Will We Make It Out Alive?

Welcome to Season 2: Episode 2, Love your Mother…Earth Farm. Season 2 is all about our food system, food access and food justice. For this episode, we interviewed the previous farm manager of the Mother Earth Farm, Liam McNamara, about the Emergency Food Network and the unique niche that the Mother Earth Farm plays in providing fresh local food to those who need it.

We recorded the interview last May, so a few of the items are a tiny bit out of date; covid-19 references were pre-delta and omicron variants. Also, references to last year, would be 2020 and next year would be 2022. Hopefully this isn’t too confusing. Since sometimes we do our episodes out of order, we didn’t think this would be too big of a challenge for our listeners…

Liam McNamara, (previous) Mother Earth Farm Manager

Liam graduated from the Evergreen State College with a BA in Environmental Justice. He has been involved with sustainable agriculture for 11 years and as of last year was in his 8th full season of farming. He also has 4 years of experience working with the Washington State Department of Agriculture as an organic certification regulator. Liam left Mother Earth Farm after we recorded this interview and returned to working for the WSDA in 2021. He worked with Mother Earth Farm for two seasons. Having grown up in Puyallup, he felt blessed to be farming in the beautiful Puyallup Valley and working to support his community by growing produce or neighbors in need.

Emergency Food Network

The Emergency Food Network is a non-profit food bank in Tacoma, Washington that provides services to Pierce County residents. They are responsible for providing food to various food pantries and other food distribution locations throughout Pierce County. They are trying to increase their capacity to improve overall food security and provide fresh, nutrient rich, culturally appropriate foods to their community. Programs like this are so important in the role they play to provide fresh, healthy produce to underserved communities and in providing a space for community building.

According to an article in the Journal of Community Health, “Food banks play a major role in the food aid sector by distributing donated and purchased groceries directly to food insecure families. The public health implications of food insecurity are significant , particularly as food insecurity has a higher prevalence among certain population groups.” In their review of existing studies performed to evaluate the effectiveness of food banks for providing food security it was, “found that while food banks have an important role to play in providing immediate solutions to severe food deprivation, they are limited in their capacity to improve overall food security outcomes due to the limited provision of nutrient-dense foods in insufficient amounts, especially from dairy, vegetables and fruits.”

The Emergency Food Network, a food bank, is able to help address the limited provisions of nutrient-dense foods by having their own farm and that’s a big reason why we wanted to include them in our discussion about food sovereignty this season.

Mother Earth Farm

A special part of their program is the inclusion of an 8-acre farm in the Puyallup River Valley called Mother Earth Farm. From the farm they are able to provide an average of 100,000 pounds (that’s 50 tons!!!) of fresh produce annually that contribute to their hunger relief programs. They are also able to work with their community to identify specific desired foods and adjust what they are growing to their community’s needs. They are able to provide fresh greens throughout the winter to select food pantries that would otherwise not have access to them. Most of the food from the farm is available to their neighbors in need within 24 hours of harvest! There are opportunities to volunteer with Mother Earth Farm to help with seeding, weeding, composting, irrigation and harvesting. At this time they ask all volunteers to submit a volunteer application and be registered for a volunteer date. Usually volunteer times are available on Fridays and Saturdays in the morning or afternoon.

While Mother Earth Farm operates within our traditional food system, it embodies most of the principles of food sovereignty.

They focus on food for the people, working to provide healthy and culturally appropriate foods

They value the food providers, those who grow, harvest and process the food from the farm manager, to all of the volunteers

It localizes the food system, by allowing the farm to work with their consumers to make joint food decisions that benefit and protect all

It allows for local control of what they grow and how they grow it and they are able to be responsive to input from the community about what to grow

It helps the community build knowledge and skills by providing a place for growing food and community

Mother Earth Farm is working with nature to avoid costly and toxic inputs and improve the resiliency of local food systems

Emergency Food Network Volunteering

One of our favorite parts about the Emergency Food Network, besides helping ensure that everyone has food to eat, is all of the opportunities to volunteer. Jen and Amy have both participated in the Repack Program and we highly recommend it. We had fun turning giant pallet boxes full of frozen carrots into more household level packages. It might have helped that we volunteered with a great group of employees from the Port of Tacoma, but we think you could turn this into a fun activity regardless of your company. The Repack program redistributes over 1.5 MILLION pounds (that’s 750 tons!!!) of food annually!

They also started the Grow Your Food seed program, in part as a response to the pandemic. This program provides free seed starts so people can grow their own food at home or in a community garden. Last year they grew 15,000 seed starts and they were available on a first-come, first served basis at various locations throughout the County in April!!! They also have resources and master gardeners available to help people grow their seed starts.

It looks like both the Brewer’s Night and the Wine and Weeding volunteer events are still on hold, but hopefully will be back soon, as these are great ways for people to volunteer on Mother Earth Farm. However, if you want to get a little bit of a feel for them, here’s their last post (from 2019, sad face) about a Wine and Weeding event.

If you live in Pierce County and need assistance accessing food, you can check out the Emergency Food Network’s Resource Page, which includes information on food pantries, meal sites, shelters and home delivery.

