by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on July 25, 2023 Posted in Uncategorized

Zero Carbon by 2050?

In 2015, almost 200 countries, including the United States, adopted the Paris Agreement with a goal of zero carbon by 2050. Although the USA exited from the agreement on November 4, 2020, it reentered it on January 20, 2021. How are we doing in our progress toward that goal? Is it even possible that we could reach carbon neutrality by 2050?

In April, PBS/NOVA aired a documentary showing that we have the technology to reach that goal. A green industrial revolution will take political will, good leaders, and a sense of urgency similar to the attitude that drove production in World War II. Here are some of the program’s major points.

• Our current climate issues have been building since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Our primary fuel sources have gone from wood to coal to oil. Moving to renewable resources is the next step in the energy evolution of our society.
• Greenhouse gas emissions come from five sources: transportation, electric power, industry, buildings, and agriculture. In order to reach zero carbon, we need to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible and then capture and store the carbon we can’t avoid emitting.
• Ford Motors has successfully built and introduced an all-electric F-150 pickup (the Lightning). In addition to having no emissions, the electric engine is 85% – 90% efficient compared to 40% efficiency in gasoline powered engines. The lack of EV charging stations is dampening consumers’ enthusiasm to switch to electric vehicles.
• Converting furnaces to heat pumps drastically reduces carbon emissions from buildings. BlocPower (blocpower.io) manages and helps customers obtain financing for green building upgrades. Its selling point is that payments for new green systems are less than customers’ current power bills.
• Induction cooking is superior to cooking with gas. In 2016, Chatham University opened its Eden Hall Campus near Pittsburgh. It successfully uses induction appliances for all of its food services. Induction cooking has caught on in Europe and Asia, but so far United States consumers have been reluctant to make the change.
• The Permian Basin spans 86,000 square miles in Texas and New Mexico. Fracking oil and gas from shale in this oil field releases huge amounts of methane. The nonprofit organization Earthworks (earthworks.org) supports the transition from fossil fuels to a 100% renewable energy economy.
• The University of Maine is developing fixed and floating wind turbines to increase sources of wind energy. Fixed turbines can only be used in water up to 200 feet deep. Floating turbines can be set up farther offshore, which will be especially useful on the west coast in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
• Energy storage is also critical for reaching net zero emissions. Lithium-ion batteries are expensive, but an MIT professor has co-founded Form Energy (formenergy.com), a company that has developed an iron-air battery that uses rust for energy.
• Geothermal energy shows promise. Sage Geosystems (sagegeosystems.com) is working to find better ways to tap into this energy source in areas such as California’s Salton Sea.

We have a lot of work to do to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050. But humanity has made big energy transitions before, and we can make the change to a green industrial revolution now.

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on April 11, 2023 Posted in Uncategorized

Kill Your Lawn!

Back in the “olden days”, a sweeping expansive lawn was a sign of wealth.  Why? Because it was a wasteland, of no productive value.  Only the truly wealthy could afford to own land that produced nothing and harbored no creatures.  While a lush green lawn can still be beautiful, is it worth the impact – the water usage, the pesticides and herbicides necessary to maintain a pristine, weed-free landscape?

It turns out that grass is the largest irrigated crop in the United States!  With 40% of insects and 30% of North American birds in decline, biodiversity in our landscape has become urgent.  Native plants in particular are critical to increasing biodiversity, reducing invasives, and drawing down atmospheric CO2.  Other benefits include reducing water usage, supporting pollinators and expanding food webs.

Doug Tallamy, Author of Nature’s Best Hope (available in the church library), and founder of HomeGrownNationalPark.org, urges us to replace all, or at least some of our lawns with a variety of native plants. 78% of property is privately owned, so we can have a huge impact.  His goal is that we preserve 30% or our private property in native plantings by the year 2030.

Experts are urging us to kill our lawn – or at least make it more wildlife and native plant friendly.  Dan Wilder, on the Great Garden Grow Along, suggested 3 “gradients of ecology” based on how far you are willing to go.

