by Kristi Weir
This year is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues and occurs on April 22 each year. ECAM is in the process of planning Earth Day activities for East Shore on Earth Day Sunday, April 19, as well as other activities throughout the year.
The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. No need to wait until Earth Day to take action to help the planet. For example, REI has a helpful website suggesting weekly challenges to reduce your impact, get active, and leave the world a better place. You can sign up for weekly calendar notification or download a printable version. https://www.rei.com/blog/stewardship/the-opt-to-act-plan
ECAM is supporting an initiative effort to form an East King County Public Utility District.
The East King County Public Utility District would replace Puget Sound Energy, a foreign-owned, for-profit utility, as the area’s electricity provider. PSE is the dirtiest electrical utility in the state. It emits more greenhouse gases than all other utilities in the state combined. It is also among the most expensive and least reliable. 35,000 signatures are being gathered on a petition to put the PUD on the 2020 ballot. A public utility district would provide cleaner, more reliable electricity to customers in east King County.
ECAM gathered signatures at its January 26th Tabling event. ECAM hosted a February 1 Bellevue Kickoff Event at Spring Hall from 10 to noon. This was an information meeting and also a chance to sign the petition or volunteer to work on the initiative. For more information see EKC-PUD.org.