Image via Pixabay
Why Kids Should Spend More Time Outdoors, and Ways to Get Them There
Jenny Miller
Childhood health should be a given, but that is not always the case. In the world we live in, technology has taken over much of our lives, and that has left children born anytime since the mid-1990s more or less reliant on technology. Because of this, along with other factors, childhood obesity and its related health problems are at pandemic proportions.
As we spend more and more time indoors, we neglect one of the most important aspects of our health: being outside running, jumping, playing, and exploring. But fortunately for us, nature is still there, and there is nothing stopping you from taking advantage of it. In doing so, you can help prevent nature-deficit disorder and reverse a lifetime of bad habits.
In the links below, you’ll find more information on the causes of childhood health issues related to sedentary lifestyles and activities you can do as a family that will get everyone moving.
The Risks
Learn about the dangers of not getting enough outdoor time.
- Childhood Obesity Causes and Consequences
- Nature Deficit Disorder Has Real Consequences
- The Harmful Effects of Too Much Screen Time for Kids
Outdoor Fun at Home
Your backyard provides endless opportunities for fun activities!
- Six Times Tag: Different Ways to Play Tag
- Outdoor Scavenger Hunts
- 16 DIY Homemade Hummingbird Feeder Ideas to Attract Them to Your Home
- Edible Landscaping Ideas — Fruit and Vegetable Plants for Your Yard
- How to Safely Observe Wildlife from Your Home
- How To Play Hopscotch
Find an Adventure!
To fully enjoy nature’s benefits, hit the road for some fun!
- 15 Tips for Camping with Toddlers
- 4 Tips When Mountain Biking with Your Child
- How to Find Fossils
- 7 Rules for Teaching Kids to Fish the Right Way
The time to get your children excited about life outside is now. This does not mean that you have to spend every waking hour camping, biking, and hiking. But prioritizing outside time can make a world of difference in your children’s health today and forever.
2020 General Election Live Coverage
Crews of KTQA-LP, RadioTacoma, and VT Radio Universal collaborated in the most socially-distanced way possible to bring local perspective and coverage of the general election on the afternoon and evening of November 3rd, 2020. Listen to community members from a variety of walks of life (and languages!) reflect and react to this historic moment.
Click here to go to KTQA’s archive page where the coverage may be heard:
https://ktqa.org/events/election2020/
Police Remove Unsheltered People from Occupation of Vacant Tacoma School Building
by Will James
Tacoma police removed about 10 unsheltered people who had occupied the vacant Gault Middle School building for much of Friday, advocates supporting the occupation said. About 20 police officers amassed outside the school building Friday evening, and some went inside wearing head-to-toe protective gear to clear people out, said Rebecca Parson, a spokeswoman for the coalition Tacoma Housing Now.
“The residents are really upset, and rightly so,” Parson said. “They’re back to the Hooverville. That’s on the city. But the fight’s not over. We’re just getting started. But the City of Tacoma is really showing its true face.”
The unsheltered people had moved into the long-vacant school building earlier in the day from an encampment under a bridge on Tacoma’s tideflats. The occupation was partly an effort to escape the cold, but also a protest designed to spur the city to fight homelessness more aggressively, advocates said. Their main demand was for the city to give the building over to a community-run land trust that would turn it into permanent housing, and to do the same with as many other vacant, city-owned buildings as possible.
“A lot of people have faith in this,” said Nathaniel Stewart, one of the people who had moved into the building earlier Friday. “We have a chance to live and be more comfortable and be more settled than where we were. We just want to be comfortable. And it gives us hope.”
Stewart, 43, said he has been homeless for about seven years and works temporary jobs as a laborer. He said he felt safer in the school building and more hopeful he’d be able to get out of homelessness.
“We’re not here to terrorize or be negative or anything,” he said. “We’re trying to be as positive and do the best we can. We’re not going to terrorize the neighborhood or anything. We’re trying to clean up the building and actually clean up the neighborhood as best we can. We just want a chance, you know?”
