Raise Sustainability Awareness
Visit the WA Farm Finder on https://eatlocalfirst.org/. This is a great application that can be used to find local farms, growers, and producers in Washington State to support. They have online portals for other kinds of farms as well, such as CSA’s. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a style of farming where customers can buy a plot of farmland or shares of a farm’s harvest in advance.
On Saturday, February 6th from 10:30-11:30 am PST, Snohomish Conservation District and King County Waste Treatment Division will be hosting a free webinar about easy ways to start a sustainable food garden. Learn the benefits of sustainable gardening and discover a wide variety of resources to help get started in the spring. To learn more about this event and register visit this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-gardening-growing-food-with-ease-and-minimal-impact-tickets-134430550395. Stay tuned for more sustainable landscaping and gardening classes from the Sustainable Yard Care series. You can find the course list on the King County Events Page: https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/wastewater/education/events.aspx
The campus may be closed but the Greenhouse at Everett Community College is still alive and well! Grounds Lead, John Syson, and his crew, have been taking good care of these plants.
The Greenhouse is used to propagate plants and grow annual flowers used by the Grounds department to beautify the campus. In the last 11 years that John Syson has worked for EvCC, he has transformed the college grounds from a lifeless and bland college environment to bursting with life and beauty everywhere you look. In speaking with John, it is clear that he has a true passion for what he does. He says, “Plants are as honest as they can be, as long as you speak their language they tell you what they need. You just have to listen.”
When the campus is open, the Greenhouse is also used to grow vegetables for Laura Wild’s nutrition class and extra vegetables are donated the the Early Learning Center.
Another use of the Greenhouse is to grow plants for EvCC’s annual Earth Week plant swap. (Although last years plant swap was cancelled due to covid, we are hoping to be able to figure out a way to continue the plant swap this year. Come back for updates on this years plant swap)
Everett Community College faculty members Spring Petta (linguistics and natural science), Jeff Fennell (environmental science and biology) and Laura Wild (nutritional science) presented at this year’s AASHE (The Association for the Advancement of Higher Learning) conference. AASHE is dedicated to advancing sustainability in higher education. This video contains their great presentation about social justice in learning outcomes. Spring Petta also introduces how our area is located in one of the most severely threatened indigenous language hotspots in the world (the Northwest Pacific Plateau) and how this impacts the community and cultural fabric of Washington State.