Here’s a thought…
“The competition between Nature and the economy is deep and broad.
In the short term, the economy usually wins. In the long term …?”
BILL APPEL
Judge rules against Navy SEAL training at Washington State Parks
||| FROM KUOW ||| REPRINT AT REQUEST OF ORCASONIAN READER The Navy SEALs won’t be able to use Washington State Parks as training grounds. A judge on Friday ruled against an earlier decision to allow
The Great Islands Clean-up is back in person
||| FROM PETE MOE for EXCHANGE ORCAS ||| Come join your fellow islanders for the 2022 Spring Great Islands Clean-up on Saturday, April 23, 2022 between 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Grabbers, gloves, bags and
Council still on deck for climate change
||| BY STAFF REPORTER SHIN BREEM ||| “It’s all hands on deck,” said one County official as the County Council unveiled its long-awaited first draft of a proposed series of priorities to address possible approaches
Bill to conserve Washington kelp and eelgrass forests signed into law
||| FROM WA STATE SENATE DEMOCRATS ||| OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee today signed legislation to conserve and restore the plants that are foundational to the state’s marine ecosystems. Senate Bill 5619, known as the
Save now! Pay later! OPALCO’s Switch It Up program expands
||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT COOPERATIVE ||| OPALCO members can now finance up $100,000 (per membership) in efficiency upgrades for their home or business. Projects that qualify include home heating units
EPA grants $52 million to Washington for drinking water, wastewater infrastructure improvements
State estimates $253.5 million available for wastewater, $22 million for drinking water ||| FROM U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ||| SEATTLE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will help fund Washington’s $22 million plan
How can we better prepare for natural hazards on our coasts? Inter-organizational collaboration to assist local efforts may be key
A newly completed project lays the foundation for a team to help Washington’s coastal communities be better prepared for floods, erosion and other coastal hazards ||| FROM WASHINGTON SEA GRANT ||| Floods. Erosion. Sea level
Guest Opinion | Lower Snake River dam removal has two sides
||| FROM TOM OWENS ||| Removing the Snake River dams is a tough decision. It has two sides. Like many other issues we face, there are merits to both arguments. Hopefully, before final decisions and
Guest Opinion | Because we want wild salmon and orca, it’s time to tell OPALCO to support Snake River dam removal
||| FROM SHARON GRACE ||| The waters around the San Juan Islands are a summer home of the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. OPALCO, the islands’ utility co-op, is owned by islanders. Islanders overwhelmingly
Inslee signs abortion access bill and more
||| FROM THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE ||| Inslee signs abortion access bill, policing law, and more at this week's bill signings Following the end of the 2022 legislative session last week, Gov. Jay
Pacific Herring are now spawning in East Sound
||| FROM SHANNON DAVIS for FRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS ||| A very exciting and significant event happened in East Sound this week- the annual herring spawn! Each spring, in bays across the Salish Sea,
Why we need to ‘electrify everything,’ according to this ‘genius’ inventor
||| FROM WASHINGTON POST at request of Orcasonian reader ||| Saul Griffith has a plan to combat climate change while creating millions of new jobs. It boils down to two words: "electrify everything." The Australian American
Coming up on Friday, presentation with LIVE plankton at our Library
||| FROM CAROL DAPOGNY for ORCAS ISLAND LIBRARY ||| Please join us at the library this Friday at 6 p.m. to see Lynnette Wood's presentation on Plankton! She'll have a microscope and some LIVE plankton
Researchers find they could lure Murder Hornets to their deaths with sex
||| FROM GIZMODO.COM.AU ||| Birds do it, bees do it — even the wasps that kill bees do it. A clever team of scientists now has an idea to use the Asian giant hornets’ horniness
Friends of the San Juans scores a win for orca protection
||| FROM SHANNON DAVIS for FRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS ||| Friday Harbor, WA: Friends of the San Juans, a small environmental nonprofit based in the San Juan Islands, recently scored a decisive legal victory against