Finding Your Own Path to Activism

Over the past two weeks, since the Presidential Inauguration, everyone I know is unsettled. No matter who they voted for. Perhaps that is the upside of the upset. Perhaps this is what we needed. Even though it doesn’t feel good or satisfying, perhaps these benefits are worth it?

• To be clear about how we feel on the issues.
• To dialogue with those we disagree with.
• For more people to take action to support what’s important to them.
• For people to share their money in support of the causes they care about.
• To be reminded that our point of view isn’t the only point of view.

By Chad A. Stevens, milesfrommaybe Productions. From the film Overburden about Lorelei Scarbro who became a community organizer in the campaign to build an industrial wind farm along the ridges of mountain whose coal mine killed her husband.

I’ve used my work as a teacher, writer, and now as a marketing strategist to support the causes–and the people and businesses–I believe in.

I worked in Superfund clean up as a US EPA contractor because I believe in clean air and water and healthy ecosystems for people, for living things, and for the future of the planet.

By Chad A. Stevens, milesfrommaybe Productions. From the documentary flm Overburden. Nonviolent protest on Coal River Mountain on a mountaintop removal preparation site.

I managed chemistry laboratories and taught environmental science at a State University training the future scientists, policy-makers, and planners that will lead us to problem-solving in future generations.

I worked in special education for little pay for years because I believe in the impact public school can have on the lives of special needs children.

I write about theater, music, the arts, environmental innovation, and buying local and supporting local businesses because I believe in their value–for myself, for my family, and for our communities.

Bellingham Theatre Guild’s 2015 production of The Drowsy Chaperone.

My writing, my communication, and how I approach them are my activism. Perhaps all that’s going on in the world right now is a sign. A sign that its time to wake up, look outside ourselves, and find our own activism.

If we don’t hear the call, we just might lose the freedoms we’ve been taking for granted, the privileges given to us by the activists who came before us. Those activists were every day people. Writers, lawyers, teachers, cooks, students, parents, preachers, nurses, policemen, and even politicians. They are us and we are them.

Another upside: the action is not hard to find anymore. Don’t be overwhelmed. Choose your cause and pledge to yourself to do some small things. Now and from now on. Add your voice. We can do little alone, but together we are mighty.

Here are seven articles I’ve written so far in 2017 in support of the arts and human rights. Take a look, appreciate the arts, the environment, the rights you enjoy. Then find your activism and get involved.

Mount Baker Theatre Resident Ghost Judy is Blushing in Anticipation of The Irish Rovers and We Banjo 3 at Whatcomtalk.com

Resident Ghost Judy Can’t Wait for Mount Baker Theatre Education Shows at Whatcomtalk.com

Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival Explores Critical Issues at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Art, Nature, History, and Fun at Whatcom Museum in Bellingham at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Celebrate the Tribute Act at Mount Baker Theater at Whatcomtalk.com

Join Whatcom County’s Vibrant Poetry Scene at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Appreciating the Poetry of Whatcom County at WhatcomTalk.com

 

High School Science Rules

I first discovered biology at the age of six in the farm drainage ditch that ran behind my lower Michigan home. That’s when and where I decided I would pursue science. High school science classes convinced me that I was on the right path and solidified my path through college. Although I don’t work in a lab or collect field data these days, environmental science is still a part of my daily life. I live, teach, and write about science as much as I can.

It was a joy to interview an intelligent, articulate, confident, resourceful bunch of Sehome High School students for my most recent article for WhatcomTalk.com about their participation in Science Olympiad. My old friend Mark Toney is their student adviser and my good friend Laural Ringler suggested I write about them. Whenever you can, support your local science experiences in any form. It makes a huge difference in their lives that echoes well beyond the event itself.

Pacific Northwest Leads the Way in Green Building

I really enjoyed writing this article about Dan Welch of [bundle] and his award-winning ultra-green home. There’s something to be admired when someone lives their values every day, going off the grid in an environmentally-conscious way in order to test the limits of possibility and inspire others. Check out my article for WhatcomTalk.com to find out how one family is living in an experiment every day.

Go Solar Right Now

My family converted to solar this past fall and our only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner. As I discovered while writing this article for WhatcomTalk.com, we may have hit it at exactly the perfect time. Washington State is about to modify it’s incentives, which are not expected to be better than the existing ones,  that will take affect July 1, 2016. As the article also mentions, going solar now will benefit the Bellingham Food Bank too. If you’re at all curious, check it out. Its never too late to move toward sustainability, but now seems to be the right moment.

Thanks to Ecotech Solar and Itek Energy for getting my house squared away.

Its Not Leprechaun Beer

I recently wrote an article about Bellingham Green Drinks for WhatcomTalk.com. Its not about little Irish men and their gold coins, but instead about a monthly gathering whose only goal is to provide a platform for people to talk about the environment. Check out the article and find a Green Drinks near you!

Future Tinkers

I recently got to spend a little time with a high school robotics team as they frantically finished building a robot that will compete in the FIRST Robotics Championships.

While watching them, I couldn’t help but see in them the potential future of my own sons, now age 11 and obsessed with making lego stop motion animation films, Minecraft, and 3-D printing.

Writing this article for WhatcomTalk.com just made me excited for all the opportunities that lay ahead for them.

The creativity and ingenuity of my little men inspire me every day.

Flying on a Tin Can Odyssey

When I was a kid, I wanted to go to NASA space camp so that I would have the best chance of becoming an astronaut someday. Although life has led me down a different path, I recently got the chance to play one…on the internet.

I spent the early months of 2014 as Assistant Director and acting as Doctor Bernadette Hannegan in a hilarious web series about an international mission to Mars called Tin Can Odyssey. The series’ weekly 5-minute episodes aired on Youtube and are available now. Catch up on Season 1, because we’ll be shooting Season 2 this winter.

