadors are a new, informal group of gardeners, farmers andadvocates. Our mission is to propagate the good news that creating healthy, biologically active soil is one of the most impactful actions we can take. It can mitigate climate change, food insecurity, drought, floods, wildfires and habitat loss. We are committed to strengthening the political will to do whatever is necessary to overturn destructive agricultural practices in favor of local, regenerative farm models.

In 2020, the Vashon Soil Ambassadors will partner with VIGA’s “Get Growing” community education program, which will offer a series of three workshops designed to help community members use their gardens to fight climate change!

Our global food system is a major player because, according to a UN report, the way we use land — for farming, mining, logging, and raising livestock — accounts for 23% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Nobel prize-winning soil scientist Rattan Lal, it is crucial that people understand that CO2 emissions come not only from fossil fuels, but also from soil that is degrading from lack of appropriate nutrients and care. In fact, he says, the historical loss of CO2 from soils all over the world, where for thousands of years more nutrients have been removed than restored, is actually greater than that from fossil fuel emissions. This is why ending fossil fuel use will not solve the problem of a dying planet—according to the United Nations, more than a third of the earth’s land mass is turning into desert. Research from the Rodale Institute shows that regenerative methods, if widely adopted, could draw down and sequester in soil 100% of current carbon dioxide emissions, including fossil fuel emissions. But this can only happen if the soil is healthy.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt aptly stated,

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

We absolutely have to change the ways we treat our soil, and we can begin in our own gardens. Join us at these events: “GET GROWING” WORKSHOPS Sundays, 1 to 3pm at La Biondo Farm 20602 111th Ave. SW, Vashon • March 29th • June 28th • September 20th Free and open to the public; children and youth are welcome.

For more information, email: merrileerunyan@gmail.com

BOOK CLUB PRESENTATION at VASHON LAND TRUST Two fields after the 2019 flooding: The field on the left had been farmed for several years using cover crops and no-till practices. The field on the right, with standing water, had been farmed with conventional tillage and no cover crops.

Courtesy: Rob Myers University of Missouri

During the Victory Garden movement of World Wars I and II, Americans planted gardens to feed and support both their communities and the troops overseas. These efforts were amazingly successful and produced about 40% of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the US at the time.

It’s time now for a new garden movement that addresses the climate crisis, and empowers and inspires action at the individual and community level. Record fires in Australia and California, record floods in the Midwest, coastal flooding, desertification— all of these are the evidence of a rapidly changing climate.

Rotarians are people of action connecting the world.

“Climate, a New Story” by Charles Eisenstein, the next selection for the Vashon Land Trust book club, is a major inspiration for our group.

Eisenstein addresses a variety of dysfunctional systems that together have led to our current crisis: from deforestation, agriculture, overconsumption, and water use, to the global economy and development—in short, our overall relationship to Nature and to each other. Healing these, he says, will bring our climate back into balance.

On March 23rd, 7 to 8:30 pm, and for the next five Monday nights, we will lead a discussion focusing on sections of the book, available at the Vashon bookstore on the book club table. Please read the first three chapters; we will also show a short video that summarizes the material. Open to the public at no cost.

The members of Vashon Soil Ambassadors: Merrilee Runyan, Terry Sullivan, Sheila Brown, Michelle Crawford, Lotus, Sue Letsinger, Donna Klemka, Dana Illo, Karen Biondo, Ken Miller, Jacqui Lown,and Rondi Lightmark

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject

WHOLE VASHON PROJECT

SMALL ISLAND

BIG IDEA

Blue whales can grow to the length of a Boeing 737 and weigh four times more.

The Tiny Plants that Make a Whale of a Difference in our Existence

By Susan McCabe & Tag Gornall Carbon sequestration – the reduction of CO2 in our atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis—is viewed by many as THE major solution to global warming. Most literature on the topic indicates this is best accomplished by growing more trees, grasses and land vegetation. Recent writings, however, cite the even larger potential for CO2 reduction in the aquatic biomass called plankton, found in all of the waters of the world.

Each Humpback whale has its own unique song.

Vashon’s now-retired marine mammal veterinarian (and great storyteller), Dr. Tag Gornall, is committed to educating as many people as possible about plankton and the powerful impact they can have on addressing our Climate Crisis. In fact, Tag and his comrades at Vashon GreenTech recently received a $10,000 grant to help promote awareness about plankton and their vital importance to life on Earth.

