Short Run to the Sea: Our Choices are Significant

Bullwings: Orcas Issues is proud to collaborate with the Stewardship Network of the San Juans to bring its series, “A Short Run to the Sea” to our readers.

We will reproduce daily articles from the series created and published on Stewardship Connections, an electronic publication of the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee and Lead Entity for Salmon Recovery.

The individual choices we make in our homes, with our cars and boats and on our land are not really individual choices.  They do not exist in isolation.  Collectively, our individual choices can have a significant affect our resources, particularly the health and safety of our fresh water and marine water as well as the numerous species that inhabit them.

We now know that currently the greatest threat to our water comes from numerous daily “non-point-source pollutants”.  It is the accumulation of many small sources of contaminants that add up to have a significant cumulative impact.   Fluid leaks from our cars and their brake pad and exhaust particles add up.   Contaminants from poorly maintained septic systems add up. Overused yard chemicals add up.  Pollution from improper disposal of hazardous chemicals adds up.  Removal of native vegetation along streams, wetlands, and shorelines adds up.   It is the cumulative effect of our choices as individuals that requires our attention.

Because the problem is centered in numerous small sources of pollutants adding up daily, then the solution is found in the problem.  All of our individual protective, wise, stewardship-based daily choices can also add up.  Collectively our actions can add up to support the health and safety of our waters, fresh and marine.

We can each contribute to this cumulative stewardship-driven impact by assessing how we care for our cars and boats, how we maintain our land and yards, and the choices we make in the personal care and cleaning products we use.

The cumulative impact of a collective stewardship ethic guiding our daily choices can make a huge difference. Together, with our individual actions, we can keep our water healthy and safe.

This article concludes the “Short Run to the Sea” series. For the full series of articles, go to www.shortruntothesea.org

The San Juan Marine Resources Committee (MRC) was started in 1996 as a grassroots effort to establish local management of marine resources.  It was the prototype for the creation of a federally sponsored network of seven MRCs working in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The MRCs are supported by federal funding through the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative.

The “Short Run to the Sea” campaign has been supported by the Education, Communication and Outreach Network (ECONet) of the Puget Sound Partnership.