Advocates said people were spurred to occupy the building after two people died recently of exposure in Tacoma, including one man who died outside in a wheelchair.
Gault Middle School has sat vacant since it closed in 2009. Over the years, potential buyers looked at the building but the deals fell through.
“Most recently this fall the Tacoma Housing Authority backed out of a potential deal for the property due to economic effects from the pandemic making access to capital impossible for them to continue their planned project,” said Dan Voelpel, a spokesman for Tacoma schools.
For several hours Friday, the people from the encampment cleaned broken glass from former classrooms, set up mattresses and cots, and moved in their belongings, Stewart said. Meanwhile, advocates and attorneys for the people occupying the building negotiated with police officials outside. At one point, officials offered to provide beds in a shelter for the people inside the school building, but the people inside the building declined, saying the offer didn’t meet their demands, Parson said.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards was not available today for comment, according to a Tacoma City Council staffer.
Rebekah Way and Ashley Gross contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.
from KNKX.org’s Blog, located here.
It has been quite a year.
This week (November 10th) marks the one year anniversary of Tacoma Cooperative Network’s launch. And what a wild ride it has been! If you lived in Hilltop, Tacoma during the summer of 2019, you may have seen flyers about a spunky little co-op encouraging people to band together in a new venture that promised to offer an alternative to what many residents felt was the recent wholesale theft of Tacoma’s municipal internet service to a private company.
You may have seen volunteers beating the pavement, talking to people in the community about their internet service. You may have even seen them at one of their town halls, answering questions about the revolutionary efforts of a community collectively owning and operating an internet service. But if our data tells us anything, you likely remember us mostly from our colorful yard signs and our small Facebook presence.
“Do not despise little beginnings. It’ll all make sense as you’re staring at an opportunity that you realize the difficult moments merely prepared you for.”
― Andrena Sawyer
Our pilot was a very humble start. When we started, we had 7 member households, not including our gateway, all on M St. Right off the bat, we were helping two low income families access the internet when they had previously been unable to do so. The installations all took place during a 10 day period, mostly over one weekend. It was cold and rainy and miserable, and we didn’t care. Our ragtag team of people with skill-sets ranging from: handy work, business ecument, mathematicians, electricians, pc repair, and broadcast media, came together to make an impact on those 7 households. Some of the leadership of the software company we work closely with, Althea, personally visited and did a lot of the work. They educated our Tacoma team on how to build a network from the ground up, using off-the-shelf hardware and cutting edge technology. These folks aren’t your typical Silicon Valley types you see parodied in TV and film: these folks get their hands dirty, and are deeply committed to connecting the community to the internet. That’s the attitude we have at TCN, and reflects our shared belief that getting people connected and giving them the power over that connection is worth struggling to achieve. These shared beliefs are among the reasons we chose to work with Althea and we continue to have the utmost respect for their efforts to support.
Through the fall and winter, we continued to maintain the network, making improvements and addressing issues, and we also learned a great deal about how the community thinks about the internet For most people, technology is magic. We have used lighting to trick rocks into thinking and communicating with each other using energy waves we cant see. You turn on your computer and go online and it just works. It’s so simple, we almost take it for granted now, but 20 years ago, we fired up our modems, and listened to the screeching cries of a computer having an existential crisis while we got a snack or drink and waited for it to connect to the World Wide Web. Heck, some people still have to do this. Now, things move much faster, and we don’t have that leisure anymore. And to keep up with the pace of this new digital world, tech workers do a lot behind the scenes. After launching TCN, I know I have a much greater respect for what IT workers do now, and I have even been one before. I believe our members have experienced this as well, and all of us have new respect and excitement regarding the possibilities that are present when a community comes together to meet our basic needs.