1. Keep your lawn but reduce its negative impact on the environment: (This approach won’t improve the environment but it will not cause harm).   Increase the mowing height to 3-4 inches. This allows for better water and nutrient collection and lusher, greener grass.  Avoid neonicotinoid coated seeds which have not been proven more effective but have been shown to be harmful to local wildlife. Rather than fertilizing, aerate and top dress with compost. This will keep the fertilizer run-off out of our water system.
2. Replace you lawn with non-native lawn alternatives,such as Eco-Lawn (which is slow growing, requiring less water and only needs to be mown about once a year) or white clover (which is more heat and drought tolerant than grass, and has lovely white flowers which attract butterflies and bees bumble bees).
3. Replace your lawn with natives.  Carex, American Heal-all (Prunella Vulgaris) and blue violet are several lovely options, but my personal favorite is the wild strawberry, It withstands foot traffic, has sweet little white flowers in the spring, and produces delicious bursts of flavor in the form of tiny strawberries all summer long. Doug Tallamy tells us that wild strawberries are hosts to at least 87 native caterpillars and provide some value to generalist bees. Dan Wilder calls them the “lawn of the future”. I love going out in the early morning to pick wild strawberries to put in my breakfast bowl! They are delicious in lemonade or a summer dessert.  And the neighbor kids love to pick them.  (I can just see the kids coming out after church to run thru our new replacement lawn looking for wild strawberries to snack on!).

Another option is to get rid of the open space altogether and plant native shrubs and trees.  If you have a big space, Tallamy tells us that the greatest contributor to the environment is the oak tree, which he calls a “Keystone” plant for the many organisms it supports and the carbon it sequestors. He compares it to the Gingko, which, although beautiful, provides ZERO beneficial habitat to birds or other native creatures. If that seems overwhelming, consider clipping off a corner, side yard, or hard to mow section of your lawn and starting with that.  Then register the land you converted to www.HomeGrownNationalPark.org , and you can see how we are doing!

—Lisa Kjaer

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on March 9, 2023 Posted in Uncategorized

Support Your Local Planet!

Spring is coming (really!)—and with it come a number of exciting opportunities for us to support our community and our planet. Following up on the very satisfying work party we had last year at Martha Washington Park, this spring the Social Action committee invites you to participate in a spring planting of traditional Native American foods and medicinal plants at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center (next to Discovery Park) on March 25, as part of our environmental stewardship commitment. GO HERE for details and to register.

This promises to be an interesting and rewarding experience open to all ages. Contact Lisa at lkjaer79@gmail.com   for more information about the QALC group that is going.

The theme for Earth Day, (April 22), is “Invest in Our Planet.” There are quite a few opportunities to participate, from the Arboretum Foundation’s clean up and restoration event (April 22, 9-12:30) to simply taking a family walk in your own neighborhood and picking up litter together. I think Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability has it right—they are calling it “Earth Month”—but then again, maybe we should be calling it “Earth Year”? How do you plan to celebrate Earth Day?

We hope you will join us at church for the Adult Forum on April 30: Eco-theology with SPU professor and biologist, Dr. Eric Long.

Finally, mark your calendars for May 7th, the tentative date for the Camas Celebration at Martha Washington Park, where last fall, we joined Columbia City Church of Hope members to remove ivy and blackberry vines, and to plant camas and giant camas bulbs. Now we are invited to come back and see the wildflowers resulting from our efforts.
Details to follow.

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on September 7, 2022 Posted in Uncategorized

The Environmental Impact of Fast Fashion

I love to shop. Maybe you do, too. But this year I’m rethinking my strategy after learning a few things about the impact of clothing on the environment. For example, did you know that 70% of the clothing in an average American’s closet goes unworn? Maybe you have calculated the impact of the manufacture and shipping of your clothing on the environment, but what about the impact when those clothes eventually leave your closet?

By volume, clothing is the fastest-growing waste in landfills. Across the US, 23.8 billion pounds of clothes and shoes are thrown into the garbage each year. That’s about 73 pounds per person! Natural fibers decompose and release methane, while synthetics don’t decompose but can release hazardous chemicals.

There’s no way I throw away 73 pounds of clothes and shoes a year (I thought!), but this calculation likely includes trash you didn’t even know you created. It turns out that only about 50% of the clothing ordered online goes back into store inventory. Sometimes it is just too labor intensive to restock, with return centers states away from the distribution centers. Sometimes it’s out of season or out of fashion by the time it would get back into circulation. And some stores are just not willing to resell something they cannot be sure is still “clean” or “new.” Most of the remainder is incinerated, sent to landfills, or sold to bulk resellers.  Online shopping is the worst, with 32% of orders returned. Sometimes this is due to “bracketing” where customers will order a size up and a size down, just to make sure one size fits, fully intending to return the other sizes.

