The Puget Sound is in serious danger. Pollution has wreaked horrible consequences on this majestic waterway. For example, 92% of wild salmon runs are no more, and several stocks of other species are collapsing as well. Why is the Puget Sound in danger? Ask an expert.

Take it from William Dietrich. He published an article in the Seattle Times yesterday. It's about this very subject. It's very well written and it's titled: "Puget Sound: One man's indictment, love poem and call to arms", here's a link: seattletimes.nwsource.com/

Thursday May 8th at 6 pm at Traditions Cafe at 5th and Water street. Contact Beth Doglio for info: 570-8804.

Explore climate change and sustainability issues with Climate Solutions and visiting delegates from Olympia's sister city, Santo Tomas, Nicaragua. Great Family Event!

Over at envirotalk Jim Lazar announces that Quality Rock lost their appeal to expand their operations down south of Tumwater on the Black River:

Sue Danver just handed me a decision by the Supreme Court denying to hear the appeal of Quality Rock.

That means the rejection, affirmed by the Court of Appeals, is final.

"Department II of the Court, composed of Chief Justice Alexander and Justices Chambers, Madsen, Fairhurst and Stephens (Justice C. Johnson sat for Justice Chambers), at it's April 1, 2008 Motion Calendar, considered whether review should be granted pursuant to RAP 13.4(b), and unanimously agreed that the following order be entered:

IT IS ORDERED

That the Petition for Review is denied.

DATED at Olympia, Washington this 2nd day of April, 2008

For the Court

Gerry Alexander
Chief Justice

Congratuations to Audubon for sticking it out, and to Sue for guiding it along.

Here's a rundown of history of the case:

Quality Rock Products asks to be heard by the Supreme Court

Thursday, February 28, 2008

This is the statement that Jeff wrote and read to the Judge this morning

Jeffrey (Free) Luers Resentencing Hearing, Feb. 28, 2008

Statement of Jeffrey Luers to Judge Billings at Sentencing

It has been many years since I first stood in court to be sentenced for these actions. I now not only have the benefit of hindsight but also possess the knowledge and understanding that comes from leaving the naiveté of youth behind.

I can now say with all honesty that I was wrong to think that arson would inspire social change. But, my failure in understanding that does not mean I have changed my opinion of radical activism.

Mr. Hassleman has a written statement from me in which I have acknowledged being wrong. I have also committed to living the life of a law-abiding citizen and promoting my activism through legal means and channels. Understandably, the prosecutor has expressed some skepticism of my sincerity. I wish to lay those fears to rest.

I am truly excited about my future. Through the love and support of my family, friends and many people I do not even know, I have numerous options available to me. I am looking forward to furthering my education, and pursuing my goals through hard work. I am ready to share my life with my loved ones and I am dedicated to giving back to the community that has shown me so much love and support through these years of imprisonment. That is not the lip service the prosecutor may fear, but my sincere desire to move on with my life.

However, choosing to take a new path and recognizing my mistakes and failures does not make me ashamed of them. I am sorry if my actions instilled fear or the sense of victimization in the Romania family. That was never my intent.

I found this info for people in and around the Olympia Area.The best part of this is they come to you! There is a self haul option, twice yearly and can be found here.

Spring Recycle Days, April 22 - 25, 2008.

There are some rules!

What We Can’t Take: We will not take these items as part of Spring Recycle Days:

I recently read a series of emails concerning pollution and waste relating to idling cars and trucks. A vehicle that is stopped and waiting in line at a fast food restaurant drive through, or at a traffic signal, continues to emit exhaust even though the engine is not working to move the vehicle.

We have problems with pollution (in re: global warming) and gas consumption (in re: foreign wars of aggression over oil resources.)

Recently I returned from a jog; my route had taken me through downtown Olympia. When I got home I realized that I smelled like automobile exhaust. I was kind of grossed out. I also depend on my bicycle for much of my transportation needs. I don't like breathing automobile exhaust while I am out, and I don't like smelling like it after being out. Reducing the amount of exhaust in the air seems like a good idea to me.

Anyway, I was reading this discussion. Former mayor Bob Jacobs had once proposed to turn the city stop lights to blinking yellow status during off hours. I have noticed that the Adams Street and 4th Avenue stop light seems to be passively blinking yellow all the time recently.

Does changing the traffic signals to a passive blinking status during non-rush hours make sense to you?

There's been quite a bit of discussion on Olyblog lately about racism and white priviledge.  There are two things I'd like to point out here.

The first is that there has been a lack of concrete evidence describing the reality of insitutional racism in our discussions.  Educational inequality, environmental racism, white flight, etc have only been hinted at.  I'd like to strongly recommend the book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol to anyone who is interested in the issue, or who doubts that institutional racism is a reality.  The book describes the current state of segregation in the school system (schools are currently more divided along lines of race than they were before Brown v Board of Education), and provides a wealth of data, case studies, and anecdotal information showing that poor black students get a lot less funding for their education than middle class white students.

The story of East St. Louis (I'll abbreviate: "ESL") stands out the strongest in the book.  At the time that Savage Inequalities was written (I don't know if anything has changed or how), ESL was an extraordinarily poor, predominantly black neighborhood separated from the white middle class neighborhoods by a river. 

Recently, I experienced a pretty cool thing in downtown Sonoma, and think it could easily be replicated here in Olympia and anywhere else. We wandered into a store where I bought some little trinkets for some friends. When I went to the counter to pay, the clerk asked me if I would like a bag or if I would rather have a piece of chocolate. Hmmmm...since we were planning on doing some more shopping, I thought I might like the bag. BUT, my purse is big enough and I sure did want that chocolate. It wasn't a HUGE piece of chocolate, but I really enjoyed it and wound up bag-free and feeling pretty good.

Funny what a little chocolate will do.

If we care about the prosperity of future generations, then it is essential that we take steps to remedy the harmful relationship between human kind and the planet.