And just like we mentioned last episode, calling ‘211’ in Washington and Oregon (and maybe all states?) will help you connect with many services, including rent and utility assistance, counseling and mental health services, food and clothing resources, shelter and affordable housing, employment and education services, military and veteran resources, and transportation.

To learn more about the Emergency Food Network, you can sign up for emails or on their website. You can also “Like” them on Facebook. Events, volunteer info, donation campaigns and general news are shared in their email newsletter, The Feed, and on social media.

Finally we thought we would share the Emergency Food Network’s latest guidance on masking when volunteering with them:

“Volunteer Mask Policy (as of January 1, 2022): Due to the increasing instances of Covid-19 cases in Pierce County, we have updated our volunteer mask policy. All volunteers will be asked to wear a KN95, or to double-mask, with a surgical mask and a cloth mask on top. Masks are to be worn over your mouth and nose, the entire time you are in the EFN building. We will provide these masks upon arrival if you do not have your own. Breaks for eating and drinking will take place right outside our door. Individuals that are vaccinated will not be required to wear a mask when working outside. By volunteering with EFN you are agreeing to follow this policy.”

Other Programs to Help Ensure No One Goes Hungry

Does a program like the Emergency Food Network exist in your community? Probably.

We highlighted a few other food access programs in our local areas, but the best place for you to volunteer is right in your own community. We challenge you to find your Food Bank and see what volunteer opportunities exist.

In Eugene, Oregon, we highlighted the Burrito Brigade, which provides weekly free vegan burritos to those in need. In addition, they have a few other programs including free pantries and a no requirement/ no questions asked food program called Waste to Taste. In addition, Food for Lane County works to reduce hunger by engaging the community to create access to food. Meanwhile, Thurston County Food Bank, based in Olympia, Washington, is working to eliminate hunger within their community. They have lots of volunteer opportunities, a gleaning program, and you can donate excess produce from your garden.

Until Next Time…

Please join us for our next episode in two weeks on February 1, 2022. In Episode 3 - If you Were a Fruit, we interview Tiare and Jordyn with City Fruit in Seattle to learn more about gleaning and how you can help keep food from going to waste.

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc).

We’re so eggcited to finally be back! Thank you so much for pudding up with our long absence. We missed you a waffle lot! (Please don’t leave…I’m sorry!)

We’re doing something a little bit different after our time off and are breaking our episodes up into seasons of several episodes on one topic. This season is all about food systems, food access, and food sovereignty. This season will be five episodes long, and a new episode will be released every other Tuesday. We’re also actually talking to real people this season (even though Jen is terrified by real things) and we can’t wait to bring you those interviews!

This episode we’re introducing the topic of food systems and food sovereignty and defining some of the main concepts. We are then joined by Nichole Garden, with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, to talk more about food access and different programs the State offers to help people access food resources.

Food Systems Overview

Jen and Amy talk about our current food system and some of the social and environmental problems that often crop up in it. We discuss some alternative food systems, as well as introducing the concept of food sovereignty.

Amy starts us out with a quote from the future of food website. We define several parts of the conventional food system, including production, processing and packaging (see Season 1 Episodes 18 and 21 for more on plastic), transportation and distribution, and consumption and food waste.

We then go into some of the environmental impacts of our conventional food system, including wasted water and other resources, livestock waste management and pollution (the Poop Detective’s favorite topic!), and climate impacts from food production.

We also talked a little about some of the impacts COVID-19 has had on food access (we referred to a news release from the University of Washington).

But what are these things we’re talking about??? We finally define and discuss concepts such as food justice and food sovereignty. We don’t talk about the six pillars of food sovereignty in the podcast, but you can find them here.

Interview

Nichole Garden is a program specialist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s (WSDA) Food Assistance programs. She graduated from The Evergreen State College with a focus in Food Systems Policy and Education. She has experience in community garden management, school produce procurement, as well as nutrition and garden based education. She has been with WSDA since 2015, first working with organic farmers and food processors, and now working to connect hunger relief organizations to local farmers. Nichole is committed to ensuring that healthy food choices are accessible to all Washington State residents regardless of income.   

Nichole and her colleagues administer a variety of food assistance programs, and she introduces us to several. Her pet project is the Farm to Food Pantry initiative (scroll down on the linked page to see the seal Nichole talks about). She cereal-sly loves this initiative.

Nichole breaks down food insecurity to its simplest form, and states that if you’re in a situation where you have to decide between buying food and paying bills, that’s food insecurity. We talk about how easily people can fall into food insecurity, how much of an issue this is in Washington, and some of the indicators and populations at risk. Nichole shares a lot of statistics and information from Feeding America. She also references a Seattle King County report from 2019 (links to the full report and slides are listed towards the end of the article we linked to here).

We then talked about some of the barriers to accessing food, including how people with income even up to 400% above the federal poverty level are experiencing food insecurity! There are several other barriers that WSDA is trying to break down. One surprising fact was that COVID-19 actually increased access to food (through more funding, more food access programs, and fewer regulations on who could access services).

If you need access to food or other resources such as cash, child care, or health care, some resources available include Washington Connection and 211 WA (211 is a phone number you can call to access community resources and is available in all states). Nichole also mentions a relatively new movement of community resources such as little free pantries and freedges.

