Hi everybody. It's time for another get together! I've discovered this is a busy time for the Pyramid so securing a date to meet was a challenge this time. You will note our next meet up will be on Sunday 3/29/15 between the hours of 12:30 and 3:00. That was the soonest date available on a weekend!
Where: Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant
1201 First Ave S. (across from the sports stadium - free parking if space
available)
Date: Sunday, 3/29/15
Time: 12:30 - 3:00
Why: Connect, Unite and help plan Action for 2015!
Cost: $20.00 with selected menu TBD.
I've been busy since our last meet up laying the groundwork for the launch of a new group on Daily Kos called Northwest Climate Voices with a planned launch in April, 2015. Although this group is not yet active I invite you to join and follow now so you'll be ready to take part when it happens. I'm counting on your enthusiastic support!
As members of the Daily Kos community we sometimes take for granted the influence our community has in this country. Let me remind you.
I'm working on bringing this power to the environmental activists in our area and designing it to be a prototype for replication throughout the country. Prior to our last meet up I had a private meeting with our guests spending most of the time discussing different aspects of Northwest Climate Voices.
Follow below the orange hairpiece for more detail of our upcoming event and an important time sensitive action you can take to help out our Puget Sound environment before our get together!
In connection with this work I've been developing a power point presentation that explains Northwest Climate Voices and outlines the great features we all have at our disposal when using the Daily Kos site.
Also, being the coordinator of Seattle & Puget Sound Kos I've come to realize that many of our members are also not that familiar with all the Daily Kos features.
So, as part of our next meet-up I'd like to propose I share part of this Power Point presentation with you so you could offer suggestions to improve it. Plus I think it would serve a dual purpose above and beyond helping me out. 1. to orient you to elements of Northwest Climate Voices and 2. to orient those not that familiar with all the features offered by the Daily Kos site to improve their blogging experience.
Other items on the agenda I'd like to touch on will be brainstorming a list of future guest speakers,other possible actions we wish to undertake in the political arena and discussing how we can better organize to increase our group's effectiveness.
Because
Artist Bio
LeRoy Bell is a Seattle-based singer-songwriter. In 2011, he was a finalist on the X-Factor. He has written songs for Elton John, the Spinners, the O'Jays, the Temptations, and has performed with B.B. King, Al Green, Taj Mahal, Jackie Green, Keb Mo, LeAnn Rimes, The Temptations, The O’Jays, Mavis Staples, Colin Hay, Leon Russell, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Loggins, and The Young Dubliners.
A Change is Coming
by LeRoy Bell
Sometimes I feel like I’m all alone.
I get lost and I can’t find home.
I look around for familiar faces.
I get blinded by the empty spaces.
Now a change is coming.
Don’t you know a change is coming yeah.
I see the poverty in the streets.
I feel the water rise above my feet.
Luxury condos going up next door.
A tree is falling til there ain’t no more.
Now a change is coming.
Don’t you know a change is coming.
Yeah a change is coming.
It won’t be long now.
It won’t be long now yeah, yeah.
I miss the days when our lives meant more.
Not a number on a board room floor.
Too many greedy people chasing money.
I look around now and it ain’t funny.
I see the lights go out in Hollywood.
I see the ice melting that ain’t good.
There comes a time in every person’s life.
We gotta make a stand for what is right.
You know a change is coming.
Don’t you know a change is coming.
You know a change is coming.
It won’t be long now.
Please RSVP in comments below or by sending me an email at johncrapper51@gmail.com
or through the Kos messaging system.
See everybody soon!
Below is a perfect example of the kind of action that Northwest Climate Voices will be able to help promote.
**
Here is a simple cut and paste request from Michael Foster to ensure more carbon storage in forests. If you want to do detailed research, I have attached a report from the Washington Environmental Council.
Michael Foster: A mental health therapist and father in Seattle, Mike always had an interest in the impacts humans have on the health and welfare of our planet. From his childhood in Texas, where he grew up in the shadow of oil refineries, he has always been aware that we have the ability and the obligation to be positive stewards for the Earth – not just for ourselves, but for future generations.
Mike is a speaker for the Climate Reality project, the Al Gore initiative, and volunteers his time to present “The Slide Show” to any and all interested groups. His particular focus is exploring the ways that families can work together to reverse global warming and create a sustainable future.
Michael Foster is ready to help anybody interested in organizing and conducting their own Academy.
website: Climate Change for Families
e-mail: michael.foster2@comcast.net
The Washington Department of Natural Resources is conducting a Sustainable Harvest Calculation to determine logging levels on state forest lands in Western Washington through 2024.
You can learn more here. Unfortunately, the agency is using the Sustainable Forest Initiative, a timber industry standard, to certify most of its forests, instead of the more genuinely sustainable standard by Forest Stewardship Council. This is a climate issue: FSC standards ensure more carbon storage in forests, whereas SFI standards release more forest carbon into the atmosphere.
DNR is seeking public comments by no later than 5pm, Friday, Feb. 27. We urge you to fill in the survey. On the comments page, you only need to paste the text below in the box at bottom, # 8, General Comments. (You can leave the other boxes blank.)
The Sustainable Harvest Calculation should use criteria that ensure genuine sustainability, such as those set by the Forest Stewardship Council. As you know, DNR has already certified 172,000 acres of forests in the South Puget Habitat Conservation Plan Unit through FSC. The agency has certified all 2.1 million acres of its forested lands under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Unfortunately, SFI, a standard originating in the timber industry, does not provide the same level of protection as FSC.
Forest Ethics Executive Director Todd Paglia, notes, “SFI allows logging in old growth, logging in endangered species habitat, clearcut logging on landslide prone slopes above salmon streams. . . . ”
For such reasons companies including Aetna, Allstate, Office Depot and United Stationers have moved from SFI to FSC certification. We urge DNR to do the same and make its Sustainable Harvest Calculation using the more stringent FSC principles. We are confident these protections will provide a more realistic calculation of what is sustainable than what you will obtain using SFI.
Thank you!