America—Made Great Yet?

It’s been quite of year, hasn’t it, this new age of Trumpism? Probably a bit early to see whether America has been made great again.  But there are steps in that direction—

There’s a big tax cut for the rich and for corporations… lots of money for the military… right-wing judges for the federal courts… a ban on Muslims entering our country… deporting law-abiding Mexicans and soon children… undoing Affordable Health Care… warmongering in North Korea... Bullying in Jerusalem... dissing global warming… extolling oil and coal… and even supporting an anti-woman’s rights child molester for the U.S. Senate.

Trump and his Republican supporters say this makes America great again. Not my America. In less than a year of governing, Trump and his collaborators have shown no decency, no shame.

Post-election earlier this year, talk was about how it was important to understand Trump supporters in order to heal the country’s divisions.  Trump and his fellow travelers have shown no interest in governing to heal divisions but to exploit national divisions. What’s clear months later as this first year of Trumpism comes to a close is that the Civil War never ended, the Vietnam War continues at home, race and religious bigotry is alive and well, a woman’s body is still not her own, and big money swears and rules.

Remember that safety pin? You wear it on your lapel to show you will provide safety and shelter to anyone being harassed and threatened by bullies and bigots. Get that safety pin out and wear it when Trump’s federal courts reverse gay and lesbian rights, when “Dreamers” start being deported, when the ICE Gestapo drives up to take your Mexican neighbor away.

But wait, there’s more: Wait to see the other GOP shoe drop with measures to cut poverty, social and environmental funding to reduce the ballooning deficit caused by rich folk and corporate tax cuts. Go ahead, take the year-end bonuses and hourly wage increases from the big banks and corporations— the money they could have given workers years ago— but don’t be a sucker for their shameless PR antics.

Maybe the Robert Mueller investigation will clean traitors out of the White House. Maybe, maybe not, depends on the rule of law, doesn’t it, in America? My America and Trump’s America.

Maybe disclosures of sexual harassment will reach beyond the political and entertainment industry and make all workplaces safe and decent places to work. Maybe, maybe not, depending on the owners and managers of workplaces in America. My America and Trump’s America.

More cynical pundits now write about how Trump could prevail despite his unfavorable public ratings because he will please his political base, the economy will chug along, and his failures will be the fault of others and bad news never to be trusted. Sort of like the first year of the Trumpian presidency.

Cynical and disheartening as that might be, there might be folks who, although not happy with Trump and his Republican collaborators, are also weary of the constant barrage of incoming bad news and controversy. Or folks who for political, economic or social reasons decide it’s easier to go along to get along,… stop talking politics among friends and family… find something easier to engage in like sports, drugs, video games…

It’s understandable to be weary but that’s not the way we take our America back again. We only need to have more votes than the other side. Doug Jones energized enough voters in Alabama to win his election despite nearly half the voters voting for Trump’s child molester candidate. It took just one Washington State Senate seat win this past fall to control both houses of the state legislature. Winning elections is a matter of getting out enough people voting for the values of our America to win. The hard part, the real art of governing, is to get enough of the people’s work done so that you get to come back to continue the work of the people.

I’ll be there in 2018; will you? No illusions-- civil and cultural wars are not easy. I’ll have my safety pin on and ready to stand up against bullies and bigots. Will you? I’ll vote for diplomacy and education and equal opportunity, for diversity and welcoming borders, for jobs and the environment. I’ll hold elected officials, government officials and business leaders accountable for honesty and transparency, for getting the people’s business done.

That’s my America. You in? Happy New Year.

--Mike Sato

Puget Sound 2020: Enforce the Law to Save the Whales

 
Guest blog by Amy Carey

The last time he was seen alive, beneath a setting sun in September, the two-year-old Southern resident orca calf named Sonic was emaciated and struggling to stay afloat. His mother stayed close at his side, helpless to do anything as he slowly starved to death.

And with seven other whale deaths in recent months, he wasn’t the only one to lose the fight to survive as the salmon the orcas rely on becomes so hard to find.

We know that to grow big and become whale food, juvenile salmon need nearshore marine habitat. State permitting agencies like the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife administer the Hydraulic Code permitting nearshore development in order to protect fish and their habitat. Unfortunately, multiple studies, conducted over the course of decades have found that the laws designed to protect the nearshore during development permitting are often ignored.

Truth be told, the heartbreaking domino effect of habitat loss, forage fish impact, salmon declines, the near extinction of the orcas, and a Puget Sound on the razor-thin edge of being lost forever hasn’t happened despite state agencies doing their job – it’s happened because they aren’t doing their job.

And unless this regulatory gap immediately changes, we won't win the fight.

Which is why it is always so puzzling to see what should be a critical first step – directing the state agencies to fully apply the law during permitting decisions – missing in every version of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda, State of the Sound reports or near term Actions.

Instead we see tasks related to “evaluating” or “monitoring” for effectiveness of the permit program even though the problem has long been identified.

But the forage fish, the salmon and the orcas don’t need more studies. They need a top-down, boot-on-the-ground commitment to the immediate and consistent application of habitat protecting regulations.

They need a little thing called Action.

Amy Carey is Executive Director of Sound Action, a watchdog group established in 2013 to reform the broken Hydraulic Code permit system. Sound Action reviews every marine HPA issued in Puget Sound – more than 550 each year – taking legal appeal action if a permit doesn’t protect habitat or is issued in violation of state law.

Hello? Puget Sound Partnership?

Guest blog by Pete Haase

Hello?  Puget Sound Partnership?  Do you suppose you could take a little break from meetings and planning and strategizing and round up some ammunition to send my way?

I am a volunteer, a “Salish Sea Steward.” I’m just one of probably thousands like me, all over the greater Puget Sound region, on the very front lines of the daily battle for the protection and betterment of our special environment.  During our “work” we collectively see and visit with hundreds of regular folks, every day, and do our best to help them learn to “do the right things.”  They always want to know more about what those “right things” are and they always thank us for the efforts we put forth.  But we rarely have satisfying or proper answers.