The rest of our conversation revolved around food justice, food sovereignty, and food security, with some great examples about why these topics are important and why having strong local food systems is critical and what we should be moving towards.

And as promised, here are some awesome TikTokers we follow (even though we’re too old to be on TikTok):

Black Forager is a funny woman who reminds me a little of Amy with her singing especially, and she forages in urban areas and when she travels and sometimes shares recipes: @alexisnikole (she’s also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and basically all over!)

Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t is a funny (and sweary) guy who likes to talk about plants and rocks (NSFW): @crimepaysbutbotanydoesnt

Dumpster Diving Freegan provides a lot of interesting information about dumpster diving, plus shares her finds: @dumpsterdivingfreegan

Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist who speaks about food sovereignty and indigenous foods: doesn’t post on TikTok but is on Facebook and Instagram @linda.black.elk

Wheat love you to join us next time for our interview with the former farm manager for Mother Earth Farm (part of Emergency Food Network)!

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or at facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive.

Last time we said we’d be back probably in September. As you may be able to tell, it’s actually November… and we’re only here with a short update letting you know we WILL be back, but not quite yet. We’re taking just a little more time off, but will be coming back for Season 2 next year (hopefully earlier in the year rather than later).

In the meantime, we wanted to wish you a Happy GIS Day! GIS Day is officially November 18, 2020. Visit the GIS Day website and scroll to the bottom to view a map of registered events to see if anything is happening in your area. Or look around and see what sounds interesting, since most events are virtual this year and you can attend from anywhere.

In honor of GIS Day, the Magical Mapper made a cake. It’s supposed to be the Western Hemisphere, but the Poop Detective thinks it looks more like a poop dinosaur. Of course she does!!! Of course, so now so do I, and that’s all I can see….So Happy GIS Day from the Poop Dinosaur!

In this episode we will learn more about Moledemort, AKA he who must not be maimed, and how you can ditch plastic this July. It’s going to be a short episode this month, but we wanted to get this information to you so you can prepare for Plastic Free July! Also, we are taking a break for the rest of the summer!

Episode 20: Just Say No (To Plastic!)

Will We Make It Out Alive?

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We spoke briefly about the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-racism. We stand with Black Lives Matter. Environmental and social justice are inseparable. One resource that Jen shared was the Black Girls M.A.P.P. group, which is a group of and for black women in GIS, who are doing great work.

Cats are cool, but so are other critters!

Staying home for months on end has led us to find a new appreciation for urban wildlife. A friend of ours is obsessed with a mole living in her backyard, who she has named Moldemort (AKA He Who Must Not Be Maimed). Amy is making her squirrels magical. And Jen has rediscovered television. Oh wait… that’s not wildlife…

Ditching Plastic (for July and beyond?)

This episode we introduce you to Plastic Free July. You can sign up to take the challenge on their website, and you can set your own goal based on your comfort level. If you’re brand new to the idea, you can start small and focus focus on the big four takeout items (bags, straws, coffee cups and bottles), and you can sign up for just one day or one week. If you’re more comfortable, you can try to ditch all single-use plastic, or all plastic altogether!

Jen took the challenge last year for the first time with the goal to not use single-use plastics for the month. She discusses how her journey went, including strategies she had going in, struggles she had, and where she failed. She also discusses things she’ll be thinking about this year before beginning the challenge. Some of these practices are becoming more difficult to implement during the pandemic, but get creative. The whole idea is to become more aware and start making small, permanent changes where you can.

So head on over to plasticfreejuly.org to sign up for the challenge and to get ideas. They send out a weekly newsletter during the challenge with more tips and stories from the community.

Follow along with us on our social media channels in July to see how we’re doing. Good luck!

We also announced that we’re taking a break for the rest of the summer. We’ll still be around a little bit on social media (especially during Plastic Free July). We’ll be back probably in September, but we’ll keep you informed!

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or at facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

In this episode we will learn more about the the human and environmental health impacts of plastics, the history and future of plastics, the great recycling myth, a little bit about the zero waste lifestyle, and how to use Cartography to better display information on your maps, which will include my critique on a map that the Magical Mapper is designing. Most importantly, we talk about how You Are Loved!

This is part two of our Plastics spotlight. Three months ago we shared some background on plastics, how plastic recycling isn’t working, the plastic ban from China, oh and a bunch of depressing plastic facts. So, if you haven’t listened to that episode and want a little more background before we delve into this episode check out Episode 18 first. Yes, we did this 2-part series in the correct order, just to keep you on your toes, then we added some episodes in between to see if you were paying attention. But before we get started, happy news! Here’s a link to an article about the grey whale we mentioned getting untangled.

Environmental and Human Health Risks Associated with Plastics

Plastics pollute at all levels; during its manufacture, use and disposal. The poop detective gets right into some more depressing facts about plastic, starting with its manufacture. Plastic production can release airborne toxins and also cause fires and explosions.