I continue to be in awe of the fact that you don’t have to have a degree in networking to do this- I certainly don’t. Just with the limited hands-on training we received, myself and our lead technician were able to install our first relay. We expanded the network without any expensive training or certificates, and in January, we raised a flagpole relay in one of our member’s back yards, to add on two additional members, and get a founding member a better connection. Anyone who can operate a web browser, a drill, (and maybe a telephone for some hand holding because sometimes people just need that, ok?!) can help build a community network. I think that’s part of the appeal. Anyone can do it. Anyone can join. Anyone can buy the equipment, and anyone can help expand the network and keep money and possibility in their community. Just maybe don’t try to do it in rain pouring sideways in January.
The fall and winter are hard times to canvass, so we focused on maintenance and slow growth. February came around, and we began to plan our spring and summer push. Our volunteer staff began putting feelers out for canvassers. We got interest from folks in Seattle wanting to build a network like ours there, so we made plans to train them like we were trained. We were watching the news but didn’t know what to think about the virus spreading through Asia. But as the month drew to a close, we knew what was going to happen. March came, and we got one canvassing trip done, following social distancing. By the end of the month, lockdown was underway, and covid hit our small co-op pretty hard. We had some turn over due to people relocating, and our board voted to reduce our price of data by almost half to aid people being affected by covid-19. We are a metered service, and with people stuck at home, even people who were working and getting regular income, were seeing their data usage increase. Dropping the prices helped immensely, and we were fortunate to receive a grant to help with this. We only started raising our prices back up to our standard rates last month, after a poll of the membership voted to do so gradually.
Being in lockdown severely cut into our growth potential, and we didn’t qualify for any aid as an organization because we were too new. In addition, we couldn’t canvass because of the statewide mandate. Without a large budget for advertising, this was a difficult time for us as an organization, and we are grateful to Althea for their support during this challenging period.
As restrictions were lifted, we began to canvas again, and soon developed a promising partnership with the University of Washington’s Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) Lab. We are working with them to develop technology around the CBRS LTE bands recently made available. These radios propagate through trees better than our normal radios do, and we are going to be deploying them in Tacoma this fall and next spring. This is using community radio bands to organize community networks like never before, and we are excited to see where this new partnership and new interest in our project will lead us.
Not knowing it, we started our co-op at one of the worst times in modern history, but through it all, Tacoma Cooperative Network is still here, still offering an exciting alternative to privately-owned telecom companies. We are still struggling against forces who want to end a free and open internet, and we are still fighting against the status quo to demonstrate how community-based internet can shape the world. We are committed to riding out the pandemic, and securing a future where the people own the means they use to access the internet.
Here’s to a bigger and better year two, and to a more connected world!
Bee Ivey
Ann Dorn
Tacoma Cooperative Network
No Mow May lawns have higher pollinator richness and abundances
No Mow May is a community science initiative popularized in recent years that encourages property owners to limit their lawn mowing practices during the month of May. The goal of No Mow May is to provide early season foraging resources for pollinators that emerge in the spring, especially in urban landscapes when few floral resources are available. We worked with the city council of Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. to allow No Mow May to take place in May 2020. Four hundred and thirty-five property owners registered for No Mow May in Appleton. We measured floral and bee richness and abundance in the yards of a subset of homes (N = 20) located near regularly mowed urban parks (N = 15) at the end of the month. We found that homes that participated in No Mow May had… (visit link below for more)
https://peerj.com/articles/10021/
2020. No Mow May lawns have higher pollinator richness and abundances: An engaged community provides floral resources for pollinators. PeerJ 8:e10021 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10021
Free drive-thru flu vaccine for the whole family!
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department sent this bulletin at 09/11/2020 04:40 PM PDT
Tacoma’s Health Department is partnering with MultiCare and Mary Bridge Children’s to host free drive-thru flu vaccine events this fall. Everyone 6 months or older can get vaccinated without leaving the car. Event dates, locations and more at tpchd.org/flu.
Tacoma Refugee Choir – Cityline – June 25, 2020
Erin Guinup, Executive & Artistic Director of the Tacoma Refugee Choir explains how they have adjusted during these difficult times. She also shares their recently released music video called “Love Letters.”
For more information visit: refugeechoir.org.
