Action Hour

Season 2, Episode 2 features a conversation with Jackie Lasater, WEAN board member, Conservation Chair for Whidbey Audubon Society, and co-founder of Citizens for Safe and Humane Fireworks. Jackie came to environmental work by way of public education. She earned her master’s in education with a minor in Native American Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, then served as Assistant Superintendent of Special Education for a county in the Sierra Nevada foothills. While in California, she sat on a chapter board of the California Native Plant Society and co-founded a nonprofit restoration program and native plant nursery. In this conversation, Marnie and Jackie begin where so much of this work begins—with love of place. From there, they turn to the true cost of consumer fireworks in Island County: nesting birds and terrified pets, veterans and neighbors living with PTSD, the fires and explosions that have injured residents and firefighters and destroyed homes, “fireworks tourism” from neighboring jurisdictions with bans, and the debris left on our beaches every July 5th. They also ask what it could look like to celebrate together without harming the people and beings we love. This November, voters in unincorporated Island County will weigh in on an advisory question asking whether the county should ban consumer fireworks. Jackie explains what an advisory vote does and doesn’t do, why every ballot matters, and what you can do beyond voting. Return your ballot to an official drop box by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3rd. (Residents of Oak Harbor, Coupeville, and Langley won’t see this question on their ballots.) Watch “Boom Goes the 4th” by Robbie Cribbs of Sound Trap Studios—time-lapse footage of Independence Day fireworks and the next-morning cleanup, with air quality data from PurpleAir—at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI_tGmxztfo. Learn more about Citizens for Safe and Humane Fireworks at https://islandcountyfireworks.com/. Find your nearest ballot drop box at https://www.islandcountywa.gov/423/Elections-Voter-Registration.

Season 2, Episode 1 features a conversation with author, scholar, and land access advocate Antonia Malchik. Antonia hails from northwest Montana, where she's writing No Trespassing—a book on ownership, private property, and the theft of the commons. Her first book, A Walking Life, was published by Hachette in 2019, and her essays have been widely published including in Aeon, The Atlantic, Orion, the LA Times, and High Country News. She writes about land management, belonging, and ways to be in relationship with the places we call home. In this conversation, Marnie and Antonia discuss topics ranging from the theft of the commons and the history of enclosures to modern day projects that restore connections among land and people. Learn more about Antonia and subscribe to her blog at https://antoniamalchik.com/.

Amanda hands the podcast to its new host, WEAN Executive Director Marnie Jackson, in a wide-ranging discussion about transitions, the commons, water resources, and what we've learned while working together over the last few years.

On this episode of Action Hour, we are sharing a special recording of a keynote conversation between civil rights activist Grethe Cammermeyer and WEAN Environmental Data Analyst Violet Bluemer, moderated by WEAN Executive Director Marnie Jackson at the 2026 WEAN Summer Benefit at Dancing Fish Vineyards. Special thanks to Robbie Cribbs of Sound Trap Studios for lending his audio skills to make this recording happen.

Please note: our official fundraising total was $164,032 after post-event reconciliation.

On this episode of Action Hour, WEAN Engagement Director Amanda Bullis chats with Friends of the San Juans' Legal Director and Staff Attorney Magali Cota. A Californian who grew up in the brownfields of Compton, Magali learned that the way she lived as a kid wasn't environmentally safe, a revelation that instilled a strong sense of the importance of local communities using their voices to protect one another.

Listen to her conversation with Amanda, where they discuss why it's so important for communities to be involved in civic processes for environmental justice to be possible.

On this episode of Action Hour, passionate birder and environmentalist Carlos Andersen shares his love for Deer Lagoon Preserve, an Audubon-designated Important Bird Area (IBA) on Whidbey Island, and dives into the principles of his management plan to protect, preserve, and restore the area for generations to come. With the Comprehensive Planning process underway, Carlos is hopeful that Island County will use his plan to help protect Deer Lagoon and other preserves in the County.

On this episode of Action Hour, WEAN Executive Director Marnie Jackson and Engagement Director Amanda Bullis chat about the Comprehensive Planning process, WEAN's history with Island County's Comprehensive Plan, their experience during this current planning cycle, and what they hope the outcome will be for their island communities.

CORRECTION: The Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM)—not the Department of Commerce, as stated—is the agency responsible for producing 20-year population projections for counties in Washington state.

Learn all about wetlands! Wetland ecologist Allison Warner teaches us how to identify a wetland, how wetlands can bolster our communities' climate resilience, and how Island County could improve its wetland buffers. Plus, she makes a pitch for beavers and gets nerdy about soil composition.

When Trillium Corporation purchased almost 3,000 acres of land on Whidbey Island from Georgia Pacific in the 1980s, the community had no idea who they were — until they started clearcutting a property on Coles Road. The logging company went on to clear-cut a parcel right outside the front door of WEAN founders Marianne Edain and Steve Erickson. The duo sprang into action, organizing the community to blockade the logging, and Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN) was born.

For the next couple of decades, WEAN would track Trillium Corporation's activity on Whidbey Island and beyond, a practice that would ultimately lead to WEAN helping to protect 1.5 million acres of land in Patagonia.

On this episode of Action Hour, Oak Harbor Garry Oak Society (OHGOS) board member Kyle Renninger teaches us about Garry oaks, their historical significance in Oak Harbor, and the current protections for these trees in the Oak Harbor city code. Listen to learn about this keystone species and potential upcoming Oak Harbor code changes that could impact Garry oaks and the urban tree canopy in general.

Want to help preserve this special tree for future generations? Plant a Garry oak. Learn more at https://ohgarryoaksociety.org/.