It would be a big help if we had some crib notes or cheat sheets or little reminder cards that explain the “right things” in a few words and catchy graphics.

Instead, right now, we are needing to attend talks, read long documents, articles and papers, or try to find someone to enlighten us.  That takes a lot of time and some of the material is awfully complicated. It is too much to ask of volunteers.  I know my brain is already too full.  I wind up “winging it” quite a bit!  So, for me, it needs to be concise, attractive, and stick to the big “Vital Signs – Targets.”  Tell us what we “citizens” need to do to help get to those targets.

I know it is not easy to create these material.  Everything is complex and interwoven and you do find out new things all the time.  Many of the actions the common citizen can take mean advocating for policy and regulation changes and better enforcement of existing regulations – not just rethinking their own behavior.  Sometimes the whole solution is not yet known.  Most things are very costly.  Besides that there is this terrible need to overload every piece of literature with more pictures and more words.

But you did not sign up for the easy work, and some few examples could be done for us to try out and critique.  Possibly the work can be farmed out to regional groups so that the local perspective comes through but with you assuring that the style, the message, and the prescription is consistent everywhere.  Certainly key things for citizens to get active about in King County are not the same in San Juan County.

It is well recognized that the “general public” around the Salish Sea must become much more educated, excited about, and engaged with the betterment of it.  Here is one of many possible ways.  Give it a try.  Guys like me will do our best to make it work.  These things could become collector’s items!!!

(Pete Haase is an environmental volunteer in Skagit County doing citizen science with others in the hope that it will make a difference.)

Throwing In the Towel on Puget Sound’s 2020 Goal

Guest blog by Kathy Fletcher

The Puget Sound Partnership has now officially thrown in the towel on the goal of restoring Puget Sound to health by the year 2020. From press accounts of this latest report, one might have concluded that the 2020 goal was set only 10 years ago, when the current version of the Partnership was established. Actually, the goal was set more than 30 years ago by Washington State, in 1985 legislation that created the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority.*

Coincidentally, a new report on the status of one piece of the job to save the Sound--the cleanup of Port Angeles Harbor's toxic sediments--has announced a new timeline for completion: 2029 or perhaps 2032. Does anyone besides me find it shocking that 20 years after the polluting mill closed, the responsible agencies have not even come up with an approach to the cleanup?

Governor Inslee seems genuinely concerned, and wants to inject "urgency" into the restoration of the Sound. Great. But we have been here before. Governors Gardner, Lowry, Locke and Gregoire all pledged before him to do right by the Sound. But throughout these decades there has been a huge gap between words and actions, between promises and the guts to make it happen.

What, if anything, will be different this time?

(Kathy Fletcher served as Chair and Director of the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority and was founder and Executive Director of People For Puget Sound.)

* RCW 90.71.300
PUGET SOUND WATER QUALITY PROTECTION
Action agenda—Goals and objectives.

(1) The action agenda shall consist of the goals and objectives in this section, implementation strategies to meet measurable outcomes, benchmarks, and identification of responsible entities. By 2020, the action agenda shall strive to achieve the following goals:
(a) A healthy human population supported by a healthy Puget Sound that is not threatened by changes in the ecosystem;
(b) A quality of human life that is sustained by a functioning Puget Sound ecosystem;
(c) Healthy and sustaining populations of native species in Puget Sound, including a robust food web;
(d) A healthy Puget Sound where freshwater, estuary, nearshore, marine, and upland habitats are protected, restored, and sustained;
(e) An ecosystem that is supported by groundwater levels as well as river and streamflow levels sufficient to sustain people, fish, and wildlife, and the natural functions of the environment;
(f) Fresh and marine waters and sediments of a sufficient quality so that the waters in the region are safe for drinking, swimming, shellfish harvest and consumption, and other human uses and enjoyment, and are not harmful to the native marine mammals, fish, birds, and shellfish of the region.

(2) The action agenda shall be developed and implemented to achieve the following objectives:
(a) Protect existing habitat and prevent further losses;
(b) Restore habitat functions and values;
(c) Significantly reduce toxics entering Puget Sound fresh and marine waters;
(d) Significantly reduce nutrients and pathogens entering Puget Sound fresh and marine waters;
(e) Improve water quality and habitat by managing stormwater runoff;
(f) Provide water for people, fish and wildlife, and the environment;
(g) Protect ecosystem biodiversity and recover imperiled species; and
(h) Build and sustain the capacity for action.

[ 2007 c 341 § 12. <http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/Session Laws/Senate/5372-S.SL.pdf?cite=2007 c 341 § 12.> ]

Little Progress Made Towards A Puget Sound "Fishable, Swimmable, Diggable," Says Partnership After 10 Years

[Encyclopedia of Puget Sound]

Governor Christine Gregoire 10 years ago coined the awful clunky phrase "fishable, swimmable, diggable" to describe the progress to be made to Puget Sound recovery by the year 2020. Sadly, the next State of the Sound Report presented to the Partnership’s Leadership Council late last month pretty much tells the same story of previous progress reports: "We have done many good things, but the system has not yet responded positively." Why not?

In brief: Not enough money, not enough popular awareness of problems, not enough protection of what exists, and not enough attention to a growing economy and population.

Here in the Partnership’s own words from the September 15 draft State of the Sound report (with thanks to the indefatigable Pete Haase of Skagit County who actually attends Leadership Council meetings as a concerned citizen and reports back on what he hears)--

“1 . We are not investing at a level necessary to achieve recovery. We simply have not prioritized Puget Sound recovery at a level that results in adequate spending on restoration and protection projects.

2 . Too few people understand that Puget Sound is in trouble. We must do a better job of providing credible, hard-hitting information to our citizenry, whom we are confident cares deeply about Puget Sound—and will demand a recovery effort that is successful.