Tacoma Refugee Choir Sings About the 2020 Census
“Be Counted” was written and created to promote participation in the 2020 Census by all communities.
“Be Counted” by Tacoma Refugee Choir
Featuring vocals by Princess Guinto, Rocky Sandoval, Rani Weatherby, Mariia Pozhar, Tina Van, Sophia Palacios, Sarah Tweet, and Wanz
Music & Lyrics by: Erin Guinup, Tina Van, Trésor Rubaduka John, & Sarah Tweet
Director: Laila Kazmi
Executive Producer: Erin Guinup
Produced by: Kazbar Media
Audio Production and Mix: Tor Caspersen
Choreography: Vorece Miller-Batchman
Musicians:
Terry O’Hara, keys
Princess Guinto, bass
Antonio Gomez, percussion
Kareem Kandi, saxophone
Andy Omdahl, trumpet
Gary Shutes, trombone
Takuya Masutani, taiko drum
Please visit 2020Census.gov to learn more about completing the Census and BE COUNTED!
LYRICS
Sometimes I think
My voice is just too small
The problems too
Big for us to solve
But simple things
Can change the narrative
One filled with hope
The chance to thrive and live
PRE-CHORUS
Ten minutes, ten questions, ten years that are shaped
By taking a moment to participate.
CHORUS
Be counted, a better future for my family,
Be counted, money comes to my community
Be counted, I’m represented and can get what we need
Be counted, be counted, there’s power in being counted
Oh, oh
Be counted, be counted, there’s power in being counted
It’s just a form
No need to be afraid
It can’t be used
To hurt you in anyway
You have the power
For you and neighbors too
To be heard and
Claim what we are due.
PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS
Who wants Health care…BE COUNTED
Roads & Bridges…BE COUNTED
Jobs & Training…BE COUNTED
Schools for our kids…BE COUNTED
Representation…BE COUNTED
Good nutrition…BE COUNTED
Parks & Housing…BE COUNTED
You count so you should be counted!
CHORUS
Cinematographer: Ryan Purcell
SteadiCam Operator: Daniel Mimura
Gaffer: Mike Walker
Camera Assistant: Ryan Enkema
Drone Footage: Corvus Eye Media
Storyboard Artist: Pat Moriarity
Production Assistant: Zara K Barsotti
Additional Footage: Vinny Dom
Editor & Colorist: Tess Stuart
Post Production: Clatter&Din
Special Thanks
Tacoma Art Museum
City of Tacoma
Tacoma Public Library Digital Media Lab
Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center (T.U.P.A.C.)
Tacoma Fire Department and Fire Chief Toryono Green
Mayor Victoria Woodards
Nayeli Soto Mondragon and Mycah Hopkins (and their parents)
SeaMar Community Health Centers
Tacoma Pierce County Health Department
Latinos Unidos of South Sound
ASPIRE- Pierce College, Taiko club
Hearts 4 Kids
Asia Pacific Cultural Center
Kwabi Amoah-Forson and The Peace Bus
Tacoma Peace Queen Melannie Denise Cunningham
Tacoma Urban League
Thyme Well Spent Catering
Lutheran Community Services Northwest- Refugee Resettlement
Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Tacoma Community House
Tacoma School District
Museum of Glass
Greater Tacoma Community Foundation
US Census Bureau
Tacoma Refugee Choir members, board and staff
Made possible through funding from:
Greater Tacoma Community Foundation
Washington Census Equity Fund- Philanthropy Northwest
Tacoma Refugee Choir donors
To learn more about the Census, visit 2020Census.gov
Lawmakers want to protect water rights in Washington from Wall Street speculation
Worries that moneyed interests could control Washington’s water have sparked a push in Olympia to cut Wall Street bankers and international investors out of the state’s convoluted water rights system.
