— from Bill Appel —
As long as we insist on what seems to be viewed as our God-given right to use fossil fuels at the rate our collective life style demands, we will continue standing with one foot on the dock and one in the boat. This is not a stable condition. We can’t have it both ways, and we won’t. Tom Owen’s analysis is correct. Just as nature’s web is interwoven, so is that of the grid on which our standard of living relies. Simplistic thinking leads to unanticipated results.
For instance: Salmon are cold water creatures. We are warming the regional waters. Snake River dams or no Snake River dams, the salmon will not hang around while our fossil-driven economy warms the Salish Sea.
The resolution complained of points out that measures are being taken to enable safe and healthy salmon runs. While this is an engineering solution, nature only cares about results, and this effort is exerted at great expense for the salmon, not for our strongly felt and widely shared sense of esthetics.
As Tom points out, success of our part will require a strong but different economy. Think about what it would look like. Hint: it will not look like the 1800s. Then for gosh sakes give input to the economic section of the comprehensive plan before it gels, sets, and hardens. Then grow the county economy and make it green. And if you still drive an internal combustion vehicle, you know where to start. Used EVs coming off lease are well within reach today.
Please direct the reader to the Tom Owen’s commentary that you reference.
Thanks for expressing your POV on this topic. I urge readers to pay a lot more attention to the still-emerging and long overdue (but why rush it when it is important?) update to the county’s comprehensive plan. You can enter the conversation by reading the history and direction of the county at KeepSanJuansWild.org where there are many direct specific actions prepared for you to take to express your concerns and solutions for the current and future challenges we face.