Many of the chemicals found in plastics are known endocrine disruptors. Amy drops a lot of facts, but if you want to go down the endocrine disruptor wormhole, check out the half hour video, Our Chemical Lives. Unfortunately 96% of Americans have endocrine disruptors in their blood, but there are all sorts of sources including the food we eat, oh which also has microplastics in it.

Environmental Impacts

The presence of plastics, particularly microplastics, within the food chain is increasing. In the 1960s, microplastics were first observed in the guts of seabirds, and since then have been found in increasing concentrations. There are estimates that around eight million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans annually. Amy bums us out with a lot more depressing plastic facts, which I won’t repeat here, although you might see some of them if you follow us on Facebook.

Ok, I’ll share one very depressing report from 2018; a survey by the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey (GOES) Foundation found that the ecosystem in seas and oceans may collapse in the next 25 years, potentially causing failure of terrestrial ecosystem and "very possibly the end of life on Earth as we know it"; the main agents of this prediction were hypothesized to be plastic, ocean acidification, and ocean pollution. In order to prevent such a catastrophe, experts have proposed a total single-use plastic ban, wood burning bans while planting "as many trees as possible," "pollution-free recycling of electronics, and by 2030 all industries have zero toxic discharge."

Climate Change Impacts

Although plastic is often seen as a separate issue from climate change, both its production and afterlife are in fact major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, the Center for International Environmental Law published a new report on the impact of plastic on climate change, which Amy digs into. Finally, the disposal results in additional emissions.

Also, an estimated 12% of all plastic is incinerated, releasing more greenhouse gases, as well as dangerous toxins, including dioxins and heavy metals. Industry is actually promoting an expansion of incineration in waste-to-electricity plants, which it describes as a source of renewable energy.

The History of Plastic and Recycling and the Rise of the Single Use Disposable Consumerist Society

The mass production of plastic started about 70 years ago. Since then approximately 6.3 billion tons have become waste, clogging our oceans and landfills with a material that take potentially hundred to thousands of years to break down. Plastic might sit for hundreds of years without decomposing, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces.

Amy goes over the history of recycling in the US. She also relays some interesting facts about plastic bags.

In 1907 Bakelite was invented. It was the first synthetic plastic, which contained no molecules found in nature. Global production of plastics increased annually from two million metric tons in 1950 to over 400 million metric tons in 2015, outgrowing most other man-made materials.

The Future of Plastics is Tied to the Oil Industry

So now, we have major oil companies getting ready to ramp up plastic production as consumers try to be more savvy with their plastic purchases. The World Economic Forum predicts plastic production will double in the next 20 years. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste was founded by major petrochemical companies. They’re simultaneously promising beach cleanups and recycling campaigns, while its key members, including Shell and ExxonMobil, announce plans to build new multi-billion-dollar polyethylene and petrochemical plants that produce inexpensive, plastic products.

According to a Mother Jones article on the origins of the anti-litter campaigns: the entire anti-litter movement was initiated by a consortium of industry groups who wanted to divert the nation’s attention away from even more radical legislation to control the amount of waste these companies were putting out. In 1953 the packaging industry teamed up with other industries including Coca-Cola and Dixie Cup to form Keep America Beautiful, which still exists today. Keep America Beautiful was basically a campaign against individual bad environmental practices instead of the businesses taking responsibility for their waste.

“By pushing for curbside recycling, you’re mobilizing a nation to do a lot of labor for you, bring [trash] back to you at low cost and invest in a lot of infrastructure for you —infrastructure you don’t build and don’t own.”

— Bartow J. Elmore - environmental historian

Recycling, Circular Economy and Zero-waste

So, is it time to trash recycling? The reality is most plastic is not recycled. We have been fed the idea that plastics are recyclable, but between the inability for many plastics to be recycled to the high level of contamination in the plastic recycle stream, much of it ends up in the landfill, or worse somewhere in our environment. According to a story on treehugger.com, for the last dozen years recycling has been described as a fraud, a sham, a scam perpetrated by big business on the citizens and municipalities of America.

In the end, recycling is a poor substitute for meaningful solutions, such as reducing the number of materials and products we consume and ridding ourselves of our reliance on products with an end of life, which is oftentimes called a zero waste lifestyle within a circular economy. Amy discusses our current linear economy and how moving to a circular economy would be beneficial. Our happiness should not be predicated on purchasings goods.

Is there any good news?

Some countries have big plans to curb plastic waste, such as Indonesia, which aims to cut marine plastic waste by 70% within five years and be entirely plastic pollution-free by 2040.

Companies are starting to listen, but only take baby steps to commit to less plastic. The American Chemistry Council aims for all plastic to be recycled or recovered by 2040, although critics dismiss the goal as unrealistic greenwash. Many of the major companies, like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle have made plans to include 25-50% recycled material in their plastic packaging between 2025 and 2030. But it seems these goals in no way match the severity of the issue.

What can we do?

The bottom line to really make change, we have to change the way we view our society. We need businesses to innovate their practices to move towards a circular economy that does not produce waste.

To fix this, we need to quickly stop the idea of the throwaway culture being normal. But of course, changing it is going to be far more difficult because it permeates every aspect of the economy. Remember that we vote each time we make a purchase.