Whales can, on average, remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.

Phytoplankton, Tag explains, are the oxygen producers and carbon sequesterers in the aquatic world. Plant plankton feeds the zooplankton—animal plankton—like grass feeds cattle. Tag says, “…if you scoop a cup of sea water in the right location, you will see tiny octopi, tiny crabs, tiny clams.” These are the zooplankton that feed on phytoplankton. And the zooplankton feed small fish who feed bigger fish, on up the scale to the whales.

The texture of whale milk is like toothpaste, so it won’t disperse in water.

of action connecting the world.

A whale’s blowhole does not shoot out seawater, but a mixture of bacteria and hot air.

Excess carbon dioxide (CO2) in the aquatic environment causes acidification. We humans are responsible for that CO2 and more, says Tag. “Everything we do to the soil or flush down the toilet on this island eventually ends up in Puget Sound—pesticides, weed killers, antibiotics, birth control and other drugs. We have fish looking for their next high at specific outflows around the island because of the drugs coming out of them.” This changes their behavior, slows their awareness and reduces their ability to reproduce. So we humans who like to eat clams,crabs and certain fish are now witnessing their numbers dwindling.

A Blue whale’s heart is the size of a small sedan.

Surprisingly, these tiny plants produce about 75% of the world’s oxygen! “People go out on sight-seeing boats to see whales,” says Tag. “but you don’t get many sight-seeing boats looking at plankton.” In fact, whales—and the rest of us, could not exist without them.

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So how do the phytoplankton sequester CO2 if they’re being eaten?

“When they die,” says Tag, “they, and their debris, drop to the bottom, taking that carbon.” They take the C out and leave the O2 (oxygen) in the atmosphere and water.

We’ve lost about 40% of the earth’s phytoplankton—in salt and fresh water—just since the 1950s, and some estimate that loss continues at a rate of 1% a year. We need to realize that the healthier the aquatic environment, the greater the survival rate of the phytoplankton doing the sequestration. The more photosynthesis in healthy plankton, the more oxygen production is maintained—and thus, life on Earth.

So where do the whales come in? “They are the end of the line,” says Tag. As grey whales migrate 17,000 miles along the Pacific coast from Baja to Alaska, for instance, their waste produces nitrogen-rich material on which phytoplankton feed. “But, “as Tag puts it, “when we’re putting nasty stuff into the water—like weed killers—we kill those oceanic plants too.” The whales will ultimately run out of food.

So what can we do to provide an environment that allows these relationships to exist? “Pay attention.” says Tag. Go back to where the damage starts – don’t put herbicides like RoundUp™ on our lawns or flush pharmaceuticals down the toilet! When phytoplankton can grow and be plentiful, they feed the small fish that feed the big fish.

We must, for the health and existence of all living beings on this planet, protect that primordial soup that we all come from.

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject

WHOLE VASHON PROJECT

SMALL ISLAND

BIG IDEA

The Best Thing For Being Sad “The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something.

That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

- T.H. White, “The Once and Future King”

While you’re cocooning at home, here are some videos and movies we at the Whole Vashon Project recommend.

Some are only 20 minutes long, some are full-length documentaries. They will inspire and educate you about our Planet, which will be here after COVID-19 is passed. So Binge on Excitement and Hope for tomorrow and share widely.

1. Dare To Be Wild—Netflix & Amazon Prime Biopic. Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds and youngest winner of the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in England creates awareness about the natural, wild beauty of landscapes, rather than rigid, formal gardens.

2. Lean Into The Wind, by Andy Goldsworthy—YouTube Mesmerizing movie about his work as an artist using only nature and photography of his work before it disappears.

7. Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm—You Tube With owner Isabella Tree.

8. How Peter Andrews Rejuvenates Drought-Struck Land in Australia— You Tube. Hydrologist Peter Andrews rejuvenates drought-struck land in Australia.

9. 50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything,

by National Geographic —You Tube Tycoon David Bamberger in Texas—50 years ago, this was a wasteland. He changed everything.

3. The Plankton Chronicles, by Christian Sardet—Ted Talk Christian Sardet, Research Director with the French National Center for Scientific Research, co-founder of the expedition Tara Oceans, shows amazing photos of plankton around the world.