Although NASA is not what it used to be, real-life missions to Mars are occurring as we speak. But none of them are the ridiculous fun of Tin Can Odyssey.

You can follow my character on Twitter @doctorbernadett.

ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was broadly introduced to the world in 1939 when the Iron Horse of Baseball Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with this progressive neurodegenerative disease. Motor neurons that reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body are affected, impairing the ability to use the hands and feet, speak, swallow, and breathe. The ALS Association website has more information.

I’ve been learning about this disease because two of my friends have been diagnosed with it recently. It feels extra shocking to me because the incidence in the general population is supposedly only 2 in 100,000, yet my town is smaller than that and there are many more in my area living with the disease.

I read the highly recommended memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alborn, the true story of Morrie Schwartz and the weekly conversations they had together while Morrie managed his ALS diagnosis. Tuesdays is excellent because Alborn was able to capture Morrie’s hard-earned wisdom about life, death, and humanity and share it with the world.

As Alborn learned from his weekly chats, spending time with people who know they are dying brings great gifts. I am reminded to live each day more fully, to appreciate the people in my life, to be thankful for my health and circumstances, to cherish each moment in its own right, and to let go of the little things that don’t really matter. I also regret not spending more time with these friends before their diagnosis. I always thought there would be more time. All of these get thrown by the wayside while I’m rushing to and from the kid’s school and the grocery store, feeling exhausted and behind in every task.

Spending time with my friends who have ALS releases my petty disappointments and frustration with the day-to-day. The concerns melt away like sand through my fingers after only a few minutes with my friends. For their time and candor, and the clarity it brings me, I truly thank them.

What I’ve learned about ALS so far:

• The disease is poorly understood and there is still no known cure.
• ALS is not wholly inherited genetically. It may be affected by environmental factors and can strike anyone.
• Most people diagnosed with ALS live from 2-10 years after diagnosis, with some exceptions.
• A couple of drugs are in clinical trials that could slow the progression of the disease.
• Donations can be made to support the search for a cure at The ALS Association.

If you know someone with ALS, spend time with them. Listen and learn. Cherish every person in your life and every moment. Then make a donation so that someday, ALS will just be an entry in the history books.

Genetically Predisposed to be an Egg Donor?

New research says that “niceness” may be part of our genetic make up, that we are predisposed to be kind and generous because our DNA contains genes that control the function of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors, receptors for hormones that play a role in our maternal instincts, attitudes about civic duty, and responsibility to others.

I say we because this article makes me wonder if sperm and egg donors like me, and like those mentioned in the article that were more likely to be “giving blood, working for charity or going to PTA meetings,” were genetically predisposed toward donation. More than one chapter of my memoir addresses why I chose to become an egg donor, and for me, the underlying theme was generosity. I saw it as “one level up from” giving blood, with even greater impact in someone’s life.

Photo by Duncan on Flickr.

If I take my Wilde 🙂 speculation one level further, are children conceived from donor eggs and sperm statistically “nicer” because they got half their DNA from these generous people? And if so, are our populations slowly evolving toward kindness and generosity? Gosh, I hope so. I guess only time will tell.

Real Costs of Invasive Species in the Great Lakes and Beyond

In February I blogged here about the U.S. Supreme Court’s failure to protect the Great Lakes from invasion by the Asian carp, which have the potential to further decimate native species and cost millions in economic losses and recovery efforts.

I’ve been drawn to the study of invasive species for many reasons. Study and management are multidisciplinary, requiring collaboration between scientists, policy makers and government, industry, farmers and fisherman, recreation, and the public. No solution is black and white and understanding must occur at both the global and microscopic level to develop complex solutions that often completely satisfy no one.

In a recent study, researchers from two American universities and one in the Netherlands have collaborated to calculate the approximate annual financial losses due not to the Asian carp that is poised to invade, but instead to other invasive species contained in the ballast water of ocean-going vessels that travel in Great Lakes water bodies. Researchers estimate that damages are $138 to $800 million annually, an underestimate that does not include Canadian costs.

Ballast water is simply fresh or sea water taken in and out of the holds and tanks of ships to manage stability and maneuverability during transport and the loading and unloading of cargo. Although ballast water discharge regulations were developed by an international convention in 2004, enforcement by the U.S. Coast Guard is imperfect. Appropriate ballast water discharge should occur in high seas (over 2000 meters in depth) or through chemical or mechanical treatment when seas are low and all discharges are to be logged.

Despite recent regulation, several invasive species have been transported throughout the world via ballast water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 30% of invasive species in the Great Lakes were introduced via ballast water discharges. At least 25 non-native fish species have been introduced to the Great Lakes via ballast water since the 1800’s. First discovered in 1988, and now widespread in the U.S. and Canada, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) was introduced via ballast water from the Caspian and Black Seas of Asia. A single sea lamprey, originally native to the Atlantic Ocean, also kills about 40 lbs. of Great Lakes fish in its life time, preferring lake trout, salmon, rainbow trout (steelhead), whitefish, chubs, burbot, walleye, catfish, and sturgeon.

A more recent trend, scientists and economists believe that converting environmental impacts to dollar values will help policy makers in cost/benefit analysis of future policy changes, management and prevention, and mitigation efforts. Similar approaches are being used to determine the most cost-effective approaches to control and mitigate global climate change. The numbers in the above study were used, for example, to evaluate the potential benefit of switching away from shipping toward other modes of transportation, noting that the switch could pencil out in our financial favor in less than 30 to 50 years. The real question is, can we wait that long?

 

Crayfish photo courtesy of Examining Global Environmental Problems 2011, Lamprey on Lake Trout photo from Great Lakes Fishery Commission.