We should all strive for a zero waste lifestyle, where individually, we attempt to minimize or eliminate waste and therefore avoid recycling altogether. The best way to start is just to buy less, and guess what, our stay at home orders should be making that easier to do!

GIS - Cartography!

After all of that depression, we finish out the episode on a high note! Jen finally gets to talk about maps! Head over to the GIS Tools blog for some helpful cartography resources, and to see the amazing map Jen created.

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or at facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

In this episode we’re bringing you the second part of an interview we conducted last fall with Joy Waltermire from Long Live the Kings, where will learn more about the organization Long Live the Kings and their mission, and how to survive the sound.

Before we dive in, we would like to acknowledge this extraordinary time that we are in. Boy has a lot changed since last month. Hopefully you have the luxury of staying safe at home.

We’d also like to remind everyone that April 22nd is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day - watch our Facebook page for ways you can participate social distance style.

Interview, Part 2

Now for part two of our interview. The first part of the Interview can be heard in Episode 16 - Why did the Salmon Swim Upstream? That episode focused on salmon in general, and today we’re going to get more specific about Long Live the Kings and some of their projects. If you haven’t heard Episode 16 yet, you may want to go back and listen before continuing with this episode.

In this second part of the interview, Joy talks about the Hood Canal Steelhead Project and drops a lot of very interesting (oops…drink) facts about things like hook & line sampling, Bertha the Steelhead, hybridization of steelhead, how they are using hatcheries to recover stock of endangered fish while not having a negative effect on genetics, the Lilliwaup Conservation Facility and how it’s different from a traditional hatchery, otolith marking, and adipose fin clipping. She also talks about how they work with NOAA Fisheries.

Joy discusses the Long Live The Kings mission before talking about their initial project, the Orcas Island Terminal Fish Hatchery.

Joy also talked about a project where Long Live the Kings is partnering with Tacoma Power & Skokomish Tribe to reintroduce several salmon species into the North Fork of the Skokomish River.

We asked Joy about any potential volunteer opportunities and she told us about a couple of possibilities throughout the year. Some of these are currently affected by Stay-at-Home orders. At Glenwood Springs on Orcas Island, there is potentially a spawning opportunity. A couple times a year they also partner with Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group out of Belfair to offer volunteer opportunities, including counting fish both when the salmon return, as well as when juveniles head out to sea.

Survive the Sound!

Although we talked about survive the sound in Episode 16, we are going to talk a little bit more about some of the program changes this year and most importantly how you can join us on the Will We Make It Out Alive team!!! This year’s race will be from Monday May 4th to Friday May 8th. Here’s our fish team so far!

Long Live the Kings’ Survive the Sound is an online game/contest that tracks steelhead migration as they make their journey out of several river systems into Puget Sound or Hood Canal. They use cute fish avatars that represent real steelhead (a fish similar to a salmon) and their movements are based on real fish that are released into these rivers as juveniles on their way out to the ocean. The goal is to see which fishes make it out of Puget Sound alive and which one makes it out the quickest.

This event is free to join and a great way to learn about the potential perils of the steelhead. That’s part of the reason that this tracking data is collected, so scientists can better understand why fish are dying.

This is a great social distancing activity that you can still enjoy remotely with friends. So pick your fish and join our team (or start your own!) by May 3rd. You can even change your fish right up until May 3rd. There’s also new fish this year!

Also, share this link with anyone you know that might be interested in fish and Puget Sound, you can join from anywhere you have internet connection. A larger team increases our chances of winning with the most surviving fish.

If you’d like to do even more, consider donating or signing up to volunteer with Long Live the Kings! We would love to make the top 3 donation list!!! Join us to help save the Pacific Northwest’s iconic salmon and steelhead – the fish orca need to survive!

Join us next month for Episode 21: The Great Recycling Myth!

Please don’t forget to rate, review (you guys, we finally got our first review!!!) and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think on our feedback page or facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

Welcome to Episode 19, Surfriding to a Cleaner, More Plastic Free Environment. In this episode we share more about impacts of plastics seen in remote places 20 or so years ago and then we meet up with Liz, the Volunteer Coordinator of the Olympia Surfrider Chapter, discuss a little background of Surfrider and their programs, the impacts of plastic bans on plastics in environment, and opportunities for you to connect and volunteer!

Although we had planned on going right into part two of our spotlight on plastics this month, after we interviewed Liz with the Surfrider Foundation, we decided we had enough juicy bits for a whole episode, which is Surfrider focused, but we still talk a lot about plastic pollution! We learned a lot from Liz and Amy learned that Jen has a problem saying, “Can you tell us more about your volunteer programs,” which is almost as difficult as Amy saying synthetic. Amy laugh cried as Jen struggled for a good five minutes of the interview and I’m sure we both impressed Liz with our verbal agility. In Jen’s defense, we were having a real life echo created from our long distance recording with three mics. But you’ll just have to wait for that amazing blooper reel, cause it also got edited out…one day.

Next month we are planning on focusing on Long Live the Kings so we can remind you all about Survive the Sound, which has their sign-up in April with the actual “competition” in May. Then in May we will finally get to part two of our plastic spotlight, getting deep into plastics and their impacts on environmental and human health.

