Wallingford will not be able to avoid Climate Change. There is a worldwide consensus by professionals who study climate that we are in the midst of a massive change. If you disagree, let us know and share your evidence.
Most of us are aware that Greenhouse Gasses are emitted into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and other human activities. These gasses trap the sun’s heat and warm the atmosphere and the oceans. Therefore we get heat increases like the Heat Dome last summer and increased forest fires.
When the oceans heat up, they give off more water vapor (humidity). This causes the mega-hurricanes in spring as well as heavier than usual snowfall in winter.
But all is not lost. We now have the solutions to this problem. Find out more at the upcoming Eco-Summit on April 23, 2022 (after Earth Day).
REGISTRATION: www.community.works/ecosummit
ECO-SUMMIT ON THE RIDGE: THE TIME IS NOW!
The Eco-Summit on the Ridge will be a fun and engaging in-person event— an opportunity to gain awareness of climate solutions, hear from experts, build community, and spark imagination as we realize ourselves as change makers.
With each speaker presentation we will come together in small groups, give voice to what we care about, igniting innovative and actionable solutions for ongoing community engagement and support.
Participants will come away from this event energized with renewed hope and possibilities.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, for indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
DATE: April 23, 2022
TIME: 9:00 AM-4:30 PM
PLACE: Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N 85th Seattle, WA 98103
REGISTRATION: www.community.works/ecosummit
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Keynote:
Jeff Renner, Meteorologist
SPONSORS:
CommunityWorks! was founded on the principle of collaborative circles and their transformative power. Bringing people together in face-to-face conversation bolsters individual and collective confidence in realizing our tremendous agency as change-makers. We realize this vision by hosting community circles and events.
Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA)
It's That Easy - Climate
I would add that if you want to change your own impact, adopting a plant based diet is the most important thing most people can do. Meat consumption drives most agricultural emissions and virtually all deforestation. Obviously legislation and systems also need to change, but it’s important to get your own house in order before lobbying others to change. Don’t believe random Internet comments? Good! See the UNFCC statement here:
https://unfccc.int/blog/we-need-to-talk-about-meat
Thank you, Eric. Absolutely agree with you, on all points. A plant-based lifestyle is the direction we are going, like it or not, and it is only getting easier and easier to accomplish. It is the future.
I guess I can jump into this raging discussion, and encourage people to give plants a chance. As lisyaro says, it’s easier now than it was only a few years ago, and the rewards go beyond just feeling virtuous. Don’t feel you have to expect food that doesn’t taste very good or isn’t satisfying, because it increasingly does and is, and yet it hasn’t realized its potential either.
I had a “vegetarian hamburger” in a little cafe in Portugal that someone here needs to figure out – the “patty” may have been mostly green fava beans mashed up, and fried crispy – and fried egg on top. Not vegetarian? I guess, and honestly I generally steer clear of eggs, but the purist is generally a loser in this game. Really good eating is what wins. “Hamburger” is just a kind of sandwich, and beef is by no means the tastiest thing it can have inside.
The main thing is to liberate yourself from the idea that in the 1st world we’re going to compromise our health if we miss a meat meal. It’s almost impossible to eat an otherwise healthy diet, and come up short on protein. The venerable “Diet for a Small Planet” story on complementary amino acids was well motivated, but kind of wrongly reinforces the idea that you really need that high quality protein in the first place – if you skip the beef, you need the beans. I love beans – black beans, lima beans, split peas, whatever, pass them over here – but you can eat that sandwich with whatever you want in it. Really!
…and don’t forget those tasty lentils!
I may need some tips on getting the best outcomes with lentils. I mean, they’re OK, but I’ve sure had a more satisfying bowl of lentils at restaurants.
Try cooking them during the last 15 minutes of black beans cooked with onions and then pour some Lizano sauce on. Yum.
While you’re at it, make sure to lobby the City to instill protections for rooftop solar from shading by all those new, upzoned (taller) and wasteful vertical townhomes projects that recent code changes have incentivized.
Twenty-five to thirty percent of the floor area of such projects is “wasted” to stairwells. Request more efficient use of materials by incentivizing flats instead, or better yet, by adopting policies that encourage reuse and repurposing of existing older homes rather than teardowns that add to the number one source of waste to our landfills.
Conservation can be both greener and more affordable than new high-profit construction.
One new group of sixpak townhouses was open for purchasers yesterday. The door opens directly onto a not very large room that is the kitchen with a smallish table along the wall. The second and third floors are each a bedroom with a toilet. When the real estate guy was asked how he expected a couple with children to live in this unit he said that he did not expect people with children to buy. And you can’t expect the elderly or disabled to live there either. No parking. He said he expects the owners to ride the bus. That pretty much limits who can live there to folks who work from home, downtown, in Fremont, Children’s Hospital or at the U. With no place to plug in an electric vehicle it won’t even be feasible to park on the street. We can’t keep stringing extension cords across the sidewalk. An the unit was selling for over $900,000.
Do we have a widely accepted estimate of the lifespan of these structures? Would they still be worth $900K in say 40 years, supposing just for the sake of argument that both the dollar and the market stay exactly where they are today?
As for the parking, of course, that’s all because of climate change — if developers aren’t required to provide parking on site, then people will stop driving and the world will be saved. Also developers will make significantly better profits – that $900K is what the market will bear, has nothing to do with the developer’s costs, and any costs not incurred go into the profit margin.
“That pretty much limits who can live there to folks who work from home, downtown, in Fremont, Children’s Hospital or at the U. ”
That’s a lot of people.