What if you donate your clothes? Well, it turns out that charities only sell 20-25% of what we donate. Rag traders buy the rest, mostly to export overseas. Of these, 70% end up in sub-Saharan Africa. When the clothes arriving in Africa were high quality, resellers could sell quality, lasting clothes to their communities at a profit. But with the arrival of fast fashion, poor quality and even dirty(!) donations, these clothes are often simply tossed in an African landfill instead of an American one. In Ghana, for example, 40% goes straight to their landfill.

So, what to do?

If you do order online, selecting standard delivery instead of next-day can cut carbon emissions by about 30%.

Consider buying less, and focusing on a few quality pieces (which will last longer and have a higher resale value when you do decide to dispose of them). Shop at consignment stores or even in your own closet. Repair what you have and make it last just a little bit longer.

When you donate, make sure your items are clean, and any minor rips or missing buttons have been repaired. It turns out the time required to fix these is too costly and they are thrown away instead of sold. If you are donating shoes, tie or bag the pair together. Single shoes have a very small market. And purge your clothes in season. Most thrift stores don’t want to pay to store off-season clothing. Donate to a reputable organization, such as Queen Anne Helpline or Dress for Success, if items are in good condition—and to Ridwell for items that are beyond repair.

Finally, consign your good-quality clothes to a local consignment shop. This keeps them in the system, reduces transportation costs, and puts a little money in your pocket.

—Lisa Kjaer

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on July 8, 2022 Posted in Uncategorized

Save The Date! September 24 —
Tree Planting for God’s Work, Our Hands

We will participate in the greater ELCA “God’s Work Our Hands” project with a day of service in support of our community. With the organizational assistance of Lisa Kjaer-Schade and in collaboration with the environmental group Forterra, we will partner with Magnolia Lutheran Church and Columbia City’s City of Hope Lutheran Church to plant trees in a Central District or South End community. The event will take place on Saturday September 24. Tools and supplies will be provided.

People who live in neighborhoods with mature trees are incredibly blessed. How many of us have had the pleasure of climbing a tree, swinging from a branch in an innertube, spending a warm summer afternoon reading a book in the shade, or diving into a pile of gold, orange, and red autumn leaves?

Not only are trees beautiful, but they also keep our neighborhoods healthier.

• Trees reduce air pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. And a mature tree (50 years) sequesters 3 times as much carbon as a young tree.
• Trees keep hot summer days cooler. In 2015, the EPA reported that trees can lower ambient temperatures of urban heat islands by 20–45°F. Poorer neighborhoods can be as much as 15 degrees hotter than wealthier neighborhoods – in part due to lack of tree canopy and green spaces and relatedly because of increased population density (apartment buildings vs. single family homes with yards). This heat can result in dehydration, heat stroke and death.
• Increasing a city’s urban tree canopy can reduce childhood asthma, improve social ties among neighbors, reduce crime, and increase worker productivity while decreasing absenteeism.

A 2013 study of Seattle’s Duwamish Valley by a group including the UW School of Public Health and the EPA showed that Georgetown and South Park residents had a significantly lower life expectancy (73.3 years) than residents of Laurelhurst (86.4 years). The study also computed Seattle health measurements that showed the highest score (lowest health) for Beacon Hill/Georgetown/South Park at 106, compared to a score of 13 for Magnolia. Of course, there are many factors that contribute to life expectancy and healthiness of a neighborhood. But Beacon Hill/Georgetown/South Park’s tree canopy and park area score was among the lowest in Seattle.

As global warming increases, maintaining the trees we have and planting more trees will be crucial in preserving our environment. You can help by being a part of QALC’s Social Action/Environmental Task Force tree planting day on Saturday, September 24. Stay tuned for more details over the summer!

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on June 17, 2022 Posted in Uncategorized

Ridwell News: Start saving these 3 plastic “regulars”!

Starting this summer and throughout the year, we’ll be collecting  prescription pill bottles, loose plastic bottle caps, and bread tags pop up as free, consistent featured categories. These little guys add up, so start saving now!