There is no GIS segment this month, but hopefully that will pay off big time with a sweet Jen designed map in the future.

Last month we shared some background on plastics, how plastic recycling isn’t working, the plastic ban from China, oh and a bunch of depressing plastic facts. So, if you haven’t listened to that episode and want a little more background before we delve into this episode check out Episode 18 first.

We shared a correction to Episode 17: The State of the Sound. We do make mistakes and we want to share corrected information when we become aware of those mistakes...because that’s how science do. If you catch a mistake we’ve made, please let us know so we can correct it! You will get all of the gold stars!!!

Before we get to our fun interview, Amy brings us down, yet again, with some stories of plastic and beach trash ruining some of her vacations 20 years ago (you know, before she was born…because she’s so young now). Most of the pictures accompanying this blog post were taken by Amy the Poop Detective on Sunset Beach, near Trujillo, Honduras in 2004. The problem has been around for a long time, even though plastic has only been mass produced for less than 60 years.

Interview Time!

You’ll have to listen to the episode to get all of the juicy, laughter inducing details, but below are some of the sweet resources we that were referenced from Liz. Thanks Liz!

Olympia Surfrider:

Check out the Olympia Surfrider Chapter Website for more about who they are and what they do!

Beach cleanups, butt pickups, meetings, movie nights and more are posted on the Events calendar.

Events and other relevant information are also on their Facebook page and Instagram @OlySurfrider.

Want to be more involved?

Sign up for for the Surfrider Newsletter (scroll to the bottom) for a monthly email about upcoming events, legislative updates, and other local Surfrider news.

Come to a chapter meeting, the last Wednesday of every month, 7:00-8:30 p.m, see their website for the location (rotates every month, but usually at an Ocean Friendly Restaurant).

Eat at one of our local Ocean Friendly Restaurants and tell them why you're there and how much you appreciate their efforts to reduce our use of disposable plastics. Or encourage one of your favorite establishments to become Ocean Friendly!

Become a Surfrider member and support their work locally and nationally.

Attend a cleanup, help them table an event, or join our Executive Committee and help Oly Surfrider continue to grow and improve our coastlines - email [email protected] for more information!

Call your legislators and tell them to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

Join the Blue Water Task Force and help collect samples to monitor local water quality .

Marine debris resources

Beachapedia is a Surfrider Foundation-produced online resource collection house of coastal environmental topics from experts and activists. It’s full of great information and a great place to get lost for a while.

Surfrider’s Cleanup Tool - we count and weigh everything we pick up at our cleanup events and enter it into this database. Check out the real-time results of Surfrider efforts worldwide.

Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app - allows you to easily track your own cleanup efforts and contributes to the worlds largest marine debris database. Jen and Amy definitely plan to check this out!

Surfrider's 2019 State of the Beach Report - annual Surfrider report evaluating beaches nationwide on criteria like sedimentation, armoring, Sea Level Rise, and development

Join the Marine Debris listserv, moderated by Open Communications for the Ocean (OCTO), which provides several marine science focused services. They also host a great webinar series, and the next one is Fighting Marine Debris on the US West Coast – Effective Actions and Tools

If you live on the coast and love seabirds, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) uses community scientists to conduct trash surveys on beaches (with transect lines and quadrants) in addition to their seabird work.

Thanks for joining us!

Please don’t forget to rate, review (we’d really love and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or at facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

In this episode we will learn about funny costumes, what’s up with plastic recycling, how to optimize routes in GIS to save time, fuel, and emissions, and how to recycle those odd items in your area if you can’t reduce your consumption in the first place.

Before we get into the meat of the episode, we wanted to remind everyone that February 2nd is World Wetlands Day. Okay, that was two days before this episode dropped, but there’s good news! There are events all month long to help celebrate. If you can’t make it to an event listed below, you can always find a wetland near you and visit or learn more about it!

February 6 - Talk on Wetland Carbon Storage - Newport, OR

February 15 - Wetland Day & Treatment Plant Tour - Olympia, WA (HIGHLY RECOMMEND!)

February 20 - WTA Oaks to Wetlands Work Parties - Ridgefield, WA

February 23 - Oregon Wetlands Half - Eugene, OR

February 26 - Wetlands Exploration Days - Hillsboro, OR

This episode is Part 1 in our series on Plastic. Amy starts out by dropping a bunch of plastic facts. She had tons of sources, so I’ll just list them at the bottom. Once she tells us a bit about plastic, she then lays out the 6 types. I learned that Amy has a problem saying the word “synthetic,” and after a 2 minute long laugh-cry session while Amy repeatedly tries to say it (which I’m sure she edited out), we get on with things. Some day we’ll release a blooper reel…

Speaking of which, there’s a cool drinking game you can play while listening to this episode. You need two teams/players. One drinks every time Amy bonks her new microphone and the other one drinks every time Jen says, “Interesting”…It makes the episode way less depressing and way more fun!!!

We then learn all about plastic recycling. Amy is a nurdle… I mean she tells us about nurdles, which are little plastic pellets that are melted down and made into things. We mentioned a ship container full of nurdles (not a whole ship!), fell into the ocean, causing a little environmental havoc. We also learn about some products made from recycled plastics, and find out that we’re not that great at recycling compared to other countries.