10. Dried Up Aral Sea Springs Back to Life —You Tube Chronicle of one of the greatest environmental disasters on the planet.

UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE

12. Hope in a Changing Climate—You Tube restoring China’s Loess Plateau, with cameraman and ecologist John D. Liu.

4. Soil Carbon—Putting Carbon Back Where it Belongs: In the Earth—Ted Talk. Australian rancher Tony Lovell shows how land degradation and destruction of biodiversity leads to changing weather, and then climate.

5. How to Fight Desertification & Reverse Climate Change Ted Talk. One of the all-time top TED talks, by native Zimbabwean Allan Savory, who inspired the adaptive management grazing movement that is now leading to the restoration of millions of grasslands around the globe.

6. Polyface Farm Pt. 1—You Tube The Salatin Family on Polyface Farm in Virginia, Part 1 Joel Salatin has been at the forefront of grass-based farming for more than forty years.

11. Restoring the Ancient Caledonian Forest—You Tube TEDx Talk by Trees for Life Founder, Alan Watson-Featherstone

13. Regenerating a Native Forest—You Tube 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.

OUR HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT 14. GFE 2019—Grass-fed Exchange Conference—You Tube Dr. Zach Bush, triple-board-certified physician, speaks about the environment, the immune system, and the effects of glyphosate on the digestive system.

*Please see our Whole Vashon Project Facebook page for the complete list with links to these videos and movies*

Rotarians are people of action connecting the world.

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject

KRISTINE DAHMS | TWISTDESIGN.BIZ

NATURE & THE ART OF SEEING

WHOLE VASHON PROJECT

SMALL ISLAND

BIG IDEA

“When the citizens lead, the leaders will eventually follow.” Kimberly Weichel, Beyond Borders

It’s All About Community

By Susan McCabe & Rondi Lightmark

Here’s What Catalog Readers Are Saying

Everyone who reads this newspaper knows that Vashon-Maury Island is a place that thrives on a strong sense of Community. As a Community, we support our businesses, our food bank; our Interfaith Council for Preventing Homelessness; we support our Island churches, Vashon Youth & Family Services, the DOVE project and others in fostering mental health. We support the arts and artists in their critical mission to express life’s truths. We do the best we can as a Community to keep our fellow citizens healthy because we know all boats rise with the tide of care.

Jo Robinson (author of Eating On The Wild Side) “You did it, Rondi. (With the help of your friends.) It’s beautiful and compelling!”

issuu.com/whole-vashon-project

We are immeasurably grateful for your support, and invite you to view the fruits of this Community collaboration at www.issuu.com/whole-vashon-project.

We’re working to fund a print run of the Catalog so every Vashon household can use it as a calling card to join our experiment. Join us at www.wholevashonproject.com and share your Climate Action ideas as we create an Art Bank of creative contributions from Islanders; work with our schools; host community forums; and act as a unified village in standing up to Climate Crisis with creativity and hope.

Steve Bergman (Zero Waste Vashon) “Rondi & Team, congratulations on one fantastic accomplishment-very well crafted in the C19 context, and you have done a great job of setting the stage for future island activities.”

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!

Lynn Greiner (Mukai Gardens) “The Catalog is so incredible!! Full of great information, beautifully organized and presented. Maybe it should be included in a Vashon high school curriculum, or even middle school. Very inspiring.”

Terry Sulllivan (Island Activist) “Amazing, Rondi! This will be a source of inspiration and awareness as well as enlightenment for all of us. You had the vision early on and I now see what you saw.”

Melanie Lang Salonen “Loved looking through the book and can’t wait to have a real copy at home!

Congratulations on not only achieving your vision but doing so in a most splendid way!!”

A heartful thank you, one and all!

Small Island,

Big Idea

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Rick Dahms (photographer) “The idea is so simple and so original—this is how you create global change working at the local level. Let’s hope that this catalog sets an example for communities around the globe.”

Please help us fund the print version of the Catalog so we can share it as a guide to help other communities to do the same.

www.WholeVashonProject.com

Rotarians are people of action connecting the world.