Competing bills introduced during this legislative session take aim at the state’s water banks, which collect untapped water rights and sell water to users in need. Although the proposed legislation has received only tepid support, a consensus is emerging that action is needed to keep speculators from using water banking, as one state senator puts it, to “strangle” Washingtonians. Read more at Crosscut https://crosscut.com/2020/02/lawmakers-want-protect-water-rights-washington-wall-street-speculation
Act Now – Bellevue, Olympia residents petition to break away from Puget Sound Energy
A group of residents wants the east side of King County to stop using Puget Sound Energy. They call it the dirtiest utility in Washington state.
There’s a petition to form a new public utility district for Bellevue, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Woodinville, and surrounding cities.
It would remove that area — approximately 500,000 — from Puget Sound Energy’s service. The East King County Public Utility District would be operated by an executive board consisting of three locals.
If at least 35,000 people sign the petition by early July, a measure will be on the 2020 ballot. Learn more here: https://www.kuow.org/stories/bellevue-olympia-residents-petition-to-break-away-from-puget-sound-energy
High Schoolers and Allies March on LNG Facility
Tacoma, WA: On Saturday morning dozens of people gathered in a parking lot in Fife and marched four miles down Marine View Drive and across the Hylebos Bridge. Their signs read “Students Against LNG”, “Shut it Down”, and “No LNG in a Climate Emergency”, among others. The 40 people assembled were there to support Adriel Brewster and Gemma Duggins, two sophomores from the Tacoma Science and Math Institute who had organized the march to fight for their future and advocate for the
rights of the Puyallup Tribe. They were there to raise awareness about Puget Sound Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and the existential threat that it, and fossil fuel projects everywhere, poses
to their future.
“I’m here today because fossil fuels are destroying my future and the future of my peers,” said march organizer Gemma Duggins. “Stopping this is really important to me because I’m part of the generation that will have to deal with this. We’re in a climate crisis and it’s really important we stop it before it gets even worse than it is already”, said fellow organizer Adriel Brewster.
The two SAMI students had planned this march as part of an environmental justice class but carrying out the march was not required – the two felt compelled to enact their plan once they had learned just how flawed the LNG project was, both from an environmental and Indigenous rights perspective.
“The Puyallup Tribe, and all native tribes, have historically been ignored and talked over in every situation and I think that’s also not okay,” said Duggins. “It is being built on their home and they did not consent to it.”
The marchers were honored to start their journey with opening words and a song from Water Warrior Dakota Case of the Puyallup Tribe. Their event ended with another song from Greg Urquhart, a member of Indigenous group Protectors of the Salish Sea who continue their presence in Olympia to demand that Governor Inslee declare a Climate Emergency.
The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove
“The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove,” tells the story of what could be the largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal on the West Coast. This mammoth facility, proposed for Coos Bay, Oregon, would be fed by a 240 mile long, 36″ wide pipeline transporting fracked gas across four counties in Southern Oregon. It would cross much of Southern Oregon, disturbing 480 rivers, streams and wetlands in its wake. For fifteen years community members, landowners and indigenous people have organized and raised their voices to stop this assault on their homes, communities and land. This documentary depicts this struggle and the amazing resistance it has spawned. Read more at: https://kboo.fm/media/78431-long-and-twisted-tale-jordan-cove
There will be a press conference concerning the Oregon Department of State Lands Jordan Cove LNG decision on February 4 at 9:30 at the Department of State Lands Office, 775 Summer St NE, Salem, Oregon 97301
Check out the Washington Native Plant Society
The South Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society serves Pierce, Thurston and adjacent counties with chapter meeting with educational presentations in Tacoma and Olympia from October through May. Hikes and special programs may be held throughout the year. Presentations, field trips and plant sales are open to the public. We provide small grants to the community for projects involving native plants and special presentations to other groups. Join us and help preserve our special South Sound flora heritage. https://www.wnps.org/blog
To Help Birds This Winter, Go Easy on Fall Yard Work
A manicured lawn might look nice, but messy is better for birds and bugs.