3 . While we have appropriately focused much on restoration projects, we have not focused enough on programs designed to protect what we have. We must support our local governments and state and federal agencies as they go about the extraordinarily difficult task of preventing projects and activities that will harm the Sound.

4 . We have to ramp up our effort to keep pace with our booming economy. It has been reported that 1,000 people a week are moving into the Puget Sound basin. That means housing, roads, and other supportive infrastructure, all of which has the potential to destroy habitat, degrade water quality, reduce stream flows, and lower groundwater tables.”

Such frankness and plain-speaking are appreciated but after 10 years a bit ironic. There’s always the problem with funding but how has the money been spent to make the Sound healthier? And why hasn’t the Partnership effort raised public awareness, focused on protection as well as restoration, and developed strategies to deal with growth?

For at least the last 20 years we’ve known Chinook salmon and resident killer whales were in trouble and that recovery required a spectrum of unified actions dealing with pollution prevention and cleanup, habitat protection and restoration, land use and catch management changes, and an active, involved public constituency that kept the issue of the Sound’s health on the front burner.

There once were non-governmental organizations watchdogging this effort and jumping up and down about what needed to be done for the Sound. Where are they now?

Now there’s an action agenda, a constellation of goals and multiple indicators of success.  So how about sparking some urgency to take action for a Puget Sound whose health is slipping away. Show us the leadership that finds funding, educates and involves the public, enforces existing laws, and grapples with population growth.

The treaty tribes will do what they can but they cannot save Puget Sound. It’s also up to state and local elected officials, agency staff and businesses. That’s what these years of “saving Puget Sound” have been all about. And when there are enough people involved, speaking out and voting for candidates and issues supporting a healthy Sound, action follows. Maybe when that happens, reporters will begin covering Puget Sound issues and Pete Haase will have other citizens joining him at Partnership meetings.

The author of the State of the Sound reports says that “we simply need to summon the will— at multiple levels, all across Puget Sound” to “chart a course for where we must go next.”

Better get going. It’s urgent.

--Mike Sato

Total Solar Eclipse— At Least Once In A Lifetime

[JPL/NASA]

July 11, 1991, Honolulu, was my once in a lifetime (thus far) experience with a total solar eclipse. It began mid-morning and aunts and uncles and family friends gathered at my parents home in Manoa Valley. In the gradual darkening of the totality, I walked down the steep steps to the back yard to watch, using the proper protective lenses (which must have been sufficiently protective since I can still see).

It never got completely as dark as night but the July mid-morning, Hawaii temperature noticeably dropped and a stillness enveloped the back yard. I quickly hurried up the steps to report to those gathered in the living room only to find them comfortably watching the eclipse on television. I could at best describe poorly what could be seen clearly, without protective lenses, on the bright screen.

There is no experience quite like watching a total solar eclipse outside in real time. Use a little imagination and try to see it through the eyes of a pre-scientific person, try to make up a story that makes sense of what you see. What filled me with amazement and still does every time there is a solar or lunar eclipse is how we have learned the physics and mathematics to predict with great accuracy the places and times these wonderful celestial events occur. We’ve come a long way from making up stories. Think about that relationship between what’s inside our heads and what’s outside in the natural world— pretty profound.

This morning I’ll be watching an 88% totality with my grandson and joking that he can use the protective lenses while I watch the eclipse on television. But I’ll be outside with him as will millions of others coming together for a few hours, sharing the experience of a lifetime.

So, that’s my story. Send me yours to share.

--Mike Sato

NEWS RELEASE: Orphan Orca Springer Gives Birth To Second Calf

Springer & new calf [PHOTO: Lisa Spaven, DFO]

NEWS RELEASE

July 14, 2017



 

ORPHAN ORCA SPRINGER GIVES BIRTH TO SECOND CALF BEFORE
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF RESCUE CELEBRATION 
JULY 21-23 AT TELEGRAPH COVE, BC

 

The heroic rescue in Puget Sound fifteen years ago of the orphaned orca Springer (A-73) and her return home 300 miles north to Johnstone Strait is celebrated July 21-23 at Telegraph Cove, British Columbia.

Just in time for the celebration, Springer has a new calf! The calf was first spotted by CetaceaLab on BC's north central coast on June 5th and confirmed by a Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) research survey. Springer's first calf, Spirit, was born in 2013.

“Celebrate Springer!” brings together the 2002 rescue team to give first-hand accounts of how Springer was identified, rescued and rehabilitated. She was taken by jet catamaran to the north end of Vancouver Island and reunited with her Northern Resident family.

“Springer’s story is an inspiration on many levels,” said Paul Spong of OrcaLab.  “It proved that an orphan orca, alone and separated from her family, can be rehabilitated and returned to a normal productive life with her family and community; and it showed that disparate parties with diverse interests can come together and work together for the common goal of helping one little whale.”

Fifteen years later, Springer is still healthy and now has given birth twice. They are most often seen on the north central British Columbia coast and occasionally return to Johnstone Strait in summer.

The public is invited to Telegraph Cove at 11 AM on July 22 to hear “Springer’s Story,” a slide show narration by members of Springer’s rescue team, followed by a panel discussion. At 4 PM, the new Telegraph Cove Whale Trail sign will be dedicated and at 5:30 PM, the public is invited to join in for a salmon dinner on the Boardwalk.

“We can hardly believe it has been 15 years since Springer was reunited with her family.  We encourage everyone to come and celebrate this milestone with us at the Whale Interpretive Centre in Telegraph Cove,” said Mary Borrowman, director of the Center. “The most exciting news is the confirmation that Springer has had another calf and we hope we will be fortunate enough to see this famous mother with her family this summer.”

“Fifteen and half years ago Springer was orphaned, 300 miles from home, starving, sick and completely alone,” said Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, director of the Cetacean Research Program at Ocean Wise. “Her rescue, relocation, reunification with relatives and transition to motherhood is an incredible story. I see it as testimony to both the resiliency of killer whales as a species and to the wonderful things we humans can do when we work together on behalf of — rather than against — nature.”

