Good to be back in the blogging world. It's at this point I look back at a blog begun January 2011 in Sustainability Marketing class and think, "I should have seen a sustainable business degree coming".
Had a conversation on the bus this morning with a gentleman studying biology and geography at WWU. He waxed eloquent on the wonders of the natural environment and how we shouldn't be destroying it all. It's in these situations I love being able to say, "We're working on that!"
My hope & dream for the coming year: being able to say, "We did that."
This brings me to a topic that surfaced in an earlier post (Bellingham Scheduled to Become Major Coal-Exporting Port) and has since raged back and forth beneath the subdued surface of my home community.
Right now we're in the middle of the scoping process, with one session yesterday, Oct. 15th, and another Nov. 3rd. These determine what factors will be considered in the environmental impact assessment. (Does "establishing system boundaries" sound familiar?)
A group called "Safeguard the South Fork" is equipping public participants to submit meaningful comments during the review (tipping the "self-organization" leverage point).
It turns out that where the system boundary is drawn can make a big difference. The Gateway Pacific Terminal site claims the completed project will furnish 1,250 long-term jobs. This doesn't take into account whether adverse effects to the local marine ecosystem will cause a collapse in the fishing industry, which currently numbers among major employers in Bellingham.
It doesn't take into account where housing will be built to accommodate these workers. If it expects them to commute from Bellingham, it's not factoring in transportation costs to the community.*
(*With further research I found how they solved this dilemma: by claiming a maximum of 213 long-term jobs on the traffic impact segment of their land use application.)
I plan to take a look at some of the systems elements in this situation over the next few weeks, and maybe locate a few more "leverage points".
Had a conversation on the bus this morning with a gentleman studying biology and geography at WWU. He waxed eloquent on the wonders of the natural environment and how we shouldn't be destroying it all. It's in these situations I love being able to say, "We're working on that!"
My hope & dream for the coming year: being able to say, "We did that."
This brings me to a topic that surfaced in an earlier post (Bellingham Scheduled to Become Major Coal-Exporting Port) and has since raged back and forth beneath the subdued surface of my home community.
Right now we're in the middle of the scoping process, with one session yesterday, Oct. 15th, and another Nov. 3rd. These determine what factors will be considered in the environmental impact assessment. (Does "establishing system boundaries" sound familiar?)
A group called "Safeguard the South Fork" is equipping public participants to submit meaningful comments during the review (tipping the "self-organization" leverage point).
It turns out that where the system boundary is drawn can make a big difference. The Gateway Pacific Terminal site claims the completed project will furnish 1,250 long-term jobs. This doesn't take into account whether adverse effects to the local marine ecosystem will cause a collapse in the fishing industry, which currently numbers among major employers in Bellingham.
It doesn't take into account where housing will be built to accommodate these workers. If it expects them to commute from Bellingham, it's not factoring in transportation costs to the community.*
(*With further research I found how they solved this dilemma: by claiming a maximum of 213 long-term jobs on the traffic impact segment of their land use application.)
I plan to take a look at some of the systems elements in this situation over the next few weeks, and maybe locate a few more "leverage points".
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