Amy then tells us some other problems with plastic recycling. We get into China’s ban on our dirty plastics, and how this has affected other countries in SE Asia, as well as the worldwide recycling market. Not to be completely depressing all the time, Amy talks about some innovations in plastic recycling. She mentions a map of states that have recycling bans vs states that have bans against recycling bans (yes, you read that right.) There have been a few million dollars in grants awarded to private companies in Portland to improve the recycling infrastructure in that city. There are also a couple of trials of curbside plastic film recycling happening in the US, and one is in Washington! Speaking of bans, the European Union is banning several single-use plastic items and China plans to reduce all single use plastic by 2025. She ends the segment with some actions we can all take. Like knowing where and what to recycle. Here’s where you can find a plastic bag or plastic film drop off locations near you for recycling.

In the GIS segment, I talk about routing and how optimizing a route for a recycling collection truck could save time, fuel, emissions, and more. For more on that, see the GIS Tools blog.

If you want to find out what you can recycle in your area and where you should take it, try out the iRecycle app. Better yet, try reducing your consumption! I briefly mentioned a couple of ways I reduce consumption, but we’d love to hear your ideas! Please mention them in the comments, or share them on our Facebook page.

Depressing fact sources and other “interesting” recycle tidbits:

Plastics at a glance from the EPA.

How were’s actually getting (a lil) worse at recycling plastic bottles.

How Much Plastic Trash is Littering the Earth?

All the depressing facts on plastic bags

Making Plastic Recycling Easier with science.

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or at facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

The Partnership and the Sound: A Love Story of Recovery. 

In this episode we will FINALLY share the story that birthed the term backdoor style, we dive into the Puget Sound Partnership and the 2019 State of the Sound Report (we will not be recovering Puget Sound by 2020, since it’s already here), how GIS dashboards make life easier and the Call to Action from the State of the Sound report...even though it’s not gonna be recovered by 2020, that’s no reason to just give up and the Partnership has lots of suggestions for actions. So, get settled in, cause we are going full NERD on this episode. And it’s our longest yet.

State of the Sound

The 2019 State of the Sound is the Puget Sound Partnership’s sixth biennial report to the Legislature on progress toward the recovery of Puget Sound by 2020. The document reports on both the status of the Partnership's recovery efforts and the status of a suite of ecosystem indicators. The report is intended to help partners and decision makers better understand how well the recovery effort is going, ecosystem health and progress toward Puget Sound recovery goals, and the role each partner can play in achieving Puget Sound recovery. It also responds specifically to state statute (RCW 90.71.370(3)).

There are two parts to the State of the Sound; the website or the PDF report. (You can also download a shorter brochure.) The PDF report includes additional information on the status of the Puget Sound recovery effort, including detailed information on funding, near-term actions, on-going programs, legislative and policy developments and a summary of citizen concerns. The website includes other stuff that isn’t in the PDF.

The State of the Sound opens with the overall status and progress of conditions in Puget Sound as “Mixed.” But first…

Who is the Puget Sound Partnership, what do they do and why?

“The Puget Sound Partnership is the state agency leading the region’s collective effort to restore and protect Puget Sound. The Puget Sound Partnership brings together hundreds of partners to mobilize partner action around a common agenda, advance Sound investments, and advance priority actions by supporting partners”

— Puget Sound Partnership Website

In 2007, the then Governor of WA, Christine Gregoire, birthed a little Puget Sound Partnership baby, which she gave the tiny task of recovery of Puget Sound by 2020, and I mean, that is 13 years… anyways, they were legislated to work towards 6 goals. They build a shared vision for recovery through the Action Agenda, which identifies the top priority actions or programs to stay on course for recovery. Really what it all boils down to, is they are trying to better understand all of the great work that is going on out there, what challenges groups are facing in relationship to recovery of Puget Sound and prioritize and ensure effective funding.

WHACK FACT! The Action Agenda is a recovery plan based on science and developed by a regional partnership. The plan describes local and regional strategies and highlights specific actions needed to protect and restore Puget Sound. These strategies and actions provide opportunities for federal, state, local, tribal, and private entities to better invest resources and coordinate actions.

The bulk of the Partnership is funded through the Puget Sound National Estuary Program. For the 2015-2017 biennium, the Partnership had a budget of 18.8 million, including 9.9 million from the US EPA, 7.5 million from Washington and 1.4 million from NOAA. However, the cost to implement all of the near term actions of the 2018-2022 Action Agenda is estimated at over a billion dollars!!! Sufficient funding remains one of the biggest barriers to the recovery of Puget Sound. The 2018-2022 Action Agenda includes 631 near term actions that are ready to get underway, if there is funding available.

The Puget Sound Partnership has six legislated goals:

Healthy human population

Vibrant quality of life

Thriving species and food web

Protected and restored habitat

Abundant water quantity

Healthy water quality

So no big deal, just a few small tasks that the Puget Sound Partnership was legislated to do!

Now, what’s up with the State of the Sound?

