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Politics is in the air—but what’s going on in the water?
9/8/08 Kathy looks at who is going to stand up for the Sound.
9/8/08
Politics is in the air—but what’s going on in the water? A new baby orca in the L-pod helps take the sting out of the loss of the 90-something-year old matriarch “Lummi” earlier this year. Stunning fall weather is bringing out the sailors who know that September is often the best month of the year for boating. Sobering news about the economy and crippling prices at the gas pump mean we’re all tightening our belts and making sure that every dollar spent and every mile traveled are really worth it.
Anticipation is also in the air at People For Puget Sound. We’re getting ready: To see what the Puget Sound Partnership comes up with in their plan to save the Sound. To celebrate our members and supporters and (we hope) raise lots of money at our annual fundraiser, Harbor Lights, on October 25. To decide, with our partners in other environmental organizations, on our top priorities for action in the 2009 legislature. To get out on the beaches and piers this fall and winter to see what’s happening in the Sound at night.
If you take a look at our latest newsletter, you will see that People For Puget Sound doesn’t wait around even while we get ready for what’s to come. The summer has been full with restoration, education and policy accomplishments. Perhaps the most striking victory of the summer was a legal decision that will require a truly effective approach to managing runoff and pollution from stormwater—our biggest unmet challenge in the fight to save the Sound. That means requiring “low impact development”—rain gardens, pervious concrete, preserving the soils and vegetation that soak up the rain, and other strategies to make sure that we can have both cities and a healthy Sound.
But it has been nerve-wracking, to say the least, to stand by while the Puget Sound Partnership develops its Action Agenda and Funding Plan to restore the Sound by 2020. It’s been a bit like suspended animation, as important decisions and issues continue to move ahead in the absence of the Partnership’s advocacy for the Sound. So the Action Agenda—and the funding to make it happen—can’t come a moment too soon.
And now the elections create another kind of nervousness: Who will win? What will they do for the Sound?
Politics is in the air, but make no mistake that Puget Sound’s future is at stake when we vote. Be sure you know where the candidates stand on doing what needs to be done to save our Sound.
Comment on Kathy's blog here.