Celebrate Urban Birds Citizen Science Project

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!

A common local bird called a dark eyed junco

EvCC Virtual Earth Week

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

All About Hummingbirds!

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

Eat Sustainably at Cafe Zippy

Cafe Zippy is a lovely little cafe close to Everett Community College. They offer an assortment of delicious items now available for take out! Many of which are vegan, vegetarian, organic, and gluten free. Organic baked goods at Cafe Zippy are provided by the local Essential Baking Company ( https://essentialbaking.com/ ). Cafe Zippy serves local Tony’s Coffee’s ( https://www.tonyscoffee.com/ ) organic and fair-trade expresso. They also have collaborated with Take Back the Tap, a movement to stop using bottled water and to use more tap water ( https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/about ) . Cafe Zippy is also a pickup spot for Full Circle ( https://www.fullcircle.com/ ), a company that provides custom boxes of organic farm goods. If you would like to learn more about Cafe Zippy visit their website at http://www.cafezippy.com/

A Look at Washington Trails Association

The Washington Trails Association (WTA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting trails in Washington State. WTA works year around to help maintain trails so they keep them open, sustainable, and accessible while teaching people about trail work. WTA also collaborates with other groups and does grassroots work on issues such as trail funding and wilderness protection. If you would like to learn more about WTA, support their work, find information about Washington State trails, or find opportunities to volunteer visit their website at: https://www.wta.org/

Sustainable Practices at Cunios

Cunios is a restaurant in Clearview that’s committed to following sustainable practices. They get they’re ingredients from organic local farms in our area such as Chinook farms and Bob’s Corn. Also, their fryer oil has been converted into bio diesel for ten years. While on site consumption is not allowed right now due to the emergency, Cunios does take out! If you would like to learn more about the restaurant visit their website at https://www.cunios.com/ 

EvCC and WSU Collaborative Wind Turbine Project

Everett Community College (EvCC) is collaborating with WSU (Washington State University) to work on a revolutionary type of wind turbine called a variable pitch vertical axis wind turbine (also known as a cyclo turbine) and have formed a wind energy team. Tests are going well and these kinds of turbines can theoretically be more efficient and produce more energy than standard horizontal axis turbines. Cyclo turbines would also be much smaller than the standard horizontal axis ones and would be easier to construct and maintain. This would also allow them to be built in more urban areas and offshore floating wind farms. They can also handle more turbulent air.

The wind team are also working with JC Dream (https://jcdream.org/), a Washington organization working to find alternatives to harmful rare earth metals used in technology such as lithium.

In June, EvCC and WSU will be attending the Collegiate Wind Energy Competition (https://www.energy.gov/eere/collegiatewindcompetition/collegiate-wind-competition) in Denver to present their turbine and learn more about the wind and renewable energy industry. If you would like to learn more about this project contact STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) club advisor jgraber@everettcc.edu

The cyclo wind turbine has four blades instead of the traditional two found in horizontal axis wind turbines.
The turbine is placed in the wind tunnel to test how it will perform in different wind speeds.

Sustainability at Theo’s Chocolate Factory

Theo’s Chocolate is a popular chocolate company based in Seattle. They are committed to sourcing their ingredients in an ethical and sustainable way. They work directly with farmers in the Norandino Cooperative in Peru and Esco-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and buy certified fair trade and organic cocoa beans. They purchase these ingredients for a higher than market price which ensures that farmers receive a living wage. If you would like to learn more about Theo’s Chocolate visit their website at: https://theochocolate.com/

From the left: Media and Event Coordinator Sherwin Afable, Sustainability Officer Annali Kangas and Data and Program Coordinator Ben Austin

SEA Club Visits University of Washington Native Plant Nursery

EvCC’s Students for Environmental Action (SEA) Club went to the University of Washington’s (UW) Native Plant Nursery at the Center for Urban Horticulture on the UW-Seattle campus on February 22nd. This is an important program that raises and maintains thousands of native plants. These plants are often used for student led projects on environmental restoration sites.

SEA Club visited some of these projects such as the Heron Rookery; where several great blue herons’ nest, plant restoration/invasive species removal projects (often with collaboration with the Duwamish Tribe) and the Amphibian Corridor which is a project aimed at restoring habitat for amphibians such as salamanders. If you would like to learn more about this incredibly valuable program visit their website: https://sites.uw.edu/seruw/


Great Blue Heron Nests in the Heron Haven (the rookery)
The Amphibian Corridor

The Northwest Stream Center and the Importance of Preserving our Watersheds

The Northwest Stream Center is an important area that helps to protect the North Creek watershed and the riparian zone that is managed by the Adopt a Stream Foundation (AASF). What is a watershed and a riparian zone? A watershed is the large area of land that drains/”sheds” water into a stream, river, lake, wetland, etc. The riparian zone is the vegetation area next to a river or stream that affects that aquatic system’s ecology.

It is very important to protect these valuable ecosystems, this leads to improved water quality as well as habitat for many animals and plants. In the 1970’s the area here used to be a parking lot! Thanks to the hard work that still continues here this place has become an incredible restored watershed ecosystem. If you would like to learn more about the Northwest Stream Center, AASF and discover exciting learning opportunities; check out their website via the following link: https://www.streamkeeper.org/

This 1/2 mile boardwalk guides you through the surrounding woods, streams, and wetlands. This boardwalk was made from 100% recycled plastic lumber, which is equivalent to 1.97 million one-gallon plastic milk jugs.
A sculpture of an ancient ice age saber-tooth salmon known as Oncorhynchus rastrosus
A trout seen from the stream viewing exhibit at the Northwest Stream Center.
Freshwater mussels seen from the viewing area.