West Seattle students from area schools had a big night at the city-wide Environmental Slam, sponsored by the
Washington Foundation for the Environment (WFFE). Due to the pandemic, this year’s Slam was conducted virtually using Zoom and pre-recorded entries. The Environmental Slam is an annual event that encourages middle- and high-school students to prepare 5-minute presentations on any local environmental issue. Winners are recognized and donations from WFFE will be made to the students’ chosen environmental non-profit organization that works specifically with the environmental issue that students focused on.
Madison MS 8th grader
Aria Erickson won both the Judges’ Choice 1st-place award (with a perfect score for the first time ever in Slam history) and the Audience Choice award. Her presentation, titled
Home » Environment » Hundreds of firefighters. 20 bulldozers. Intentional burns: Inside Washington’s $328M push to break cycle of disastrous fires
Legislature unites in support of massive cash infusion to step up firefighting, improve forests and secure communities near the fire lines
After a devastating wildfire season that saw a baby boy die and 1,200 square miles of the state burn, Washington lawmakers are poised to fight fire with money. A lot of money.
Legislation that’s received unanimous support would see Washington spend an additional $125 million over the next two years to extinguish, prevent and live with fires. Both legislative houses have passed House Bill 1168 and Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign the bill, which would see the state spend $328 million on the efforts by 2027.
Saving Indigenous subsistence lifeways
On today s weekend edition of Indian Country Today we ll hear about casinos, rivers and farming.
Author:
Apr 16, 2021
Alyssa Macy talks about salmon on the brink of extinction and what that means for rivers and tribal people.
Plus Hope Flanagan from Dream of Wild Health tells us about Sally Auger s work in Minnesota.
And correspondent Carina Dominguez shows the impact the virus is having on casinos and the communities they fund.
A slice of our Indigenous world
Deb Haaland is set to speak at the United Nations on Monday.
Dante Desiderio is taking the helm at the National Congress of American Indians.
An existential threat to Northwest tribes
Alyssa Macy joins the show to talk about how salmon are on the brink of extinction and what that means for tribal people. Correspondent Carina Dominguez has more on how COVID-19 is affecting tribal casinos. Plus Meghan Sullivan talks with us about one women who is showcasing Inupiaq culture on social media.
Author:
Apr 13, 2021
A report released today names the top 10 endangered rivers. Number One is the Snake River. Once the largest salmon producer in the Columbia River Basin, today its salmon runs are at the brink of extinction. The loss of salmon is an existential threat to Northwest tribes that depend on the fish for their cultures and identities. Alyssa Macy breaks this down for us. From the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon, she is the CEO of Washington Environmental Council.
Sounds good. What s the problem?
Some big unions like this thing. Large environmental groups such as Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Voters, the Washington Environmental Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Nature Conservancy like this thing. BP, who spent $13 million to kill the 2018 carbon fee initiative, and private utilities support this thing.
But the climate justice community, as represented by about 40 organizations around the state, does not support this thing. And they ve got reasons.
Climate justice advocates argue Washington s cap and trade scheme won t stop air pollution at its source quick enough, and it won t lower emissions in time to meet the state s goals, mostly because big polluters use the allowances and offsets to game the market.