• Prescription pill bottles: Rx bottles only, please! Ridwell asks that we remove labels for privacy and processing and recycling. This will be collected twice a year so be on the lookout for a notice that it’s time.
• Loose plastic bottle caps: So many loose bottle caps floating around the house, on the car floor, and buried in purses and bags. When the cap can’t be recycled with the bottle, toss it in the Ridwell bin.
• Bread tags: Save bread tags in a jar and we will let you know when it is time to turn them in.

In addition, due to the successful Styrofoam collection last month, we are going to try collecting on an ongoing basis. Drop your Styrofoam off in the large bin with a bright orange bag—now in our chapel hallway.                                             —Lisa Kjaer

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on April 1, 2022 Posted in Uncategorized

Updates on Books and Ridwell

Congratulations QALC!

According to Ridwell, in February 2022 alone, we helped the greater Puget Sound area keep a “ton of stuff” (actually more than 44 tons!!) from going to the landfill.  This included:

18,268 lbs of portable devices

50,816 bags of plastic film (enough to fill 1.5 Olympic size swimming pools)

9336 lbs of light bulbs

69,824 lbs of threads

On April 24th, in honor of Earth Day, Annalisa Giust, of Ridwell, will be available in the narthex after the 10:30 service to answer any questions you have about Ridwell, and to sign anyone up who is interested in having a bin at home.

One more book for the growing Climate Change section of our library!

Look for The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution:  100 Ways to build a fossil-free future, raise empowered kids, and still get a good night’s sleep by Mary DeMocker in our QALC library soon.

From the publisher: “Relax,” writes author Mary DeMocker, “this isn’t another light bulb list. It’s not another overwhelming pile of parental ‘to dos’ designed to shrink your family’s carbon footprint through eco-superheroism.” Instead, DeMocker lays out a lively, empowering, and doable blueprint for engaging families in the urgent endeavor of climate revolution. In this book’s brief, action-packed chapters, you’ll learn hundreds of wide-ranging ideas for being part of the revolution — from embracing simplicity parenting, to freeing yourself from dead-end science debates, to teaching kids about the power of creative protest, to changing your lifestyle in ways that deepen family bonds, improve moods, and reduce your impact on the Earth. Engaging and creative, this vital resource is for everyone who wants to act effectively — and empower children to do the same.

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on March 9, 2022 Posted in Uncategorized

Environmental Stewardship:  #1 – Be informed

Did you know the church has a library? I didn’t. Not sure how I walked past that door all these years and didn’t look in, but now that I know, I will be using it!

Several excellent books on the environment have recently been donated.  Here’s the publishers’ description for each. Check them out (literally and figuratively)!  They are all very helpful in providing actions you can take, or encourage your local community, state and federal government  to take  to help halt and maybe even reverse global warming.

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming 

by Paul Hawken  (Author, Editor), Tom Steyer (Foreword)

The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world.

In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

50 Simple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming 

by The Green Patriot Working Group (Author)

Today, many Americans are concerned about global warming. According to a March 2007 MSNBC poll, 86% of Americans believe global warming is a critical or important threat, and according to an April 2007 ABC News/The Washington Post/Stanford University poll, 80% of Americans say they are willing to make changes in their lives to help the environment. This guide of 50 practical steps is a positive presentation of a serious subject organized in a fun, easy-to-read format. Each step is a simple way you can help in the fight against global warming and feel good about being part of the solution to the current environmental crisis. Sample steps include: Determine Your Carbon Footprint • Buy Green Energy • Plant a Rooftop Garden • Take an Eco-Vacation • Check Your Tire Pressure • Compost Food Waste • Recycle Your Shoes • Use Petrochemical-Free Cosmetics•  Buy Local Foods • Wear Organic Clothing • Go Vegetarian for a Day • Invest in the Solution.

How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet 

by Sophie Egan

Is organic really worth it? Are eggs ok to eat? If so, which ones are best for you, and for the chicken—Cage-Free, Free-Range, Pasture-Raised? What about farmed salmon, soy milk, sugar, gluten, fermented foods, coconut oil, almonds? Thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or somewhere in between?

Using three criteria—Is it good for me? Is it good for others? Is it good for the planet?—Sophie Egan helps us navigate the bewildering world of food so that we can all become conscious eaters. To eat consciously is not about diets, fads, or hard-and-fast rules. It’s about having straightforward, accurate information to make smart, thoughtful choices amid the chaos of conflicting news and marketing hype. An expert on food’s impact on human and environmental health, Egan offers bottom-line answers to your most top-of-mind questions about what to eat.

