Your Best Solar Options
Tuesday, August 20 at 7 pm on Zoom
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Join us for our final presentation in the Electrify Everything in Your Life series: "Solar - What is the Right Solution for You?"
Meet our experts who will talk you through your site evaluation, planning your project and discuss other options.
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Our Monthly Meeting Will Be In-Person:
North Creek Forest Walk and Talk
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Friday, Aug. 21 at 10 am
20115 112th Ave NE, Bothell
Experience mature trees of the kind we have been working to protect and do it on trails with no "bushwhacking" involved. Forest champion Kate Lunceford and Cathy Ferbrache, a founding member of Friends of North Creek Forest, will guide the walk and explain how urban forests can thrive.
Instead of a Zoom social in August, let's get outside together! |
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Kicking Gas Information Session
Saturday, August 24 at 10 am on Zoom
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Learn how you can transition to an All-Electric Home. The Kicking Gas campaign supports electrification with subsidies and information about heat pumps and electric cooking now, adding electric hot water heaters soon. The goal is to help decarbonize our region, avoid the health dangers of indoor fossil fuel combustion, and strengthen our community in the face of climate challenges.
If you currently use propane, oil, "natural" gas, or wood heat and live in Snohomish County or Whidbey Island, you are eligible for savings of 20 or 50% paid by Climate Commitment Act funds. |
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Lynnwood Light Rail Celebration
Friday, August 30 from 4 to 8 pm
Lynnwood City Center Station
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| Sno-Isle Sierra Club will be part of the celebration recognizing the opening of the Lynnwood Light Rail Station . Snotrac, Lynnwood Chamber, and Sound Transit are putting on a big evening community event with music, dance, food trucks, arts & crafts market, family fun zone and more. Hope to see you there! |
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Help Defeat Initiative 2117
Initiative 2117 would roll back protection for our air, water, forests, and farmlands. It would eliminate funding to reduce fossil fuel use, combat wildfires, and restore salmon habitat. Despite what the fossil fuel industry says, I-2117 would NOT bring down gas prices.
Get involved in the NO on 2117 campaign. For starters, join activists across the state who will be distributing educational materials to voters on the weekends of August 17-18 and 24-25. |
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| Speak Up at Snohomish County Comprehensive Plan Hearings |
Monday, Aug. 19 at 6 pm
Zoom or in-person at Council Chambers, County Admin bldg.
3000 Rockefeller Ave, Everett
This is your last opportunity to write or speak to the Council regarding the proposed county Urban Tree Canopy Policy and protecting clean air, clear water, and a livable community.
Email your comments to:
contact.council@snoco.org
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You Can Help Save a Forest
The state of Washington has approved clearcut logging of a mature forest just 2 miles downstream from the tragic Oso landslide, on another steep hillside above homes. Outrage at the state's failure to account for known environmental impacts of this decision led the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition to file a lawsuit to stop logging of this forest, called Stilly Revisited.
However, lawsuits cost money. This is where your help comes in. Contributing for legal costs is important action. |
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Community Stewards Host
Repair and Recycle Events
Repair Cafe
Sat. Aug. 10 from 10 am to 2 pm
404 N. Olympic Ave, Arlington
Styrofoam Collection
Wed. Aug. 14 from 10 am to 1 pm
Northwest Stream Center
McCollum Park,
600 128th ST SE, Everett |
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Planning for Wildfire on Whidbey
Saturday, Aug. 24 from 9 to 5 pm
Whidbey Island Center for the Arts
Think the unthinkable: All you can see is smoke and leaping flames. Can you get out? Where can your family go? How can you protect your home?
This event brings together government and community leaders to share information about preparing for fire emergencies, how to protect your home, what to do in an emergency, and how to lessen wildfire risk.
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Edmonds Marsh Estuary Tour
More than 30 people showed up to see and hear how the Edmonds Marsh Estuary can be reconnected to Puget Sound and provide valuable salmon habitat. The tour was led by Greg Ferguson and Kathleen Sears of the Edmonds Marsh Estuary Advocates, and co-sponsored by the Sno-Isle Sierra Club and Pilchuck Audubon Society. |
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Marching for Our Causes in 4th of July Parades
More than 70 supporters marched with the Edmonds Marsh Estuary Advocates in the Edmonds parade, with a life-size inflatable Orca to spread the word about the importance of protecting habitat for the salmon that Orcas eat.