"The few, well-documented records that we receive of Springer each year are testament not only to the success of her rehabilitation and reintegration with her population but also to the dedication of cetacean researchers up and down the more remote regions of our coast," said Jared Towers, DFO’s killer whale research technician.

 “The Springer success story continues to be an inspiration for all of us working on conservation in the Salish Sea,” said Lynne Barre, the lead for orca recovery at NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast regional office in Seattle. “The partnerships created during Springer's rescue provide a strong foundation for international cooperation as well as coordination between government, state, tribal, and non-profit groups to benefit both Northern and Southern Resident killer whales.”

“Springer’s reunion is an unqualified success – the only project of its kind in history,” said Donna Sandstrom, director of The Whale Trail and co-organizer of “Celebrate Springer!” Telegraph Cove event. “To get the little whale home, we had to learn how to work together, as organizations, agencies and nations. Above all, we put her best interests first. Community members played a key role in shaping Springer's fate.  We hope her story inspires people to join us in working on issues facing our endangered southern resident orcas today, with the same urgency, commitment, and resolve.”

For more information, check out Springer Facebook Page   and The Whale Trail.

# # #

CONTACTS:
Paul Spong, OrcaLab (250) 974-8068
Lara Sloan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (250) 363-3749
Mary Borrowman, Whale Interpretive Center (250) 949-1556
Deana Lancaster, Ocean Wise (604) 659-3752
Michael Milstein, NOAA Fisheries  (503) 231-6268
Donna Sandstrom, The Whale Trail (206) 919-5397 

Merlins

Merlin [Photo: Barb Deihl]

Merlins

Guest blog by Barb Deihl

Right now, at the end of June and into July, the young Merlins are getting bigger and bigger and almost ready to head out of their reused crow nests, mostly in 100-foot firs or pines.  Fledging has started for some of the broods.

How do you find them?  Listen for loud, persistent calls high up in sky or tree and, with the help of binoculars and even better, a spotting scope, you may be treated to views of a swift-flying, 11-inch adult falcon.  Following its flight, you may see it engage with another and execute a prey transfer (usually a small bird), deftly execute a small bird, or chase away a crow or an eagle.

You can often follow an adult to the spot where it enters the nest tree and then find the nest after that, and a few young standing on it or jumping or flapping or racing around in the nest.  Soon (in about 2 weeks), you'll notice dark lumps out on branches (still coated with some sprinkles of down).  Then, in the first weeks of July, they will be taking short flights, playing and learning some important life skills.  The parents now provide and even prepare their food.  By late July, the fledglings will have to start using their own hunting skills, often first on small 'summer birds', dragonflies!

Numbers of suburbanizing Merlins living among us have certainly increased in the past decade up an down the coast, from northern California to British Columbia. They adapting well to living around humans.

Click here to view a set of photos of nestlings, fledglings and adults, most of which were taken by me, and one by another person.

Kee-kee-kee!

Writer and photographer Barb Deihl is a Neighborhood Merlin Liaison, naturalist, educator, and environmentalist.

"Celebrate Springer!' Marks 15th Anniversary of Orphan Orca Rescue

Springer and calf Spirit, July 2013 [PHOTO: Graeme Ellis]

NEWS RELEASE
May 3, 2017

RESCUE OF ORPHANED ORCA SPRINGER 15 YEARS AGO
TO BE CELEBRATED AT SALISH SEA PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

“Celebrate Springer!” marks the 15th anniversary of the dramatic rescue in Puget Sound of the orphaned orca Springer (A-73) and the heroic efforts by Washington and British Columbia teams working together to return her safely to her home 300 miles north in Johnstone Strait at the north end of Vancouver Island.

Fifteen years later, Springer is still healthy and in 2013 had her first calf, Spirit. They are most often seen on the north central British Columbia coast and occasionally return to Johnstone Strait in summer.

The 2002 Springer rescue team will reconvene in programs and events in Puget Sound, Georgia Strait and Telegraph Cove in May, June and July to give first-hand accounts of how Springer was identified, rescued and rehabilitated. She was taken by jet catamaran to the north end of Vancouver Island and reunited with her Northern Resident family.

“The Springer success story continues to be an inspiration for all of us working on conservation in the Salish Sea,” said Lynne Barre, the lead for orca recovery at NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast regional office in Seattle. “The partnerships created during Springer's rescue provide a strong foundation for international cooperation as well as coordination between government, state, tribal, and non-profit groups to benefit both Northern and Southern Resident killer whales.”

“Celebrate Springer!” begins on May 20 on Vashon Island near the waters were Springer was found. The Vashon Theater program of “Springer’s Story” will feature members of the rescue team, a dance performance by Le La La Dancers, who were present at Springer's release, and followed by a late afternoon Whale Trail sign dedication at the Point Robinson Lighthouse.

“Springer’s reunion is an unqualified success – the only project of its kind in history,” said Donna Sandstrom, director of The Whale Trail and organizer of the Vashon Island event. “To get the little whale home, we had to learn how to work together, as organizations, agencies and nations. Above all, we put her best interests first. Community members played a key role in shaping Springer's fate.  We hope her story inspires people to join us in working on issues facing our endangered southern resident orcas today, with the same urgency, commitment, and resolve.”

“Celebrate Springer!” will continue in June and July with programs at NOAA Fisheries, Whale Trail Orca Talk, Whale Trail sign dedications, and conclude with a three-day program at Telegraph Cove, British Columbia, where Springer was released in 2002 and rejoined her Northern Resident family.

“Springer’s story is an inspiration on many levels,” said Paul Spong of OrcaLab.  “It proved that an orphan orca, alone and separated from her family, can be rehabilitated and returned to a normal productive life with her family and community; and it showed that disparate parties with diverse interests can come together and work together for the common goal of helping one little whale.”