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark 206-463-0831 www.WholeVashonProject.com • Facebook.com/groups/WholeVashonProject

KRISTINE DAHMS | TWISTDESIGN.BIZ

It’s in this spirit of Community that we initiated The Whole Vashon Project just over a year ago. Our goal is to harness Vashon’s powerful sense of unity in humanity’s biggest fight ever—Climate Crisis. We put our faith in this community of activists when we conceived of a project that would test the potential for a collective of committed people to stand up to Climate Crisis. The Whole Vashon Catalog is our first big step in that experiment.

Annie Brulé (Island illustrator) “Wow—hats off to you Rondi, for being the engine behind this beautiful project. Hats off to all the team who helped in every way— I’m proud to call you neighbors and friends.”

Celebrating the Wondrous Circle of Life and Hope at Harvest Time

Companion to the Miracle

It’s spring, and the air is so fresh my lungs are hurting,

too full of a sharp, green mist. I’m standing in my garden with my hoe, heart high, anticipation for this work full in my chest, the hunger from a winter of sense deprivation about to be satisfied.

Were I in India, I would be facing north, holding the handles of my plow, which I had prepared for its work with suitable worship and anointments of vermilion, turmeric paste and Durva Grasses. My first furrow would be done in a spiral, designed to waken and pacify Vasuki, the thousand-headed serpent who supports the entire world on his head, and whose sinuous energy pulses beneath my feet.

But I am in Vermont, and I have no formal way to begin my work. Were I in Ecuador, I might make a prayer of forgiveness before sinking my sharp blade into the earth: “Oh God, my mother, my father, lord of the hills, lord of the valleys, lord of the forest, be patient with me. I am about to do what has always been done…I am about to molest your heart.”

The handle of my hoe is smooth and gray with age, and I bend over, digging with it, pulling back the cover of sturdy seedlings that challenge me here for mastery. I feel the pregnant bulge of seed packets in the back pocket of my overalls, as I squat to tease out a fat, tenacious clump of clover.

It comes up with a spray of moist earth spattering my shirt. An earthworm flails and muscles its way across the back of my hand before dropping to the ground.

Were I Navaho, I might now begin to chant: “The earth is looking at me; she is looking up at me; I am looking down on her; I am happy, she is looking at me; I am happy, I am looking at her…”

It is a still, hot summer day, and time has stopped. In my

garden, all the world is at my feet. Broccoli from the shores of the Mediterranean has traveled through the centuries to be here. Fat, half-grown stalks of corn, thousands of years old, have reincarnated from Central America, and frothy, gone-by asparagus from the steppes of Poland and Siberia. Ancient onions, radishes and garlic swell bulbous and prideful, their origins so far distant as to become mythical. “We saw the pyramids,” they remind me. “We were in the hands of Moses. We were in the First Garden.”

I’m picking the last of the peas, native to Europe and northern Asia. My lettuce was served at the royal tables of Persian kings. Eggplant from India and China is tucked into the warmest corner of my plot.

I have designed my garden in a circle, with concentric rings of raised beds. I stand in the center, hands on my hips, squinting up at the sun. Then I walk from

ring to ring, leaning, touching, tending. I am moving across time, across my own microcosmic sculpture of the globe. I am a god, but a little one, and I’ve learning I’m far from omnipotent. My plant children can be secretive as to their deepest needs, and when I take them for granted, forgetting we have agreed this work is to be a co-creation, they exert a gentle, or sometimes shocking, discipline. They call in the bugs. They wilt and won’t say why. I’m looking, but my eyes tell me nothing. How can I learn what a carrot knows?

My plant children look now at the sky and cry for rain. The sky is clean and pale, and I drag out the hose. I’m sweating as the sun whitens. I’m worried we may not be loved after all.

C

oming home from a fall night out, I am walking from my car towards the yellow lights of the house, when I hear my garden call me. There might be a hard frost by morning. As I step into the circle, I hear an owl join in, and the moon spreads out from behind a cloud. It has been a good season, and now there is poignancy in the shadowy silhouettes of broken stalks and ragged leaves. I sit down and dig my hands into the still-warm earth, and hold on.

A pulse begins inside my palms. I try to listen. I try to answer.

It’s winter and the catalogues have arrived. The glossy colors

collect in my dreams, the fat reds and yellows dominant, like small, pungent fires. My black cat sits on the arm of the chair and we make plans. She likes row covers, and considers them her personal hunting blinds. I have told her she shouldn’t leave her tail twitching out if she wants to be truly effective, but she just yawns, secure in her proficiencies.

