<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Washington state can lead the way to a green economy]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by GreenCollarExecutive http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:44:01 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/1 I couldn't agree more with your call to heed Thomas Friedman's 'Code Green' approach to fixing the environment and re-invigorating our economy.  There is no question that the Green Collar Economy is going to be the great driver of innovation, economic growth and job creation in America for the next 50 years.  People who are resisting it are similar to the folks insisting that horses would never be replaced by automobiles. 

There are thousands of companies listed in the B2B Green Directory at http://www.greencollareconomy.com that are creating green collar jobs with their products and services.  We need to support these businesses as individuals and as citizens with smart policy that will reward what we want (job creation) and penalize what we don't (waste and greenhouse gasses).  Let's all work to make Code Green happen.

]]> I couldn't agree more with your call to heed Thomas Friedman's 'Code Green' approach to fixing the environment and re-invigorating our economy.  There is no question that the Green Collar Economy is going to be the great driver of innovation, economic growth and job creation in America for the next 50 years.  People who are resisting it are similar to the folks insisting that horses would never be replaced by automobiles. 

There are thousands of companies listed in the B2B Green Directory at http://www.greencollareconomy.com that are creating green collar jobs with their products and services.  We need to support these businesses as individuals and as citizens with smart policy that will reward what we want (job creation) and penalize what we don't (waste and greenhouse gasses).  Let's all work to make Code Green happen.

]]> Comment #2 by Avelhingst http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:08:18 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/2 Rally the troops, Gov, and make a green economy a cornerstone of the One Washington movement!

]]> Rally the troops, Gov, and make a green economy a cornerstone of the One Washington movement!

]]> Comment #3 by sunflower http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:24:38 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/3 Comment #4 by Raisin'Hell http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:48:19 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/4 As a Washington Democratic leader, I've worked for Gov. Gregoire's election twice now. No more.

She's great with rhetoric and way short on delivery. Her inept handling of issues like Washington's regressive (most in the nation) taxes, and having to make her bosses at  Boeing happy, keep her from having the political horsepower to get anything accomplished on the environment. Witness the failure to pass a carbon cap and trade in the legislative session.

The Washington State Dept of Agriculture is dedicated to paying lip service to local, sustainable agriculture while regulating it out of existence. Our state ag programs are geared 100% to export and non-sustainabe industrial production. The WSDA oversees delivery of fertilizer with toxics in it, and one of its largest programs subsidizes the certification of pesticide use.

The state's water policy is a disaster with more multi-billion dollar dams on tap. And these won't be power generators, but power users, designed to deliver more irrigation water to corporate farms in the desert.

The dams we already have, of course, have destroyed salmon runs, but they are also destroying estuaries, putting the states ocean beaches at risk, and, primarily supporting non-sustainable agriculture.

The state's Growth Management Act is a sham. There is no enforcement except by outraged citizens on their own dime. Farmland continues to be gobbled up by sprawl, growth is mandated by the state and allowed without regard for sustainable water availability. 

As Grist recently published, state Dept. of Ecology offices in Vancouver have been routing their raw sewage into storm drains for more than a decade.

While Washington is a blue state, and Seattle may be the most Democratic city in the nation, the Governor, along with Frank Chopp and Lisa Borwn, the House and Senate leaders, has displayed no leadership, no agenda for progressive environmental action, and no results.

 

 

 

]]> As a Washington Democratic leader, I've worked for Gov. Gregoire's election twice now. No more.

She's great with rhetoric and way short on delivery. Her inept handling of issues like Washington's regressive (most in the nation) taxes, and having to make her bosses at  Boeing happy, keep her from having the political horsepower to get anything accomplished on the environment. Witness the failure to pass a carbon cap and trade in the legislative session.

The Washington State Dept of Agriculture is dedicated to paying lip service to local, sustainable agriculture while regulating it out of existence. Our state ag programs are geared 100% to export and non-sustainabe industrial production. The WSDA oversees delivery of fertilizer with toxics in it, and one of its largest programs subsidizes the certification of pesticide use.

The state's water policy is a disaster with more multi-billion dollar dams on tap. And these won't be power generators, but power users, designed to deliver more irrigation water to corporate farms in the desert.

The dams we already have, of course, have destroyed salmon runs, but they are also destroying estuaries, putting the states ocean beaches at risk, and, primarily supporting non-sustainable agriculture.

The state's Growth Management Act is a sham. There is no enforcement except by outraged citizens on their own dime. Farmland continues to be gobbled up by sprawl, growth is mandated by the state and allowed without regard for sustainable water availability. 

As Grist recently published, state Dept. of Ecology offices in Vancouver have been routing their raw sewage into storm drains for more than a decade.

While Washington is a blue state, and Seattle may be the most Democratic city in the nation, the Governor, along with Frank Chopp and Lisa Borwn, the House and Senate leaders, has displayed no leadership, no agenda for progressive environmental action, and no results.

 

 

 

]]> Comment #5 by David Camp http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:00:59 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/5 Bravo to Governor Gregoire for taking action to avert impending climate disaster. Washington is well on its way to a nearly carbon-free electrical supply, and we do need to prevent further mistakes like the huge Centralia coal plant. The governor's climate change bill will address that.

Who knows? With a little luck we'll actually enforce the Growth Management Act, which, in the long term, would do more to protect the climate than nearly anything else would.

]]> Bravo to Governor Gregoire for taking action to avert impending climate disaster. Washington is well on its way to a nearly carbon-free electrical supply, and we do need to prevent further mistakes like the huge Centralia coal plant. The governor's climate change bill will address that.

Who knows? With a little luck we'll actually enforce the Growth Management Act, which, in the long term, would do more to protect the climate than nearly anything else would.

]]> Comment #6 by Raisin'Hell http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/ Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:47:31 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-22-gregoire-washington-earth-day/6 @ David Camp- "On its way to a nearly carbon-free electrical supply"- Well, the voters did pass I-937 last year, calling for a renewable energy portfolio. The final results aren't in yet, but the state leg and the Governor are well on their way to gutting it.

]]> @ David Camp- "On its way to a nearly carbon-free electrical supply"- Well, the voters did pass I-937 last year, calling for a renewable energy portfolio. The final results aren't in yet, but the state leg and the Governor are well on their way to gutting it.

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