“Celebrate Springer!” partners include NOAA Fisheries, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, OrcaLab, Whale Interpretive Center, Vancouver Aquarium and The Whale Trail.

For more information, check out the Celebrate Springer Facebook page,  and The Whale Trail.

# # #

CONTACT:
Donna Sandstrom, The Whale Trail (206) 919-5397
Michael Milstein, NOAA Fisheries  (503) 231-6268)
Paul Spong, OrcaLab (250) 974-8068
Lara Sloan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (250) 363-3749
Mary Borrowman, Whale Interpretive Center (250) 949-1556
Deana Lancaster, Vancouver Aquarium (604) 659-3752
 

Had Enough Yet Of Trumpalooza?

It’s now been two months of the Trump Administration barrage of executive orders, nominations and appointments claiming to bring about a new social, political and economic order. “When will there be good news again?” one news reader asks. “I can’t stand what I read every day,” another said, “but I can’t help but read the news every day.” Frankly, I don’t think it will get any easier.

The daily rounds of incoming bad news is not like a war zone but some of the anticipated effect of shock and awe is psychologically akin to what was once called shell shock: that numbness, that desensitized, nervous, anxious feeling. Unlike having to suffer in the foxhole, the trench or the basement bomb shelter, you can (and some advise us to) unplug. Have sex, play with the dog or the kids, walk in the woods, clean the closet or the garage.

But it’s hard not to keep reading, listening, watching. In the last two months the Trump barrage has come down on climate change, digging and burning coal, oil pipeline, immigration, deportation, health care, reproductive rights, science, public broadcasting, education, communication privacy, LGBT rights, Muslims, Hispanics... Trump and his cronies and emerging phalanx of industry collaborators have pretty much demonstrated who will win and who won’t in the new Trumpean Order. It’s as if “We are the 99%” and “Citizens United” and “Black Lives Matter” never happened.

This is a long march. Some of the fervor of the early opposition will probably be lost as the worst is averted (the GOP did not repeal the ACA) or sports and summer grab people’s attention.

However, more troubling is having to make choices as to where to put one’s dollars and time on multiple fronts under siege. This is the danger of battle fatigue. How can everything be important? Will there need to be winners and losers among the causes we champion?

A few years back David Domke of the UW School of Communication advised groups working for the social good to recognize in their communications that the majority public we wished to reach drank drip coffee, not espresso, watched Wheel of Fortune rather than PBS, and shopped at WalMart. He advised us to think through how we could communicate our individual messages in common themes of responsibility, opportunity and legacy so that, while individual in our efforts, we would be heard as standing together in our larger goals.

I think it’s crucial that we start that thinking as our causes come under assault. We need to show how our causes are thematically linked and form a united front that speaks to the kind of society and its values we are fighting for. I think those themes have something to do with equal opportunity, diversity, transparency and the rule of law. I don’t see it coming out of either the Republican or Democratic parties. If we are saying more than “no” to Trump and his cronies, who are “we” and what do we, united, stand for?

One good way to think about this is to chew on a recent piece by Eric Liu titled “How To Get Power” published in TED.Ideas. (Simone Alicea at KNKX interviewed Liu in advance of his talk in Seattle promoting his new book, You're More Powerful than You Think: A Citizen's Guide to Making Change Happen. Listen at: Citizen University Founder Says You're More Powerful Than You Think)

For Liu, the crux is the stories we tell to others: the story of self (what this cause means to me), the story of us (what we share that makes “us” us), and the story of now (this time, this moment calling for action.) Liu makes it tantalizingly simple: “Of these three stories, the middle one — about us — is crucial...Who is “us”?” I say “tantalizingly simple” because many have swooned over the simplicity of Tom Peters’ Passion For Excellence and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point but found carrying out their lessons in the real world difficult.

For example, we know who “us” is among those who are part of the choir of loving animals and nature but do those who sing for LGBT rights or reproductive rights or immigration rights sing their songs about “us” that includes all of us? If you think it doesn’t matter, that’s that. But if you think if having a story we tell about us that includes many of us makes us more powerful against Trump and his cronies and collaborators, chew hard. I think it will take a lot of listening and give and take to converse about “us” so we can talk about “us.” There’s no guarantee we’ll be successful— but if there’s a kind of social, political and economic order we want to see as our society moving forward, that’s the kind of hard work it will take.

Let me know what you think.

--Mike Sato

Would You Shake Hands With A Groper?

 Update: The Elephant in the Room It’s time we talked openly about Donald Trump’s mental health.  Rosemary K.M. Sword and Philip Zimbardo Ph.D. 2/26/17 (Psychology Today)

Would you shake hands with a someone who groped women? Someone who disrespects judges and a free press? Someone who lies and bullies the vulnerable? I’ve been thinking about this civil act of shaking hands for the past month of the Trump presidency.

I didn’t watch the address to Congress last week (I went to a talk about loons instead) but the TV replay showed lots of handshaking. Commentaries noted how ‘presidential’ Trump was without his customary campaign-style histrionics.

Handshaking is a custom that may have originated in ancient times to show a peaceful intent; the open hand having no weapon. According to Wikipedia, “The handshake is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, respect, balance, and equality. If it is done to form an agreement, the agreement is not official until the hands are parted.” Handshake

My gut feeling faced with the prospects of shaking hands with the President is one of revulsion. But that feeling is in deep conflict with the norms of what I grew up with and internalized as civilized behavior: At an all-boys Episcopal prep school one stands when a woman enters the room, says “sir” and “ma’am,” and shakes hands with a firm grip and eye-to-eye contact. You say, please, and you say, thank you and excuse me, and you respect your elders.

A lot of those norms got tested in the cultural cauldron of the ‘60s. I read Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals which examines where societal rules and moral norms come from and their purpose in maintaining social order and the authority of the status quo. I think it was Reed College history prof Owen Ulph who posited that, when the system is corrupt, the social contract with the state is broken and rules no longer apply. Hold that thought, then read Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke and write one’s own life essay on what it means to live a civil life in a time of change.