I am grateful tonight, and excited. I am going to have another chance to do it right, or at least, better. I am making lists, and they are too long. Last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and for lifetimes before that, I have allowed myself to get too caught up in the details. This year, I will be sure to pay attention and not miss anything.

The golden taste of winter squash and the dry texture of beans, my squash, my beans, lingers from dinner on my tongue. I didn’t have to grow them, I could have brought them home from the store and I still would have been nourished, grateful for the strange and wonderful ways to stay alive. But, that’s like buying a textbook to learn a foreign language, and I want to visit the country, be welcomed as a native, disappear into the landscape. This year, with a hoe and a prayer, I will be sure to begin.

Rondi Lightmark Guilford, Vermont, 1995 Drawings by Valerie Willson

To learn more, contact us, and to donate visit our website or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831

With gratitude to King County for their support!

Stubborn Optimism: The mindset that is necessary to transform the reality we’re given into the reality we want.

Stubborn Optimism: It Can Help Us Deal with the Climate Crisis

by Susan McCabe Christiana Figueres, Costa Rican diplomat and architect of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement believes in stubborn optimism.

Without diminishing the enormity of what we are facing with climate change, she writes, we are capable of changing course, and no objective evidence says otherwise: “Our societies have faced daunting challenges before—institutionalized slavery and racism, the oppression and exclusion of women, the rise of fascism. To be sure, none of these challenges have been definitively solved, but addressed collectively, we know they are surmountable.

“Climate change is even more complex because of the finality it portends for the human species, but we are well prepared to deal with it. We have already achieved a host of social and political successes; we have most, if not all, of the technologies we will need; we have the necessary capital, and we know which policies are most effective. We can do this!”

--Thomas Rivett Carnac and Christiana Figueres in The Future We Choose, Surviving the Climate Crisis

We went looking for some local stubborn optimists, and of course, there are many on Vashon! Here is some inspiration from a few: The Vashon Audubon Society… …finds hope in educating our children and community about how to protect birds and their environment for the benefit of future generations, says President Julie Burman. They are co-sponsoring the glorious Heron Meadow Mural, painted by Vashon artist Britt Freda and located in the field below Vashon Center for the Arts. It features endangered birds in the Pacific Northwest.

They also offer classes on birding and protecting riparian environments, as well as advocating for bird and climate action policies regionally and nationally.

“If a child is to keep their inborn sense of wonder, they need the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with them the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” Rachel Carson, 1956.

The Ruby Brink Restaurant …Co-owner Jake Heil says, “We may be a simple bar and restaurant, but what gives us hope right now is realizing the opportunity we have, as a trusted business, to act according to our personal ideals. The remainder of 2020 must be a time to keep each other lifted and focused on positive measures which buoy our community morale, which in turn gives everyone more energy to be powerful and effective in the things that matter most for them. We must stick together and remain connected.”

In response to the pandemic, Ruby Brink owners are focused on keeping staff healthy (in all ways), and expanding their ability to serve our community food and drink, even into the cold weather. They remain committed to keeping food waste near zero; and maintain impeccability when sourcing meat and produce from regionally local farmers who embrace sustainable practices and the ethical treatment of animals.

Backbone Campaign… . . .Backbone founder Bill Moyer says, “What gives me hope is the resilience of nature and the fundamental creative impulse and desire of humans to solve problems when given the opportunity to do so. Connection to place and the stories, dreams and genius of regular people is medicine for my soul.”

With this inspiration, Backbone is working to create resilience at the local and national level. Relationships that transcend partisanship, through local organizing of the Vashon Island Time Exchange (VashonTime.org), parallel Backbone’s national work on Solutionary Rail. This visionary effort brings together unlikely allies, to realize a decarbonized transportation and energy infrastructure that puts public interest over private profits. “Divisiveness is easy,” says Moyer.

“Bringing people together to solve root problems is urgent and challenging work.”

…Land Trust Director Tom Dean says, “Change is in the air, and despite these uncertain and difficult times, I am always up for change.”