How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos 

by David Pogue

In How to Prepare for Climate Change, bestselling self-help author David Pogue offers sensible, deeply researched advice for how the rest of us should start to ready ourselves for the years ahead. Pogue walks readers through what to grow, what to eat, how to build, how to insure, where to invest, how to prepare your children and pets, and even where to consider relocating when the time comes. (Two areas of the country, in particular, have the requisite cool temperatures, good hospitals, reliable access to water, and resilient infrastructure to serve as climate havens in the years ahead.) He also provides wise tips for managing your anxiety, as well as action plans for riding out every climate catastrophe, from superstorms and wildfires to ticks and epidemics.

Timely and enlightening, How to Prepare for Climate Change is an indispensable guide for anyone who read The Uninhabitable Earth or The Sixth Extinction and wants to know how to make smart choices for the upheaval ahead.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Over the last half-billion years, there have been Five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind’s most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.

Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard 

by Douglas W. Tallamy

Douglas W. Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. Nature’s Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Because this approach relies on the initiatives of private individuals, it is immune from the whims of government policy. Even more important, it’s practical, effective, and easy—you will walk away with specific suggestions you can incorporate into your own yard.

If you’re concerned about doing something good for the environment, Nature’s Best Hope is the blueprint you need. By acting now, you can help preserve our precious wildlife—and the planet—for future generations.

Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy 

by Joanna Macy

The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power. Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects, the authors guide us through a transformational process informed by mythic journeys, modern psychology, spirituality, and holistic science. This process equips us with tools to face the mess we’re in and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society.

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on August 5, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized

Ridwell is Coming to Queen Anne Lutheran!

Many of you have seen the small white boxes with red lettering on porch stoops in the neighborhood. Starting in September, Queen Anne Lutheran will have its own box! These are the Ridwell boxes where we can deposit certain items not accepted by recycling in Seattle. Ridwell is a Queen Anne-based company which finds homes for various items to keep them out of the landfill. Twice a month, they will be picking up the following items:

Plastic film: Shipping material, plastic bags, plastic wrap, food bags, and more

Clothing, Fabric, and Shoes: Nearly all shoes, clothes, and textiles and more

Household Batteries: Household batteries: Alkaline, hearing 
aid, rechargeable, and small lithium ion batteries

Household Light Bulbs: Household variety light bulbs: LEDs, 
CFLs, small fluorescent, and incandescent

A rotating 5th category: See the Ridwell website to see what they are taking. This category ranges from canned goods to bottle caps, back to school supplies to yarn, and is based on a short-term identified need or partner who has agreed to take the item. We will endeavor to include the category in future issues of The Quill.

We will provide additional details as to the location of drop off and which days they will be picking up next month.

Answers to Some Perplexing Recycling Questions

In the meantime, here are some things to know about your own recycling, (if you recycle through Seattle Public Utilities) thanks to church member Robert Whitehorn and “Ask Evelyn” of Seattle Public Utilities:

Does Seattle have an upper size limit on corrugated cardboard recycling?

Yes, cardboard should be broken down to smaller than 4 feet by 4 feet, and be able to fit in your recycling container. Anything larger can be broken into smaller pieces. Here is some more information about how to set out your recycling and extra cardboard on collection day: https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-and-disposal/your-collection-day/setting-out-waste-for-collection

As concerns plastic container recycling, do you accept lids if they are three-inches or larger? Or do those go in the garbage?

Yes, loose plastic lids 3 inches or larger can be placed in the recycling. Loose plastic lids and caps smaller than 3 inches should be placed in the garbage, as items smaller than 3 inches can fall through recycling equipment.

We do accept (empty and clean) plastic containers with plastic caps on, even if the caps are smaller than 3 inches. This only applies to plastic caps on plastic containers; please make sure to screw the cap back on the container tightly.

Do you accept milk cartons (cardboard with plastic spout)? If yes, you do accept them, should we tear off the plastic spout and put it in the garbage?

We accept milk cartons for recycling. You do not need to tear off the plastic spout before recycling. Our Where Does It Go Tool also has great information on proper disposal of all types of milk cartons: https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-and-disposal/where-does-it-go#/item/milk-carton

Do you accept clean aluminum foil?

