Another Green Monday
Another weekend in Spokane, and another event to recap. But as most of you know, Bloomsday isn't just another event - more like the crown jewel of event city - and for good reasons. With over 50,000 participants, and a virtual army of volunteers making sure everything runs smoothly (and it does), Bloomsday is the measuring stick for which other events match up with. With great power comes great responsibility, and a pre-race report of Bloomsday "going green", was too big to dismiss as mere "greenwashing", or maybe "greenrunning" in this instance. In what is being called a first-of it's-kind move for road races, Bloomsday officials plan to ship off some 500,000 paper cups to Royal Organic Products in central Washington to be composted. According to a report on KHQ, "employees at Royal Organic Products said they will mix the cups with yard waste and compost the cups over the next 8 months." If you recall our Bloomsday dilemma of last year, this is good news. Not just for the sake that this year we didn't have to debate our carbon footprint with our need to be quenched at the top of Doomsday Hill, but because of the precedent it sets for future Bloomsdays and other races across the country and the world. And Bloomsday organizers say they plan to reduce the amount of waste they produce by 10% each year. So until next year Bloomies - keep running! Oh, and thanks to all of you that we saw on the course rocking the DTE shirts!
The more you know…. About water resources. Last week, the University of Idaho announced a $2.94 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a 5-year water resources project that will pair graduate-level research scientists with middle and high school science teachers in northern Idaho and eastern Washington, to enhance education on water resources through new classroom activities, workshops and field projects. Through the project, some 3,000 middle and high school students will be exposed to a greater understanding of local water issues, thus increasing the likelihood that they will stay engaged through their adult lives. To read more form the University of Idaho, click HERE.
Making up for lost time. At a State Department conference on energy and climate last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States is, “prepared to lead negotiations toward a new global warming treaty”, according to The New York Times. “The United States is fully engaged and determined to lead and make up for lost time both at home and abroad,” she said. It sounds great now, but we’ll be holding our breath until the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December in Copenhagen. Read more from The New York Times HERE. 
Here we go again. Speaking out on the opposition to the Sustainability Action Plan, Mayor Mary Verner said “some of the comments that have been submitted to City Council seem to be just fabricated for political purposes and are not at all grounded in what we actually have done nor in the actual language of the plan.” It felt long overdue. She also added “If city government doesn’t move in this direction, we’ll be the last ones to get on board because our community is moving forward…” As you have read on our site, the plan has been criticized for U.N. meddling and anti-business for three weeks now. The loudest and most shockingly archaic voice has been Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, who doesn’t believe humans cause, or can do anything to stop, climate change and defends her skepticism with a report by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the dude most famous for saying global warming is a hoax and comparing the environmentalist movement to the Third Reich. Wow. Get ready for DTE's "Dear Science: The Nancy McLaughlin edition." Read the full story HERE.
Save the date: The City Council vote has been pushed back to May 11. It’s going to be a whopping fun time. We’ll see you there.
