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January 2019
Plastic Pollution: Cleanup and Prevention
Part 2 As I wrote in Part 1 of this series on plastic in our environment, our oceans are awash with all kinds of plastics to the tune of over 5 trillion pieces. (1) These items are now amassed in … Continue reading
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January 2019
Standing as an Orca in Boulevard Park
It is roughly three-and-a-half months since Tahlequah carried her unnamed calf (who died 30 minutes after birth) through the Salish Sea in a near mythic, 17-day vigil of grief. Soon after, Scarlet, a young female crucial to the regenerative hopes … Continue reading
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December 2018
Feeding One-Fifth of Ferndale
“Just inches away from homelessness and hunger.” Anyone in our community could end up here according to Sandy (not her actual name). I met Sandy in the line outside the Ferndale Food Bank. A dozen of us huddled under the … Continue reading
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December 2018
Plastic Pollution Comes Home to Our Beaches
Part 1 On a gray September morning, about 50 Bellinghamsters from infants to octogenarians trudged along Locust Beach under leaky skies carrying buckets, reusable plastic bags, grabbers and recording charts. All nonnatural items were picked up and recorded: cigarette butts, … Continue reading
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October-November 2018
Ranked Choice Voting: A Better Way to Conduct Elections
Americans across the political spectrum are increasingly dissatisfied with their elected officials. Voter turnout is dismally low. Many citizens feel that their votes don’t count. Despite having it drummed into us that we are a democracy, our country feels pretty … Continue reading
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October-November 2018
Building Trust Between Journalists and the Public
Steps reporters can take to build trust with the public: Be transparent — peel back the layers of reporting. Show readers where you found your information. Be clear where and how your interviews take place: in person, over the phone, … Continue reading
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October-November 2018
Defending Freedom of the Press
“We’re in the truth business, and the knowledge business, not the entertainment business.” — Pete Hamill, longtime journalist and author of “News Is a Verb: Journalism at the End of the Twentieth Century.” With election season nearing, you’ve probably been … Continue reading
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September 2018
Clues Emerging in Salmon Deaths
Editor’s Note: This series was originally published in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. An intensive research program in the U.S. and Canada is studying why so few salmon in the Salish Sea are returning home to spawn. Studies by more … Continue reading
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September 2018
Governors Point: Working Together
The Whatcom Land Trust conserves special lands in Whatcom County by working with willing owners. For decades Whatcom Land Trust has sought a willing owner of Governors Point, an iconic 125-acre wooded peninsula separating Bellingham and Samish bays. In February … Continue reading
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August 2018
Protecting Blanchard Forest
The chair of the Mount Baker Group of the Sierra Club, Randy Walcott, took up the cause of protecting Blanchard State Forest and Blanchard Mountain from ongoing logging. In December 1998, he formally petitioned the Washington State Department of Natural … Continue reading
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