At the Everett parade, the League of Women Voters of Snohomish County debuted its Drill Team to increase visibility for the message of empowering voters and defending democracy. |
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United Student Leaders of Whidbey
Whidbey students are collecting signatures for a Climate Emergency Petition to be presented to the Island County Commissioners. Their goal is to hold commissioners accountable for climate action. They now have approximately 150 signatures but need more. Island County resident signatures are particularly relevant, but all are welcome. |
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Riparian Zone Restoration
Friday, Aug. 9 from 9 to noon
Al Borlin Park
615 Simons Road, Monroe
Adopt a Stream Foundation is sponsoring a mulching party to restore Woods Creek, a local salmon stream. The sign-up link below offers details about the project. Tools, gloves, and refreshments will be provided, and good company is sure to be included. |
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Sustainable Community Stewards Training
Every Wed. Sept. 11 through Oct. 30
6 to 8:30 pm |
WSU Snohomish County Extension
6705 Puget Park Dr., Snohomish
Eight in-person classes plus two Zoom sessions will offer an overview of environmental sustainability and climate change solutions, followed by specifics of meaningful action.
Those completing the course can request a class fee reimbursement from David Jones. |
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By Nancy Johnson
Last summer, Sno-Isle Sierra Club and Climate Reality Project members set up tables at festivals, fairs, farmers markets, and other events around Snohomish County. We enjoyed talking with our neighbors about tackling the climate crisis and preserving our environment for future generations, discussing issues such as saving salmon and orcas, preserving our forests, and how to plan for sea level rise.
Our most popular display, though, was our electric induction stove top and our free samples of plant-based foods prepared on those stoves.
Why would environmental groups be pushing electric stoves? Because they do not release harmful methane gas.
Natural gas is mostly made up of methane, and methane just happens to be 86 times stronger than carbon dioxide in its first 20 years after release. So even though carbon dioxide is much more prevalent in our atmosphere, methane is responsible for about a third of our current global warming.
It’s a low-hanging fruit. If we can reduce methane rapidly, that could moderate future temperature rise and be a critical step in slowing short- and long-term global warming.
About 40% of U.S. methane emissions come from all the steps in oil and gas production. That includes normal usage and leaks from the gas pipes and fittings in your own home.
Which brings us to our second reason for promoting home electrification – improving air quality and health within our homes.
A recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that 12.7% of childhood asthma in the U.S. is attributable to gas stoves:
“For childhood asthma, exposure to gas-stove pollution is similar to being exposed to secondhand smoke,” said Brady Seals, who co-authored the report and works in the Carbon-Free Buildings program at RMI, a nonprofit focused on the energy transition.
Gas stoves release pollutants and volatile organic compounds, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and benzene; all these pollutants are linked to increased respiratory damage, and benzene has been linked to increased cancer risk.
Not all populations are equally burdened by asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Some parts of our county already have heavy air pollution exposures with higher risks for respiratory illnesses including asthma – think communities near I-5 or our increasingly busy highways, airports, industries, waste disposal facilities, etc. The increased risk for asthma from the air in our homes is an additional health burden that can be avoided.
If you have gas appliances, how can you reduce the effects of this indoor air pollution? Be sure your carbon monoxide monitor is working properly. If you have a gas stove and a kitchen fan with an outdoor exhaust, use it every time you cook. If an exhaust fan isn’t available, open windows while using the stove.
If it’s time to replace your fossil fuel stove or furnace, there are current and upcoming programs that can help you plan and afford to electrify.
- Attend a Kicking Gas information session to learn about how you can get 20 or 50% off the cost of a heat pump (up to $7500) and other subsidies for electric and induction stoves and - coming soon - water heaters: heat pump or hybrid.
- Check your eligibility for the Inflation Reduction Act’s home electrification incentives. See the Rewiring America calculator.
Nancy Johnson is a retired nurse, grandmother, and co-chair of the Sierra Club Sno-Isle Group. She recently converted her mid-century house to all-electric and had her gas meter removed. Contact Nancy at Nancy.Johnson@Washington.SierraClub.org |
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The willingness to show up changes us.
It makes us a little braver each time.
Brene' Brown
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