“I have been thinking a lot lately about how the earth serves to support us in times of need, with water and food and shelter and solace. And about our responsibilities to care for the earth. I just finished 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann. It is inspiring to read about the traditional knowledge about living with the earth that indigenous cultures cultivated over thousands of years – knowledge that is not taught in our schools, and in many ways is ignored and denied. That is not to say they were all successful, because they were not. But the cultures that survived the longest – and many continue to thrive – had the closest relationship to and knowledge of the earth.”

“In talking with Islanders this year, I find that so many of us are focused anew on how we can care for the earth so that the earth can care for us. At the Land Trust, we’re gearing up for fall tree planting – to build habitat for wildlife, to protect our aquifer, to beautify our trails, and to do our part for climate change.”

Practice Stubborn Optimism with us!

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website WholeVashonProject.com or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831 * Join us on Facebook.com/groups/Whole-Vashon-Project We are grateful to the King County Department of Local Services for its support.

It’s the system we’re bringing back. It’s not magic; it’s just biology. Microbiology. And it depends on a constant flow of energy. It’s all about energy flow on this planet, and it’s the microbes that develop all the different protein structures, to capture that energy and to channel it through living organisms. This is what we have to try to restore, that whole system that evolved on the planet.

-- David C. Johnson, PhD, molecular biologist and research scientist, New Mexico State University

Grasslands and Ruminants: Nature’s Brilliant Soil-building System

by Rondi Lightmark, illustrated by Mexican artist/naturalist Hodari Nundu

Want to color Hodari’s drawing?

Share your creation in a jpeg to post on Facebook.com/groups/wholevashonproject!

(Two animals on this drawing are important grazers, but not ruminants. Can you guess which ones?)

Fifty-five million years ago, great grasslands evolved to cover vast areas on every continent except Antarctica. So Nature thought, “How to maintain these nice lawns I’ve created?” Her answer: the ruminant, an extraordinary creature with a 4-chambered digestive system, especially designed to convert the cellulose in grass into its food source.

Originally, vast herds of ruminants moved across the land, fertilizing it with their dung and urine, inoculating the grass with the bacteria in their saliva, and trampling it into the earth, to break down into rich, biologically active soil. They never remained long in one place, but kept moving, ever seeking new feeding ground, leaving the area behind them time to regenerate. Every visit built more soil, and the rich earth held vast quantities of water, maintaining life in the many ecosystems that were created.

At first, humans followed the herds, only taking what they needed to live. Then, cattle were domesticated from the wild ox about 10,500 years ago. Humans settled down, built fences, began to control their food supply, and the land began to die from overgrazing and ignorant agricultural practices. The plow exposed the earth, heavy rains led to erosion, soils were depleted of nutrients, became less biologically active and could no longer hold water. As the water cycle disappeared from the land, ecosystems broke down and began to disappear. Drought and depleted soils brought famine, wars, and pestilence.

Civilizations were built on the health of the soil—and died when the soil died. Today, there are still great grasslands covering nearly 40% of the planet, and the ruminants in Hodari Nundu’s drawing still exist, although in ever-decreasing numbers. But, according to the United Nations, one third of the earth’s soils “may have lost the living organisms that allow soil to perform the functions necessary for the health of plants and the environment.”

As we struggle to come to terms with a dying planet, ruminants—and specifically cattle, are often targeted as a key cause of climate change, due to the methane belched as part of their digestive process. Yet there have been countless ruminants living on billions of acres of land around the globe for millions of years—and they never caused a climate crisis. It is the breakdown of a biological system that is the factor, not the ruminant. David Johnson, the scientist quoted under our masthead, in only one of many researchers who affirm the necessity of deepening our understanding of Nature’s wisdom from a biological perspective.

Faced with a terminal illness, fear usually drives people to vow to change their habits. But often denial comes first, and bargaining. Our response to the climate crisis is very much in the denial and bargaining stage. The reason there is still hope comes from those individuals all over the world who have progressed to the later stages of Love and Acceptance: Love, with a commitment to understand and learn from the deep wisdom of nature; 2. Acceptance that stopping fossil fuel emissions will be pointless unless we restore Nature’s biological systems.

Visit Savory.global to learn more about the healing of grasslands in the US and all over the globe.

Questions? To contact us, and to donate, visit our website WholeVashonProject.com or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831 * Join us on Facebook.com/groups/wholevashonproject We are grateful to the King County Department of Local Services for its support.