Unlike Will Rogers, I’ve met and known of a number of people I didn’t like. But I’ve never felt the moral and physical revulsion as I feel with the President. I’ve shaken hands with people I’ve disagreed with, feeling, despite disagreements, we still lived in the same moral universe. From all he’s said, says and done, President Trump and I live in different moral universes.

So, no handshake. But I think about— and worry about— what it means when I cannot maintain one of the most basic norms of civil greeting and tradition. What would a handshake between President Trump and me mean?

For me, the handshake conveys the currency of trust. I’ve shaken hands with people I’ve trusted my life to, my children to, my finances to. With elected officials, bureaucrats and business associates, the handshake’s currency of trust means I will do my part of the relationship and you will do yours. It may very well be a social contract whose rules and norms maintain the status quo, but that is what the currency of trust provides. With no social contract, there is no trust, no handshake. With no trust and no handshake, there is no social contract.

That’s not a comfortable feeling but that’s as far as I’ve come thus far in the current presidency, notwithstanding Trump’s last attempt to appear ‘presidential.’  I never felt this way, despite anger and disappointment, when Nixon, Reagan and Bush 2 began their presidencies. The shorter the term of Trump and his tribe the better.

Would you shake hands with President Trump?

-- Mike Sato

The Business of Real News

 UPDATE: Trump Bump Grows Into Subscription Surge -- and Not Just for the New York Times  Ken Doctor reports. (Newsonomics)

Who’d have thought we’d see in our lifetimes the demise of traditional newspapers? That’s what a long-time local reporter said a few years ago before the last issue of the daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer was printed. Today, the Trump Administration is happy to see that demise run its course, calling those who report real news “the enemies of the people” and barring them from last Friday’s news briefing. But, when that demise comes, America will not be great again.

That demise won’t come as a result of the histrionics of Trump and his minions. Those theatrics serve to inflame outrage and distract attention away from real issues. Reporters and editors of the national news and any state and local media worthy of their journalism titles will continue to report real news. Will the news be political? Yes it will, to the extent that the news reports the business of the people.

The demise of traditional newspapers, when it comes, comes because the business model is no longer sustainable. When revenue from subscriptions and advertising does not sufficiently pay for operating expenses and doesn’t provide an acceptable return on investment, the business fails. The traditional business model of delivering readers to paying advertiser no longer addresses a media world of 24/7 news cycles, decentralized information sources and evolving readership tastes and styles. Not much of a future for horse buggies after automobiles came on the market. Not much of a future for traditional print newspapers after the internet came on the scene.

The new business model for traditional news publications is a strategic shift to pay-to-view digital content enhanced by multi-media and personalized life-style services. Advertising revenue remains important but marketing news content and services to paying subscribers in a 24/7 digital environment is where traditional news media will go in its new form to survive. It’s a big risk but we’ve know for quite a while that the old business model was a dead end.

Easy to say but hard to do. Take a look at the New York Times digital edition and appreciate the tremendous amount of resources going into both producing the product and marketing the product in order to grow and remain competitive. Take a look at the digital edition of your local news publication and try to see whether it can grow and remain competitive in today’s and tomorrow’s media business. Our world and our society will be a much more dark and dangerous place without real news to inform our civic decisions but the rhetoric of ‘freedom of the press’ and ‘voice of democracy’ means little if we forget that the news business is a business.

If you like a business, you support that business as a customer. You subscribe and pay for the news content and services. And you support the businesses that advertise in the publication. Like any other business, if you like the service you’re getting, you continue doing business; if not, you complain and, if service doesn’t improve, you take your business elsewhere.

Trump by engaging in real news media bashing (‘enemy of the people,’ ‘failing New York Times’) has done a great job to galvanize support for real news journalism. The New York Times is not going to fail and neither is the Washington Post; more people have subscribed, just as support for Planned Parenthood increases with every presidential and congressional assault on women’s reproductive rights.

Wait until Scott Pruitt begins dismantling the EPA and environmental groups and their people fight back.

(A year’s full digital access to publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post and local daily papers in the region costs about $100. The New York Times provides a first-year discount of 50%. Independent news publications like Crosscut, Investigate West and Honolulu Civic Beat do not charge for content and are not businesses per se but, like National Public Radio stations, welcome donations to pay operating expenses.)

--Mike Sato

Voyage On The Tides With Jonathan White

It was quite a treat last week during the snowstorm that again gripped us northern Salish Sea folks to voyage with Jonathan White, author of the newly published book, Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean. It’s a great read— travelogue, science, personal reflection— the kind of book I finished and wanted to sit with the author to hear more and to share my “tides” stories....

I first met Jonathan in 1992 when Jonathan, Lela Hilton and the crew of Resource Institute sailed the advocacy group People For Puget Sound on its inaugural ‘Round the Sound voyage on the 65-foot wooden schooner, Crusader. A few years earlier, as Jonathan recounts in his dramatic introduction, he had almost lost Crusader in Kalinin Bay near Sitka, a mishap that drove home the importance of studying and respecting tides.

Over the last two decades, he’s done extensive research, travel and reflection on the physics, the spectacle and the spirit of the water’s movement along our coast and estuaries, up tidal rivers, through narrow passages and on the ebb and flood of shallow bays. He’s described as “a sailor, a surfer, a science mind, and a seeker” and, most importantly, a writer with a keen sense of detail and an educator with the patience to understand and teach the complexities of tidal science without losing the sense of physical wonder the tides demonstrate.

His personal accounts of tidal encounters around the globe— the Bay of Fundy, Mont Saint-Michel, the Qiantang River, California’s Mavericks, Schelt (Skookumchuck) Narrows, and even the Royal Society of London— are interspersed with lucid explanations from the astronomical basics of earth, moon and sun through the complexities of tide variations, predictions, wave dynamics and fluid oscillation and resonance, ending with the challenges posed by climate change and the future of capturing tidal energy. Where the Coast Salish might say it’s as simple as “When the tide is out, the table is set,” the Inuit of northern Quebec’s Ungava Bay forage on the ebb tide after tunneling through the thick shelf of ice formed over the bay.

