Another Green Monday
What a weekend it was. Beginning Friday night with a tree planting and pre-Earth Day party on Main Avenue, the energy and enthusiasm was infectious up until the wee hours of Sunday morning as Earth Day was put to bed. And we're still buzzing. Paul Haeder put it best in a poem dedicated to volunteers and those who attended: “We worked liked bees pollinating the city.” Every volunteer was a rock star. Special thanks goes to co-coordinators Haeder and Molly Callen for not taking themselves too seriously and for leading the way in creating a fun atmosphere for Spokane's best Earth Day celebration yet. And another big thank you to KYRS' Angela Johnson for helping keep everything running smoothly on Saturday as well as the party moved from the street to the Community Building warehouse until midnight. For coverage, check Tim Connor’s piece at the Center For Justice with great photos. We’ve included a few of our own below. Thanks for coming to “Earth Day Spokane 2010: Takin It To The Streets”. We’ll see you next year. 
Spokane Mayor Mary Verner reads the proclamation for Earth Week.
Argyle Baukol of SNAP Living Green.
Hawk from WSU Raptor Club.
Gearing up for the "Procession Of Species."
Eco depot.
Washington public schools to become more energy efficient. In the waining days of the special legislative session, energy-efficiency upgrades to public schools became a key component to the supplemental state construction budget. "This is about building a better Washington for our kids,” said Rep. Hans Dunshee, (D-Snohomish), chair of the Capital Budget Committee and author of the Jobs Act of 2010. “These bills will create jobs, save energy and give our kids better schools.” Voters will be asked to endorse about $500 million in bonds in November. Read more HERE.
Copper-free brake pads in Washington state. Washington state is the first state in the nation to pass a law to phase out the use of copper in brake pads, a move that the Seattle PI says could eventually make copper-free pads the industry standard in the U.S. In that same article in the PI they wrote about a study by the nonprofit Sustainable Conservation that found that one-third of 530,000 pounds of copper released from human activity in the San Francisco Bay watershed in 2003 came from automobile brake pads. And similarly, state ecology officials in Washington estimate 70,000 to 318,000 pounds of copper are released into Puget Sound each year, with about one-third coming from vehicles. Read more HERE.
"Mechants Of Doubt." Check this excellent new book. From Grist: "In their sweeping and comprehensive new book Merchants Of Doubt: How A Handful Of Scientistc Obsured The Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke To Global Warming, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erick M. Conway document how a handful of right-wing ideologues -- all scientists -- have (mis)shaped U.S. policy for decades, delaying government action on life-and-death issues from cigarettes and second-hand smoke, to acid rain, and now, finally, to climate change. The book is similar to the popular Discovery Channel show "How Do They Do It?" Only instead of investigating quirky mysteries like how stripes get into toothpaste, Merchants of Doubt looks at exactly how we arrived at the gravest crisis in the history of our species -- one we created ourselves." Read more HERE.