Go on, you know you want to! XXX -- the residents of the Scottish island of Eigg in the Hebrides

Islands of the World Going Green: Lots of them!

by Rondi Lightmark, illustrated by Valerie Willson

Guess what? It turns out that literally hundreds of island communities all over the world are leaders in the climate change fight. In fact, if you Google “islands going green”, or “sustainable islands,” like I did, you’ll find plenty of reading material that is both inspiring and impressive.

Here are a few examples: EIGG ISLAND, Scotland—12 square miles, pop. 100 (islandsgoinggreen.org) Commitment to sustainability since 2008, when they created a community-owned electric company that provides renewable power from water, sun, and wind. Community vehicles use bio-diesel, made locally from used ferry fuel. There is a feasibility study for an “electric car sharing club,” competitions for households to win solar panel installations, and visitors who travel to Eigg via public transport get discount vouchers for island businesses. Every home has a compost bin, with free coaching from master teachers. Islanders get grants for up to 50% of the cost towards items that reduce their CO2 emissions, such as home insulation and material for greenhouses.

BORNHOLM ISLAND, Denmark—227 sq. mi., pop. 40,000 (brightgreenisland.dk) Commitment to be 100% sustainable and CO2-neutral by 2025. Their 8 goals include, making sustainability good business, constant monitoring of their progress, growing their own food, creating sustainable housing, protecting natural resources, and including all members of the community in their achievements. Sixty percent of local food production is organic; the plan is to reach 100% by the end of this year.

MALLORCA, Spain--405 sq. mi, pop. 416,065 (Google “Mallorca goes green”) Great strides made already in reducing fossil fuel use and plastic waste, but the biggest news as of October 2020: Mallorca is the recipient of an EU grant to become “Europe’s first example of an integrated island economy based on green hydrogen.” The plan is to produce “at least 300 tons of renewable hydrogen locally per year from solar energy.”

GAPADO, South Korea—1 sq. mi., pop. 245 (Google “Gapado goes green”) A test case for sustainable tourism in an area that attracts millions of people annually, Gaspado has become carbon-neutral with a combination of wind turbines and solar power. Sixty-three other Korean islands are targeted for a shift as well.

TRISTAN DA CUNHA, a British territory in the south Atlantic --38 sq. mi., pop. 250 (Google “Tristan da Cunha goes green”) With funding help from Britain, the most remote inhabited island on earth is creating a sanctuary that will be “the biggest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth biggest in the world,” protecting 11 species of whales and dolphins, as well as other fish and “the tens of millions of seabirds that feed on them, including the critically endangered albatross.”

KEFALONIA, Greece—300 sq. mi., pop. 35,000 (Google “Plastic Free Island”) In 2014, two artists inspired their community to ban single-use plastic and create art from plastic pollution on the beaches. Today, the Plastic Pollution Coalition (http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org) is a growing global alliance of more than 1,200 organizations, businesses and thought leaders in 75 countries, all with the mission of creating a plastic-free world.

CUBA—42,426 sq. mi., pop. 11,326,616 (Google “The good life in Havana”) Cuba is not a small island! And it’s the only country—or island--in the world that has provided its residents with 100% organic food for decades. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Castro prioritized food production and food security over trade, and even today, all of their food is grown organically.

From what I’ve read, so much of the remarkable progress described here has the following in common: 1. Excellent and committed funding from governments and organizations, both national and international; 2. Clear goals and bold, far-seeing visions of a truly sustainable planet; 3. Discipline and a united sense of purpose.

I’ll say this: the Whole Vashon Project is about having faith in Vashon, that we can establish a place among the visionaries transforming and healing the islands of the world. And remarkable stirrings are happening here, creativity abounds.

Let us find one another, find the courage to keep moving forward, boldly, united and connected!

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website WholeVashonProject.com or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831 * Join us on Facebook.com/groups/Whole-Vashon-Project We are grateful to the King County Department of Local Services for its support.

Join Us! We’re Moving into Phase Two There are only about 300 Whole Vashon Catalogs left and they are going fast! Phase one is a resounding success. Despite the current challenges we all face with the pandemic and politics, The Whole Vashon Project is forging ahead, carrying at heart our future on this beautiful planet. Our goal is still the same: to work to create a common conversation and meaningful goals that will help us preserve our home for all beings and for generations to come.