I promise you’ll like Jonathan’s stories; you will have to pay attention, which isn’t a bad thing these days, when it comes to the science. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with being smart and knowing the difference between apogee and perigee when it comes up at the next party, or being able to say “Now just hold on a minute” when you hear someone say, “Time and tide stayeth for no man...”

I do want to hear more of Jonathan’s stories and I want to tell him my stories about growing up with Hawaii tides and my tidal adventures in the San Juans-- some unusual, some hilarious, some deeply personal. That’s my reaction to the kind of book he’s written.

Jonathan is on a quick book launch  around Puget Sound in February. Go to the reading, buy the book, have him sign it and, if you have a chance, tell him your tide story.

Feb. 15, South Sound Estuary Association, Olympia, 7 pm.
Feb. 16, Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge, 7 pm.
Feb. 17, Lopez Bookshop, Lopez Island, 7 pm.
Feb. 18, Orcas Center, Orcas Island, 5:30 pm.
Feb. 19, Griffin Bay Books, Friday Harbor, 7 pm.
Feb. 21, Village Books, Bellingham, 7 pm.
Feb. 22, Anacortes Library, Anacortes, 7 pm.
Feb. 23, Northwest Maritime Center, Port Townsend, 5 pm.
Feb. 24, Port Book and News, Port Angeles, 7 pm.

--Mike Sato

Oil v. Orca

Guest blog by Shaun Hubbard

The San Juan Islands, smack-dab in the middle of the Salish Sea, attract thousands and thousands of summer visitors – the two-legged kind. One of the main reasons they choose to visit the islands is to see our other summer visitors – the finned kind. The Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), or orca whales, do not show up in the thousands however, but are fewer than 80 in number and, with the 7 reported dead or missing last year, are declining still.

In 2005, NOAA determined the SRKW to be in danger of extinction, and so added them to the Endangered Species List . The critical habitat legally designated under the Endangered Species Act for the SRKW is the Salish Sea, which reaches north across the Canadian border to Georgia Strait, south into Puget Sound, and west to the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. By definition, what makes the Salish Sea a habitat critical to the SRKW is that it “contains features essential for their conservation” and that it “may require special management and protection”. From San Juan Islanders’, and the orcas’, points of view there is no “may” about it.

Threats to the essential features of the Salish Sea, and therefore the whales, abound. One of the biggest threats is the recently approved Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. This pipeline will transport Alberta tar sands crude oil (particularly heavy, toxic oil also known as diluted bitumen or “dilbit”) to Vancouver BC where it will be loaded onto tankers. As approved, 348 more tankers per year will travel the west side of our islands on their way to US, and potentially Asian, refineries. Many Canadians are advocating for rerouting the pipeline to a Washington State refinery, which would export the tar sands through Rosario Strait, along our eastern and southern shores. Either way, the islands – and the orcas – are surrounded.

Ship noise pollution hinders the whales’ search for food. Ship strikes happen and may have been the cause of death for J34, a member of the J-pod found dead in Canadian waters on December 20. Oil spills of any size and form – be it a container ship’s propulsion fuel, or an oil tanker’s cargo – will decimate the whales’ food supply and our islands’ tourist economy because oil spill “cleanup” is impossible.

Of all the new and proposed terminal projects in the Salish Sea, the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion would cause the greatest oil spill risk: a 9-fold (800%) increase of a 20,000 barrel or larger spill over the next ten years in Haro Strait/Boundary Pass.

It wouldn’t take much of an oil spill to push the orcas over the brink or to devastate our islands’ economy and way of life, which is dependent on a healthy marine environment and unspoiled natural resources.

The San Juans aren’t the only community that would be negatively affected by the increase in shipping traffic due to this project. Imagine every city, town or village on or near the Salish Sea that relies on the marine environment for its livelihood. Imagine every company or community that identifies with the sea, and the orca in particular, and perhaps even uses the orca as its namesake, logo, or welcome sign. Now imagine every orca logo being replaced by a tanker logo.

If you live, work or play on or near the Salish Sea, if you have ever been a visitor to the islands (or longed to be), if you care about the future of the Sea and its inhabitants – two-legged, finned, or otherwise – and if it’s important to you to prevent any additional hazards to these inhabitants, then please write to Governor Inslee and our US Senators Cantwell and Murray and tell them.

Islanders and island-lovers need to urge our governor and representatives to engage with the Canadian government. We need to tell Canada that this project is not in our state’s or our country’s best interest. We need to remind them that oil spills know no borders.

Please write and urge them to enact strong legislation that will protect our waters from the threats that this pipeline and other such projects will bring to the Salish Sea – unless we want it to be known as a highway for tankers instead of a healthy home for orcas.

For more information on increased shipping in the Salish Sea, please visit the safe shipping page on the Friends of the San Juans’ website.

Shaun Hubbard

Shaun Hubbard is a 5th-generation San Juan Islander and co-founder of San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping, a grassroots educational outreach and advocacy group in the San Juan Islands focused on shipping safety and oil spill prevention.

Us vs Me, We vs I — Farewell Obama, Hello Trump

[USA Today]

 Tuesday night I listened to President Obama’s farewell speech and Wednesday morning I listened to president-elect Trump’s news conference. I was sad listening to my president say good-bye and angry listening to the president-elect spout off but aside from policy differences in the speech and the news conference, what struck me was the shift from “We can do it” to “I can do it.”

The President looked back to his early days as a community organizer and how he “learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.”

And: “After eight years as your president, I still believe that.  And it’s not just my belief.  It’s the beating heart of our American idea – our bold experiment in self-government.”