The State of the Sound shows the progress (or lack thereof) towards the recovery of Puget Sound, using 2020 target goals for recovery and indicators of the Puget Sound Vital Signs. The Puget Sound Vital Signs are basically a measure of ecosystem health, which then guide future efforts for Puget Sound recovery. The Partnership has worked with numerous partners and stakeholders to develop the indicators and target goals and they continually assess and try to find the best ways to support partners in the recovery of Puget Sound.

The indicators are broken out into the six legislated goal categories defined above, with 25 sub-categories (or Vital Signs) and 52 indicators. Vital Signs include things like Freshwater Quality, while the indicators include number of freshwater impairments. Thirty-one of the 52 indicators have target goals set for recovery by 2020, most of which, unfortunately, have not been met.

Progress of the indicators is based on an evaluation over time compared to a baseline reference. The State of the Sound breaks out the progress into five categories.

While we do go into (great) detail on some of the indicators in the episode, we recommend you check out the Vital Signs website.

GIS TOOLS

In this episode we talked about a couple different dashboard tools, check out the GIS Tools blog to learn more! Take home message: Informational dashboards are better with maps! To see a related Tableau dashboard (without maps…), see the 2016 Puget Sound Report Card.

State of the Sound Call to Action

“The primary barriers between us and more food for orcas, clean and sufficient water for people and fish, sustainable working lands, and harvestable shellfish are funding and political fortitude. The single greatest step we could take to ensure a durable, systematic, and science-based effort to recover Puget Sound is to fully fund the implementation of habitat protection and restoration, water quality protection, and salmon recovery programs.”

— Laura Blackmore, the Partnership’s Director

One of the main take home messages of the current State of the Sound is that although much of the data is bleak and we are far from recovery, there is still time to recover Puget Sound. And each of us has a role to play in that recovery. The State of the Sound Report resounds this call for action: “Let us be bold in our intent and actions to build a healthy, resilient, and economically prosperous Puget Sound for all!

They have broken out specific actions for various groups and partners that are critical to Puget Sound Recovery. These groups include recommendations for action from the State Legislature, State Agencies, Local Government, Congress, Federal Agencies, The Puget Sound Partnership, non-governmental organizations and the Public. They also have tribal recommendations but acknowledge that their tribal partners are sovereign nations and invite them to continue to work together in specific ways. If you want to see all of their recommendations, visit the Call to Action website.

Here’s what you and I can do (credit goes mostly to the Puget Sound Partnership, with a few modifications by us):

Get involved.

Volunteer on a habitat restoration project or in a citizen science program. See orca.wa.gov for links to organizations to join, or check out the Citizen Science sections of our past episodes.

Quiet the waters of Puget Sound to help orcas find food.

If you’re a boater, give orcas space. Follow the BeWhaleWise guidelines for whale watching. And please use pump-out stations to keep sewage out of Puget Sound.

Drive less.

Support efforts to improve alternative transportation options in the Puget Sound region, and try some yourself! A few ideas are to bike, carpool, combine trips, telecommute, or take the bus or the train.

Keep plastics and toxic chemicals out of our waterways.

Recycle (or better yet, reduce your consumption). Use environmentally friendly products in your home and on your landscape, fix vehicle leaks, use a commercial car wash, and have your vehicle oil changed by a professional.

Speak up for Puget Sound.

Vote. Tell a friend. Make sure your local, state, and federal representatives know how important Puget Sound is to you.

Listen to our previous episodes, educate yourself, and take action!

Tell a friend about the podcast as well. In previous episodes we’ve discussed many topics raised in the report.

Salmon - Episodes 16 & 15 & 8

Shoreline armoring - Episode 13

Marine debris removal (which relates to toxins in the water and their impacts on fish and other species) - Episode 12

Drought (or the opposite of abundant water) - Episode 11

Keeping human waste out of the Sound - Episodes 10, 7 and 2

Fire (which has an impact on air quality) - Episode 9

Nonnative species - Episode 3

Thanks for joining us!

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think at outalivepodcast.com or facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our YouTube page!

We bring you part 1 of our two part salmon series! Part 2 (Episode 15: A Culvert Affair) was released last month. That’s how we do. This episode we interview Joy Waltermire, a steelhead biologist with Long Live the Kings. She’s an expert on salmon, and we ask her all sorts of ridiculous questions, like why does she never talk about king salmon if her organization is called Long Live the Kings, (she does, king is the nickname for chinook salmon…) and why did the salmon cross the road? (Follow our Facebook page - link below - to see a picture of salmon actually crossing the road!)

We also discuss the salmon lifecycle, the uniqueness of steelhead, and why salmon are important in our Salish Sea ecosystem. We have a great conversation about one huge salmon barrier - the Hood Canal Floating Bridge.

Our citizen science segment isn’t called out specifically in this episode, but we talk about Survive the Sound, which is Long Live the Kings’ game where you choose a salmon and then watch it migrate out of the stream in early May and see if it survives the sound and makes it to the ocean. We talk about reasons most of the salmon don’t make it. Be on the lookout in April for the signup!

Please don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think on our feedback page or facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. Also, if you are more visually inclined, check out our youtube page!