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Happy Sustainable New Year!   

January 2014  
In This Issue
Waterfront Park
Let's Pull Together
Time to recycle Styrofoam
BASE:"Sea Change"
Go! Bainbridge
A note from Jon
Sea Star Wasting Syndrome
From the SB Board

Quick Links to
our website and programs
 
Happy new year!   It's a full month of activities at Sustainable Bainbridge, and on January 31, we'll be at the Bainbridge Island Land Trust's  Annual Meeting and Potluck to accept the Phyllis Young award.  Please make plans to attend this great event because you're all part of the good work that is being honored by this award.  For more information on the evening, visit the BILT website

And, we're excited about the upcoming year with our 2014 officers:  President - Jane Lindley; Vice-President - Rob Smallwood; Secretary - Maradel Gale; Treasurer - Marit Saltrones.

 

As always, if you have a sustainability issue that inspires or interests you, please let us know! Sharing our ideas strengthens relationships, weaves a community together and becomes the heart of sustainability. You can contact us by email or by phone at 206/842-4439. We look forward to hearing from you!

Waterfront Park: First opportunity for comments - January 12, 1-6 pm

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In June, 2013, Sustainable Bainbridge worked with the City of Bainbridge Island to present two public workshops to help identify community desires for this Winslow park.
 
Following the workshops and incorporating a community survey, a design team was selected to present design options to the community.  Now they are ready!

There will be a drop-in studio this Sunday, January 12, from 1-6 pm, at Waterfront Park Community Center. Drop by to comment, offer ideas, or ask questions of the staff and consultants. For more information about this meeting and subsequent ones, go to
http://waterfront-park.org 

 

     

Last month we promised -RAIN or SHINE- our Let's Pull Together scotch broom removal work party with BOSIA/ Ometepe at the Johnson Farm.  Little did we imagine that the ground would be so frozen that our faithful Weed Wrenches would snap the broom stems instead of pulling them from the ground. So we have rescheduled:

 

JOIN LET's PULL TOGETHER, the WEED WARRIORS and BOSIA on SUNDAY January 12th, 10 am to 1 pm, to wipe out the scotch broom in this public farmland and assist the 2014 Ometepe delegation of students help our sister-island as well. Wear layers and a hat and bring some work gloves and meet at the parking lot at the corner of Fletcher bay Rd and Johnsonville Lane. Students who desire Community Service Credit for BHS should bring the appropriate form for a signature.

 

Read more about to how partner with us to do ecological good while also fund-raising with non-profit Scotchbroom work parties 

  

 

Zero Waste: Styrofoam Recycling  
January 11 & 12   

It's time to recycle your Styrofoam!  Bring it to Bay Hay and Feed on Saturday and Sunday, January 11 and 12.  We can recycle Styrofoam that is clean, dry and white.  Sorry, no peanuts.  And here's a list of landfill-diversion locations for your other festive leftovers.     

 

Zero Waste would like to hear from you about waste reduction strategies that our group might explore with community retailers, restaurants, schools or nonprofits. Please write to us with your suggestions at [email protected]   

 

Cheryl Dahle
BASE lecture series: 
Sea Change for Innovation
with Sheryl Dahle,
Founder and CEO of the Future of Fish

 

Friday, January 17, 2014,  5:30 - 7 pm
  The Great Hall at IslandWood
4450 Blakely Avenue NE 

*please note this is a location change from past lectures*

 

 

Explore the intersection of sustainable enterprise and marine food systems, and learn how this well-known Eco-innovator is driving change in marine stewardship.

  

Enjoy some refreshments with Sheryl after the talk.  

 

RSVP for this FREE event:  bi-change.eventbrite.com 

  


 
Getting from here to there:  Opportunities for your input!
 

January will be a month of advocacy for GO! and hopefully many of you can help us.  There are several projects in the works which need input on how best to address walking and biking issues. Please consider attending one of the meetings or sending a letter or email with your ideas.

  1. Winslow Ferry Terminal: A $4.5 million remodel is scheduled for our terminal this spring with the majority of work on roof and insulation issues. But elements such as the renovating the bathrooms, removing the indoor 
                                
                              
Note from the SB Blog and more...

On the SB blog, Jon Quitslund's latest post is "For the New Year."  He comments on his current reading: Consulting the Genius of the Place; An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture by Wes Jackson, and then, for something completely different, The Shock Doctrine; The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein.

For a different approach, Jane Lindley is trying to answer the question:  can a girl lower her carbon footprint and still have fun?  Check it out at her blog: http://www.lowcarbongirl.com

Also, as mentioned last month, Deborah Rudnick blogs at
http://350climatechangeactions.wordpress.com/.  Her latest, Action 103, offers reflections and resolutions for the new year, and Action 102, "Hold the Wall," provides fresh information on the Tar Sands oil in Alberta and efforts to stop the development of pipelines across western Canada and from the U S border down to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

Bainbridge Beach Naturalists:
Sea Star Wasting Syndrome

The December beach explorations were the first time we have examined the impacts of the sea star wasting syndrome on our own sea stars.  The scene is very discouraging:  sunflower stars, ochre stars, leather, mottled and giant pink stars are all affected.  The causes of this very widespread and devasting disease are not yet determined, but the effects are very real.
 
Bainbridge Beach Naturalists and others from the central Puget Sound region attended a training session here on the island on December 30 to learn how to measure the extent of the disease.  Researchers from University of California Santa Cruz and Western Washington University came to show us the protocol for citizen science related to the wasting syndrome. We will be monitoring three sites here on the island over the next year to assess deaths and hopefully, regeneration of the sea star populations.
 
Our next beach explorations will occur beginning in February with a joint event with IslandWood, and then in April or May.  In the meantime, as you are exploring the intertidal area on your own, keep your eyes open for sea stars and see if you can identify the diseased animals.
 
From the Sustainable Bainbridge Board
 There's still time to include us in your giving through One Call for All. Responding to the red envelope is a great way to support our community organizations.
 
We'd love to talk with you about our programs and plans.   
Contact us at
[email protected].