Making a Difference

by Kathi White
February 17, 2019

Seems that lately, we have been flooded with too much negative information! The nightly news is full of catastrophes, insanely severe weather, shootings, politics and political scandals. I honestly cannot watch the news sometimes. Many times I have to turn the channel, to something mindless and silly. I understand the need to unplug from all the negativity. However, I’m sure you have noticed the climate changing in Tacoma. We have had some drastic and severe changes in the past few years. As a Tacoma native, I can’t remember ever having to spend weeks in the summer breathing in smoke filled air caused by forest fires. It’s been so extremely hot in the summers that an air conditioner is now a requirement. This is not normal weather for us in the Pacific Northwest, who usually enjoy our mild climate.

There are those who will deny climate change, but you know all the facts about it. You’ve seen Al Gore and all his charts explaining in detail what is happening on YouTube. (If you haven’t seen his videos, check them out!) You’ve heard it on the news for decades now. Time is of the essence! We no longer have time to deny climate change. We need to act quickly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While I definitely have environmental overload myself, I have decided I am going to work towards getting cleaner energy in Tacoma. I support 350 Tacoma because it’s committed to lowering the emissions locally.

Our biggest project right now is no Liquefied Natural Gas Plant in Tacoma. Despite Puget Sound Energy’s super expensive commercials claiming that this is “clean energy” this is still a fossil fuel and the process used to extract the gas is called fracking. This process uses chemicals and large amounts of water and sand at high pressure to fracture rock formations.   This allows the oil and gas inside the rock to escape and to be extracted. This can create havoc with the environment. It can cause earthquakes and the chemicals used in the process pollute the groundwater and are released into the atmosphere.

Please see our blogs about the LNG on our 350 Tacoma page. We encourage you to sign the petitions and they are easy to do on the pre made forms — all you need to do is sign and send. We have many other projects we are working on and would love for you to get involved. Do you love working outside in the fresh air? Come join us at the little Salt Marsh that we steward down at the Port of Tacoma. We are trying to get the native plants and shrubs reestablished. There are also many volunteer positions available. We have art projects that we use for demonstrations. We participate at City Meetings. We stand with the Puyallup Tribe and we consult with them.

I personally have decided to use my energy to make positive changes. I need to get involved and I hope you do too. If we all do just one thing towards our children’s future we CAN make a difference! Thank you for taking the time to read our blogs.