We only accept aluminum foil that is clean, dry, and larger than 3 inches in size in the recycling (do not crumple). Aluminum foil that is food soiled or less than 3 inches should be placed in the garbage. Check out our “Where Does It Go” tool for more information: https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-and-disposal/where-does-it-go#/item/aluminum-foil

Does the three-inch lower size limit apply to paper? Or do small scraps of paper go in the garbage?

The three-inch lower size applies to all recycling, including paper. Anything smaller than 3 inches can fall through recycling equipment, and can’t be sorted.

Shredded paper (without any plastic whatsoever) can go into the compost container. So small bits of regular paper can go into the compost as long as there isn’t a lot of ink or heavy printing on it.

by QueenAnneLutheranPosted on March 4, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized

Fracked Gas is Not Faithful

Leviticus 19:17: “‘Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your fellow countryman. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.”

The Bible verse above reminds us to speak up when we are aware of wrongdoing, or we are also guilty. Recently, several of us participated in the week-long Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest, which included a number of zoom programs presented by Earth Ministry/Interfaith Power & Light. What an enlightening week! Programs ranged from Interfaith Advocacy Success Stories to Treaty Rights vs Fossil Fuels.

One program I particularly enjoyed was on the vital relationship between Native American treaty rights and climate justice. We learned about treaty rights and environmental protection from Seattle City Assistant Attorney Jeremy Wood, and effective and ongoing efforts to halt fossil fuel plants in the Pacific Northwest from Earth Ministry, such as their successful support of the Lummi nation in opposing the largest coal port in the PNW at Cherry Point. (Not only would these fossil fuels be burned in countries with significantly more lenient pollution standards, but they are dirty and dangerous along the way.)

We heard about the “thin green line” of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, whose native peoples, with support from Earth Ministry and others, have been instrumental in stopping shipments from the Tar Sands (oil), Bakken oil fields, and River Basin coal which would cross native lands (and come through Seattle) on their way to Asia. Tribes have a special right to sue and set standards that affect their water quality, even off the reservation.  They have had numerous successes so far but efforts to mine and transport these fossil fuels continue, despite the proven environmental and safety risks.

Currently, Earth Ministry is working to halt the Tacoma site for Puget Sound Energy’s fracked gas (LNG) plant under construction on the tide flats of the Puyallup Tribe’s reservation on the Salish Sea (Puget Sound). This 8 million gallon plant would store and distribute highly volatile fracked gas on an existing Superfund site. In addition to the Puyallup Reservation, the blast zone would include the NW Immigrant Detention Center (which currently holds as many as 1,575 immigrants) and residential neighborhoods with schools and daycares. An accident at the LNG plant (as happened on the Columbia River in a low population location) would have a devastating impact both on human lives and on the tidal basin. Organizers spoke about the moral responsibility to defend the treaty rights of local indigenous peoples, the state of the struggle around Tacoma LNG, and what we can do to support the Puyallup Tribe’s treaty rights against encroachment and pollution by the fossil fuel industry.

The Puyallup Tribe and its environmental partners have both filed appeals challenging the project’s climate impact. As currently scheduled by the court, the appeal will be heard April 12, 2021.

So, how can we help? One easy thing we can do is participate in the photo petition opposing the plant. Just print the poster you see us holding in the photos at this link and post a picture of yourself with the poster, opposing the building of a Natural Gas plant in Tacoma (Tacoma LNG). Send a copy of the picture to Maddie@earthministry.org, and mention that you are a member of Queen Anne Lutheran Church. If you are on social media sites (Facebook, TikTok, etc) post it there with the hashtag #FrackedGasIsNotFaithful.

For more information on this project see https://earthministry.org/tacoma-lng/

You can watch recordings of the programs here:

Earth Ministry/WAIPL hosted two events during the Festival:

• Interfaith Advocacy Success Stories: Stopping Fossil Fuel Projects
  Click here to view a recording of this session
• Faithful Advocacy 101
  Click here to view a recording of this session

Earth Ministry/WAIPL staff and board were also present at these events led by local Jewish partners:

• Shmita 5782: How the Upcoming “Year of Release” Can Heal Climate and Community, Ahavat v’Avodat HaAdamah
  Click here to view a recording of this session
• Healing Washington through the HEAL Act, Temple De Hirsch Sinai
  Click here to view a recording of this session
• Treaty Rights vs. Fossil Fuels, Hillel UW

For other Zoom sessions offered over the course of the week, you can see recordings at this link.

—Lisa Kjaer