In closing: “I am asking you to believe.  Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.... Yes We Can. Yes We Did. Yes We Can.”  [Full transcript of President Obama's farewell speech]

Maybe you would dismiss all that as pretty rhetoric but it was hard not to be struck by the vulgarity of the next morning’s news conference.

By contrast, president-elect Trump was boisterously selling his Trump brand throughout his news conference, pledging what he was going to do, who he liked (his people, ‘brilliant’) and who he didn’t like (the ‘fake’ news media, intelligence agency leakers, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schummer). With president-elect Trump it’s all about Trump and the American people will get what he’s promised because Trump and ‘his people’ are successful people and they are successful because they are smart. [Full transcript of Trump press conference]

After I watched President Obama’s speech, I wondered whether he had expected too much of us citizens, asked too much for our engagement in the civil process of self-government. A thoughtful friend also pondered: “I fear we are a nation of greedy people, and that is the most depressing. You are right, he asks more than the country is made up of. Maybe the next generation? We keep talking about what went wrong - maybe that declaration of independence was taken too literally and people are too independent and not enough dependent on each other.”

But after I listen to the bully braggart who promises he will “Make America Great Again,” I wondered what my part would be in his America. Where would teamwork and inclusiveness and diversity and cooperation be welcomed and not looked upon as impediments to the success of those in power? If what President Obama asked of us citizens was too hard, then maybe folks would just rather sit back and let Trump and his cronies turn the United States of America into Trump America?

I doubt it. Not without our say-so. Our America. We the people. We can. We will.

Thank you, President Obama.

--Mike Sato

Are You Willing to Work 150 Years For Salmon Recovery?

from State of Salmon 2016

In 1998, Washington Governor Gary Locke declared, regarding Puget Sound Chinook salmon, “extinction is not an option.” The recent State of Salmon 2016 summary issued by the state says, “It took more than 150 years to bring salmon to the brink of extinction; it may take just as long to bring them all the way back.” And it’s gotten worse for Puget Sound Chinook and steelhead over the last 15 years. Keep working?

Before answering that question, take a look at the summary report on the progress of salmon recovery efforts and read Kimberly Cauvel’s account in the Skagit Valley Herald, “State: More work needed to save the salmon.”

According to the state report, $516.55 million has been spent on Puget Sound salmon recovery (out of $883.95 million total statewide, 1997-2015).

According to the report, the condition of Endangered Species Act-listed Puget Sound Chinook and steelhead is getting worse. Major barriers to salmon recovery in Puget Sound come from rapid population growth and development: Shoreline armoring, water quality, stormwater, in-stream flows, impervious surfaces, loss of forest cover, fish passage barriers, and development in floodplains and estuaries. Put bluntly, “There is a clear need for increased habitat protection for salmon in Puget Sound.”

But we’ve known for years that it is habitats for salmon and salmon-prey spawning and rearing that are major limiting factors in salmon recovery.

According to a provocatively argued paper now in publication by Robert T. Lackey at the Oregon State University Fisheries and Wildlife Department, salmon recovery is not a matter of science but one of policy and politics.

“Efforts to restore declining wild salmon runs in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have evolved into a “salmon recovery industry” with multiple local, state, and federal government bureaucracies and the associated contractors. Overall, the recovery industry employs thousands of scientists and other technical experts. Over many years and after hundreds of millions of dollars spent for scientific research, salmon are arguably the most studied group of fishes in the world. The vast bureaucracy and massive quantity of science have, however, failed to reverse the long-term decline of wild salmon.

“Successful wild salmon recovery, if it ever occurs, rests squarely in the realm of the political process. Despite well over a century of failure to recover wild salmon, however, many in the salmon recovery industry insist that science continue to play a privileged, even dominant role in helping to decipher and decide key elements of this highly contested, complex, policy problem. The preference for science appears to be supported by both traditionally Democratic and traditionally Republican constituencies; in short, policy advocates from all parts of the political spectrum usually champion science as a critical or determining factor in policy decisions.”  [Science and salmon recovery. In: Science and Problem Solving Under Post-Normal Conditions: From Complex Problems to New Problem Solving Strategies, Edward P. Weber, Denise H. Lach, and Brent S. Steel, editors, Oregon State Press, Corvallis, Oregon.[In Press] ]

For salmon recovery to be successful, Lackey argues that the inadequacies of using a normal science approach to salmon decline need to be overcome:

Salmon Policy Lesson 1 — Efforts of recovery wild salmon will continue to struggle because of conflicting policy priorities and the constraints of the ESA’s approach to species protection.

Salmon Policy Lesson 2 — Current institutional and political dynamics limit our ability to deal effectively with salmon recovery.

Salmon Policy Lesson 3 — Market incentives and the rules of commerce tend to work against increasing wild salmon numbers.

Salmon Policy Lesson 4 — Competition for critical natural resources, especially for water, will continue to increase and will work against recovering wild salmon.

Salmon Policy Lesson 5 — Dramatic increases in the human population of the Pacific Northwest will work against wild salmon recovery.

Salmon Policy Lesson 6 — Individual and collective life-style preferences are important and substantial changes must take place in these preferences if long-term downward trends in wild salmon abundance are to be reversed.

He concludes: “To succeed, a wild salmon recovery strategy must change the trajectory of the major policy drivers or that strategy will fail. If society only continues to spend billions of dollars in quick-fix efforts to restore wild salmon runs, then in most cases these efforts will be only marginally successful... In the opinion of this author, the billions spent on salmon recovery might be considered “guilt money” — modern-day indulgences — a tax society and individuals willingly bear to alleviate their collective and individual remorse. It is money spent on activities not likely to achieve recovery of wild salmon, but it helps people feel better as they continue the behaviors and choices that preclude the recovery of wild salmon. It also sustains a job program for scientists and other technocrats by funding the salmon recovery industry.”

What do you think? Keep working? Work smarter, work tougher? Let me know.

--Mike Sato