“… if you want to make your backyard a welcoming winter haven for birds, some fall tasks call for a laissez-faire approach. “Messy is definitely good to provide food and shelter for birds during the cold winter months,” says Tod Winston, Audubon’s Plants for Birds program manager.” Read more at Audobon https://www.audubon.org/news/to-help-birds-winter-go-easy-fall-yard-work
Donald Trump fears only one Democrat: Warren Sanders
That’s because the real political divide in America today is establishment versus anti-establishment – the comparatively few at the top who have siphoned off much of the wealth of the nation versus everyone else whose wages and prospects have gone nowhere.
Warren and Sanders know the system is rigged and that economic and political power must be reallocated from a corporate-Wall Street elite to the vast majority.
This is why both Warren and Sanders are hated by the Democratic establishment.
It’s also why much of the corporate press is ignoring the enthusiasm they’re generating. And why it’s picking apart their proposals, like a wealth tax and Medicare for All, as if they were specific pieces of legislation.
And why corporate and Wall Street Democrats are mounting a campaign to make Americans believe Warren and Sanders are “too far to the left” to beat Trump, and therefore “unelectable”.
Read more at The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/15/donald-trump-democrats-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders
Zero Waste Washington Quarterly Newsletter
Zero Waste Washington protects people and our natural world by advocating for products designed and produced to be healthy, safe, and continually recycled and reused. We are the public’s voice for zero waste. You can read our quarterly newsletter here: https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=b7cc2b0b3711e707df8e8f4cd&id=f5826ae970
RadioTacoma interview with Sunrise Washington
Paula and Sarah talk to us about the December 6th, 2019 Global Climate Strike and the Sunrise Movement.
More than 11,000 scientists from around the world declare a ‘climate emergency’
Study outlines six major steps that ‘must’ be taken to address the situation.
A new report by 11,258 scientists in 153 countries from a broad range of disciplines warns that the planet “clearly and unequivocally faces a climate emergency,” and provides six broad policy goals that must be met to address it. Read more at the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/11/05/more-than-scientists-around-world-declare-climate-emergency/
Hilltop homeless camp sweep draws protest from neighbors
Today, Fri., Oct. 19, in the cold and rain, the Tacoma Police Department swept an encampment of approximately 30 people at 11thStreet and J Street in the Hilltop neighborhood. The police verbally claimed they posted 72 hour’s notice, but the residents of the encampment said they received no notice.The only notice they received, in fact, was their homes coming down upon them as the police dismantled their tents, taking their valuable belongings into white vans to be picked up at the Stability Site and leaving everything else to be picked up later as trash.
Read more at The Tacoma Weekly https://tacomaweekly.com/front-page/hilltop-homeless-camp-sweep-draws-protest-from-neighbors/
Luminary Bugs made for the Wake to Extinction event held by 350 Tacoma on Friday September 27th at the University of Washington Tacoma campus in downtown Tacoma.
The event included a nighttime outdoor parade and projections of artwork envisioning the Port of Tacoma as an estuary onto downtown buildings. Watch for further events for creating artwork to raise awareness about helping nature and its creatures on 350 Tacoma‘s facebook page.
The Fight to Stop the World’s Largest Methanol Refinery
Special for Climate Week: Barbara Bernstein’s story of several communities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States who are fighting mammoth fracked gas projects that would turn this green region into a fracked-gas export hub. For years, Bernstein has reported for Making Contact on David versus Goliath battles against oil and gas corporations, and the fight for a clean environment. Today you’ll hear part one of Bernstein’s project, Holding The Thin Green Line as we bring you, The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery. Listen to the interview at https://www.radioproject.org/2019/09/worlds-largest-methanol-refinery-fight-stop/
Seattle’s Jamie Margolin is 17 and a climate activist. On Wednesday she testifies before Congress
“Like many 17-year-olds, Jamie Margolin looks ahead with some impatience to her final year of high school, preparing to apply to colleges and confessing to a case of “senioritis.”
On Wednesday, Margolin is scheduled to testify before a U.S. House of Representatives committee on a panel titled “Voices Leading the Next Generation on the Global Climate Crisis,”
She’s also got another nontrivial project: saving the world from a climate catastrophe.”