Meet our core advisory group! We’ll be sharing more on this page and elsewhere in the coming months. Stay tuned for ways to get involved!

Rondi Lightmark Founder of Whole Vashon Project--former teacher/school administrator; professional writer/photographer, creator of Lightmark Press greeting cards of Vashon dogs, lives in a tiny house and plays the fiddle.

Special concern: Regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration.

Susan McCabe Co-leader, WVP -- Professional writer (Hannah,Ink), background in international marketing and radio journalism. Hosts REALTalk on KVSH-FM. Program director, producer, meeting facilitator, mediator, the go-to person on Vashon for managing people and their projects!

Special concern: Plastic waste and ocean degradation Lynn Greiner Social justice lawyer, volunteers with non-profits as a strategic planner, fundraiser, facilitator; spearheaded the four-year legal effort to gain control of historic Mukai Farm & Garden; co-founded WisEnergy, a Vashon non-profit working to reduce local energy consumption; Special concern: Reducing Vashon’s carbon footprint.

Tag Gornall Founding member of Island GreenTech,green energy proponent, retired veterinarian, one of world’s foremost marine mammal experts. Known on Vashon for helping, humor and lots of heart.

Special concern: Plankton and everything to do with health of the waters of the world and those that live therein.

Steve Bergman Board member of ZeroWasteVashon, also Vashon Makerspace; also involved with Vashon Tool Library and other local citizen science projects. A retired research geologist and educator, Steve loves to share “Rock Talk” with anyone.

Special concern: To discover and sharehow the geosciences can increase Vashon’s sustainability and resilience.

Katrin Fletter Volunteer bookkeeper for WVProject and helps other Vashon non-profits as well; co-founder Berkeley Women's Center, environmental activist, consultant in small business, finance and tax accounting.

Special concern: How to inspire people to become more active in protecting the environment.

Sue Hardy Professional artist with passion for the environment and working with kids; retired high school art teacher, board member of Vashon Heritage Museum. Presently working on a series of images of endangered birds of the U.S. Special concern: Loss of habitat for birds, other animals, and also insects.

Terry Sullivan Founding member of WVP. Known for his bi-weekly column in the Vashon Loop, Terry’s mission is to present current events so that they are easy to process and learn from. Has lived sustainably for decades, helped found Vashon Household and recently, Transition Vashon.

Special concern: Land and soil degradation.

Siobhan MacComb Over the past 9+ years, has helped her family transition to a ZeroWaste lifestyle, which has led to the creation of her own company (OneGlassJar.com); she’s been sharing her knowledge both on Vashon and also at Amazon, The Recology Stores and more.

Special concern: ZeroWaste Living!

Sheila Brown Founding member of WVP and Vashon Soil Ambassadors, has spent much of her life working for social justice and the environment, formerly a carpenter and general contractor, studied herbalism and permaculture, volunteers extensively in our community.

Special concern: Soil, especially composting to heal the earth.

We are grateful to the Vashon-Maury Land Trust for its ongoing fiscal sponsorship of this endeavor.

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website WholeVashonProject.com or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831 * Join us on Facebook.com/groups/Whole-Vashon-Project We are grateful to the King County Department of Local Services for its support.

Hope comes from Facing the Truth--and Finding the Courage to Follow where It Leads.

The Four Horses of the Climate Apocalypse

Greenhouse Gases Toxic Chemicals

Ecological Collapse

Industrial/Biological Waste

On this last day of what has been a very dark and challenging year, we are sharing a dark vision on our final 2020 page in the Beachcomber--a horrific, satirical cartoon, drawn by Mexican artist Hodari Nundu. We think it’s one that Vashon can handle.

Because if we want to create a different reality for ourselves and our future, hope has to have muscle. If we can’t face the truth of what we are doing to our planet, then what? Isn’t hope more like fantasy, having no transformative power?

The Whole Vashon Project Team is wishing all of us a Fierce and Creative New Year, one that Stops the Hurt and Starts the Healing.

We want to know what you think. Which of these horses must be tamed first, above all else?

To learn more, contact us, and to donate, visit our website WholeVashonProject.com or call Rondi Lightmark at 206-463-0831 * Join us on Facebook.com/groups/Whole-Vashon-Project We are grateful to the King County Department of Local Services for its support.