Raise Sustainability Awareness
This exciting webinar will guide viewers on how to use D-tags(sound and movement tags for marine animals) to help track and record data about endangered orca (killer) whale behavior. Visit https://www.streamkeeper.org/ for more details on how to attend the event and go to https://killerwhaletales.org/resources/ to download the data and D-tag sheets.
The Washington Conservation Council (WEC) and Washington Conservation Voters (WCV) are looking for applicants for the Community Engagement and Campaign intern positions. This internship will consist of doing online campaign work to help elect candidates passionate about the environment and support WEC and WCV’s other efforts. To find out more about this internship opportunity and see how to apply for it, visit this link https://wecprotects.org/jobs/paid-community-engagement-and-campaign-internship/
The Northwest Stream Center and Adopt a Stream Foundation are looking for internship applicants interested in wetland, forest, and stream ecology research. Visit https://www.streamkeeper.org/internship-opportunities for more information and to learn how to apply. Often there are other volunteer opportunities available beyond just these internship positions, so make sure to check out https://www.streamkeeper.org/ for more information about AASF.
The Northwest Stream Center will be having a virtual class webinar about native bees on June 25th with local environmental educator Demarus Tevuk. Visit streamkeeper.org to find out how to pay and reserve a seat.
The Sno-Lisle Food Co-op is a local Everett grocery store collectively owned and managed by over 8,000+ families that strives to operate in an eco-friendly manner. They have lots of organic, non gmo, fair trade, and sustainably sourced fruits, vegetables, dairy, cleaning products and more.
Sno-Lisle Food Co-op works with local farmers and also donates to nonprofits and organizations focusing on food and nutrition, environmental conservation/preservation, sustainable and community building issues. If you would like to learn more or become a member visit https://www.snoislefoods.coop/
As people are staying inside at home more often these days, it’s the perfect time to do a home energy audit to help save money and conserve energy. The first step is to find areas and appliances in your house that may be causing energy loss. Good parts to check include house insulation, sealing, sources of ventilation, heating, cooling, electrical equipment, lighting, and checking for air leaks which can be found along baseboards, edge of flooring, junctures on walls/ceilings, windows, and more and then sealing them.
Knowing where a home is losing energy can aid in making changes to fix these issues and save energy and money. It may also be a good idea to get a professional energy audit done in the future. For more information on issues like air leaks, insulation, and other tips on how to do a home energy audit visit https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/home-energy-audits/do-it-yourself-home-energy-audits
During this difficult time, many of us have moved to ordering groceries online. You can still shop sustainably online and here’s how! Try to find what produce is in season because getting out of season fruits and vegetables encourages them to be shipped from far away countries. Also avoid buying prewashed produce as that wastes water. You should buy produce that you can wash at home. buying used, local, bulk items, organic, and items with fair trade labels are good tips to shop buy as well.
There are several apps that can help with sustainable shopping such as Good On which checks to see the impact a particular brand has on the planet and people and Depop which is an app where people sell old or thrifted clothes. Online stores that sell sustainable clothes include Lacausa, Everlane, and Kotn.
There are also websites that sell sustainable cleaning products. Visit https://www.diynatural.com/ to find homemade cleaning items like soaps. https://follain.com/ is an online shop that curates only clean beauty products and has multipurpose soap where you can send bottles back to be refilled. Other clean beauty shops are Kosas, RMS, Lush, and Ilia.
Check out https://goloadup.com/ways-shop-sustainably/ and http://www.fairtradeamerica.org/get%20involved/How-to-Shop-Sustainably for more sustainable and green shopping tips!
Crowd the Tap is an exciting citizen science project working to create a national inventory of water pipes. It’s important to know what kinds of materials make up our water infrastructure to keep water safe and this testing will help prioritize areas for tap water testing and infrastructure development. A magnet and a penny are all it takes to find out what kind of materials water pipes are made out of! To get started visit https://scistarter.org/form/crowd-the-tap.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is doing a citizen science activity that anyone can engage in from the comfort of your own backyard! They need your help to gather data about regional birds. It’s a great way to help scientists learn more about birds and how they are affected by environmental changes. If you would like to partake in this activity please visit https://celebrateurbanbirds.org/cub/instructions to get started!
EvCC Celebrates Earth Day 2020! Since the inception of the EvCC Sustainability Initiative in 2009, Everett Community College has been dedicated to sustainable practices, providing free sustainability information and events and partnering with the local community to create a more eco-friendly campus environment. Sustainability at Everett Community College extends beyond recycling and campus resource management. It extends beyond the boundaries of the college campus. The college has a duty to help prepare students to be global citizens who are able to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations to meet those needs. Further, the college should strive to educate through outreach and modeling in all aspects of campus life, the way forward towards a sustainable future. For the past 10 years, the college sustainability office has hosted an Earth Week event series on campus, including a plant swap and sale, guest speakers and other interactive events. Earth Week at EvCC may not be physically possible this year, but the celebration continues with a host of virtual options:
Join the EvCC Eco Challenge here : https://earthday.ecochallenge.org/dashboards/teams/evcc-sustainability and partner virtually with other members of the campus community!
Learn about Xeriscape landscaping from the comfort of your couch and put the concepts into practice in your home landscape: https://nwpublicmedia.typepad.com/oursustainablenorthwest/xeriscaping/
In 2018, the EvCC Student Green Fee was enacted, allowing for funding of both the Office of Sustainability and student lead sustainability projects at EvCC. https://www.everettcc.edu/administration/college-services/facilities/sustainability/evcc-green-fee
Get involved! Join the EvCC Green Fee Committee or apply for a job in the EvCC Sustainability Office (students only please) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGOPJ5kRgh9rJ0qd8o4Kx4OyAJV_659QeBkqjmEFSDmM0SnA/viewform
At this time of year hummingbirds are everywhere! These are some of the smallest birds in the world, and they can hover in place and even fly backwards! There are only two hummingbird species that can be found in Western Washington, the year around Anna’s hummingbird and the seasonal Rufous hummingbirds that arrive around April or May on their migration from Central and South America. So, this is the perfect time to try to attract some.
Hummingbirds prefer long tubular flowers such as fuchsias, bee balm, butterfly bushes, columbine, trumpet vine, beardtongue, hummingbird mint, snapdragon and more( https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/0625-in-the-garden/ , https://www.king5.com/article/news/special-reports/attracting-hummingbirds-to-your-garden/140227470 ). Hummingbirds also love nectar, which can be made at home and put into a hummingbird feeder. Check out this link to find a hummingbird nectar recipe: https://www.audubon.org/news/how-make-hummingbird-nectar