Sounds like we have our own home-grown Greta Thunberg – Read more at the Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/seattles-jamie-margolin-is-17-and-a-climate-activist-on-wednesday-she-testifies-before-congress/
As Earth faces climate catastrophe, US set to open nearly 200 power plants
Powerful hurricanes. Record-breaking heatwaves. Droughts that bring ruin to farmers. Raging forest fires. The mass die-off of the world’s coral reefs. Food scarcity.
To avoid a climate change apocalypse, carbon dioxide emissions need to fall by as much as 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Instead, utilities and energy companies are continuing to invest heavily in carbon-polluting natural gas. An exclusive analysis by USA TODAY finds that across the United States there are as many as 177 natural gas power plants currently planned, under construction or announced. There are close to 2,000 now in service.
All that natural gas is “a ticking time bomb for our planet,” says Michael Brune, president of the Sierra Club. “If we are to prevent runaway climate change, these new plants can’t be built.”
It also doesn’t make financial sense, according to an analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based think tank that focuses on energy and resource efficiency. By the time most of these power plants are slated to open their doors, the electricity they’ll provide will cost more to produce than clean energy alternatives.
By 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the average cost of producing a megawatt hour of electricity will be $40.20 for a large-scale natural gas plants. Solar installations will be $2.60 cheaper and wind turbines will be $3.60 cheaper.
Read the entire article at usatoday.com https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/09/09/climate-change-threatens-earth-us-open-nearly-200-power-plants/2155631001/
Radio Tacoma’s discussion with Dan Villa of 350 Tacoma about the dangers of the Liquid Natural Gas plant on the Tacoma Tideflats and a debrief of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency hearing
Tell the Air Agency: Reject the permit for Tacoma LNG
Despite opposition from the Puyallup Tribe, over 80 community organizations, and Governor Inslee, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is still working to complete their fracked gas project in Tacoma.
This project is an affront to our climate, health, and safety.Send in your comment to urge the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) to reject the permit for the Tacoma LNG project!
You will be prompted to answer a few questions that will help personalize your public comment. You will be able to review your comment before submitting.
LNG foes protest ‘affront to human rights,’ backers see ‘right direction’ at latest hearing
Louisa Beal said she was surprised by those she saw talking up the project.
“There were people saying, ‘Oh, it’s going to be good for Tacoma’s air’ without really knowing, or saying or understanding that really, it’s the Earth’s air. And it’s the fracking that’s going on that is really being destructive,” she said.
Pam Beal said the project offered a clear example that residents need to get involved.
“PSE has embedded itself in our local government in our decision making they’ve joined local boards,” Pam Beal said, “and a lot of people don’t care about those meetings. So we as citizens need to get more involved with what they might think are boring meetings.”
Take action against natural gas plant
Unknown to many islanders, we are living within a possible blast zone emanating from the Port of Tacoma. There, on the tide flats of the estuary, positioned over a seismic fault and on land that The Medicine Creek Treaty promised in perpetuity to the Puyallup Tribe, Puget Sound Energy is constructing an 8-million gallon tank with the goal of filling it with liquid natural gas (LNG).
PSE did not have permits when they began construction but nonetheless moved forward with building this behemoth while pursuing permits. They still are not fully permitted yet have not slowed in their push to build.
— Suzanne Greenberg is on the leadership team of the Vashon Climate Action Group and heads the NO LNG team.
Read the entire article at the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber http://www.vashonbeachcomber.com/opinion/take-action-against-natural-gas-plant/
New courses on the cannabis industry presented by Tacoma Community College
Cannabis Health Benefits – This course gives a comprehensive overview of the therapeutic properties of cannabis. Create a Personal Care Plan and learn how medical cannabis patients can legally grow cannabis. 6 sessions. – June 26-July 31
Cannabis Industry and Trends – Learn valuable skills on how to jump start your cannabis career. Learn about everything cannabis, while developing a plan to get your dream job in the cannabis industry. 6 sessions. – June 25-July 30
