5/16/08

On May 8, 200 friends of People For Puget Sound enjoyed breakfast together, honored three Puget Sound heroes, and heard from former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. 

Mr. Babbitt got it right when he said that right now is our last, best chance to save Puget Sound.   He knows whereof he speaks.   He reflected on his time in Washington, DC, on the Chesapeake Bay.  He also verbally “walked” us up the west coast,  stopping in San Francisco Bay and the Columbia River, on the way to Puget Sound, telling the story of our disappearing salmon.  Puget Sound is in deep trouble, but Mother Nature is still showing her stuff.  And we’ve got leaders who know how little time we have left.

By Sunday the 11th, the Seattle Times had started its 4-part front page series “Failing Our Sound.”  Ever since the Times’ 1984 series (yes, 1984!) “Our Imperiled Sound,” the local media have done a great job of keeping the Sound’s troubles on the front page.  Like the Sound itself, which has sent so many messages of its decline. 

How much of this do we need before we do what needs to be done?

This most recent Times series has some of the boldest, most candid statements I’ve ever seen in print from the government employees entrusted with enforcing our environmental laws and regulations.  They know first-hand how lack of money and political will have led directly to the sad litany of more and more destruction of Puget Sound.  Perhaps their candor means that it’s finally safe for them to tell the truth—their leaders and bosses say they want to save the Sound, so it should be okay to tell it like it is.

Meanwhile, as I write this the Sound is shimmering on one of those precious sunny-but-not-too-hot days that makes living here such a gift.  A gift we’ve been given to enjoy, to take care of, and to pass on to our kids’ kids’ kids.

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