Persistence Pays: The Ups and Downs of Environmental Activism

WOW! On May 5, Governor Jay Inslee signed the clean energy bill, SB-5116, along with several other bills to help reduce global warming. After two years of frustrating defeats of carbon tax initiatives here, this was a huge thrill for many of us in 350 Spokane along with other environmental groups around the state and the country. We encouraged our legislators to take these bold, necessary actions. We urged them to stand up to the large fossil fuel corporations who are ignoring the damage that their fossil fuel economy is inflicting on our earth. Now our state is getting noticed for what has been accomplished here. I consider this success to be OUR success, a result of OUR actions letting our legislators know that many people here in Washington State want such essential change.

2020 Climate Action at the Legislature

This week our hearts are with everyone affected by the COVID-19 public health crisis, both in our state and around the world. It is heartening to see that the world can act with decisive action to respond to a crisis, if it chooses to. Yesterday was the end of the 2020 Washington State legislative session and we wanted to take a moment to share what happened related to action to address the climate crisis.

The Smoke Ahead

It was very literally a summer for the record books. Spokane went 80 days without rainfall, from late-June until mid-September, making 2017 the hottest, driest summer recorded.

The remarkable fact was that this record-driest summer followed the record-wettest winter. As Northwesterners emerged in April from endlessly gray skies, grousing and bleary-eyed, plants took the meaning of “spring” to heart, bursting forth in lush excess. Grasses and shrubs grew thick and deep — until the arrival of an infernal June and July, drying all that brush dried to tinder and baking moisture from the soil. Long before August, an epic fire season was already well under way.