So neither the Emerald City nor the Evergreen State got green after all.
Why not? Well there’s been the reluctance of the voters and the political system to do much about the issue in a big way.
But there’s also the small, individual things. Reading the city’s carbon-footprint report, I realized it was basically describing me. Not only do I still drive to work in a gas-fueled car, but my family is on track to take a record number of flights this year. Start with aging parents in faraway places, add one kid in college out of state and another looking there, and all of a sudden we’re in frequent-flyer clubs on multiple airlines.
I know from the report that I’m no outlier in this progressive utopia.
If this strikes close to home, think about the meaningful steps we can alltake now in our families and organizations: businesses, nonprofits, clubs, faith communities. For example, find ways to offset our own emissions.
That’s exactly what Seattle Sounders FC has done. After systematically quantifying the team’s carbon footprint, and taking active steps to reduce it, the Sounders are offsetting what remains with Forterra’s Evergreen Carbon Capture program, which plants trees.
The trees being planted will not only soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. They will also add to the region’s beauty, enhance the health of our neighborhoods, and filter water entering our streams and rivers — and ultimately the Sound itself (helping our salmon and our Orca). |
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Last Sunday, Coach Brian Schmetzer and players Alex Roldan, Cristian Roldan, and Nick Hinds (Tacoma Defiance) joined Forterra, DIRT Corps, and more than a hundred Sounders fans at Hamm Creek just off the Duwamish River. The day’s goal: make a start on the Sounders’ carbon-neutral commitment by planting hundreds of small cedars and hemlocks. In the decades to come these saplings will grow into carbon-gulping giants.
With this step, the Sounders are pumping even greater meaning into their great game-day chant (taken from the old Perry Como song): “The bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle, and the hills the greenest green are in Seattle.”
What will you do? Time to look into Evergreen Carbon Capture? |
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