WASHINGTON STATE FOCUS

WASHINGTON PODCASTING LIBERALLY: Podcast of Seattle's Drinking Liberally meetings. Good info and good discussion among some local liberals. If you can't make Seattle's great Drinking Liberally meetings, you can crack open a beer or sip some wine...or take a shot of JD in your own home and watch the podcast.


Blogging Washington State:

LeftyBlogs Washington is the place to find out what's happening in the progressive blogosphere across Washington.

Horse's Ass: Strange name, but an excellent blogging team

Upper Left: A Democrat - without prefix, without suffix, without apology

Washblog: Washblog is a community-based weblog for liberal coverage of Washington State political and social news, providing information that traditional media overlooks, progressive insight and analysis, and an open-access platform for progressives to develop, report and collaborate on action and ideas.


CURRENT TV:
Current TV, founded by Al Gore, includes some of the best journalism in America today. In particular their Vanguard series is amazing and should not be missed by ANYONE who wants to know in depth coverage of some of the major stories in the world. And now CurrentTV has Keith Olbermann as well.

In most areas Current TV is available on:
DIRECTV Channel 358
DISH Network Channel 196
Comcast Digital: Channel 107
AT&T U-Verse: Channel 189

Check out their program schedule here.


NATIVE VOTE WASHINGTON:
The American Indian and Alaska Native population accounts for 2.36% of Washington’s eligible voting population, which translates to 103,352 votes in real numbers.

Native Vote, is a nation wide resource for encouraging voter turn out in Indian Country. Organized by the National Congress of American Indians, get out the vote efforts in Indian Country have been supported by NCAI since 1955.

For more information or to get involved contact:

Theresa Sheldon
Native Vote Washington
(360) 716-5045
tsheldon@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Matt Tomaskin
Native Vote Washington
matt@yakama.com

Brenda Francis
Lower Elwha Klallam
Brenda.Francis@elwha.nsn.us

Jamie Sijohn
Spokane
(509) 458-6586
jamies@spokanetribe.com

Mytyl Hernandez
Tulalip
(360) 716-4013
mhernandez@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov


Washington State Green Drinks Groups

Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

Here are some Green Drinks Groups in Washington State: (click on the links to find out more info)

Bainbridge Island

Bellingham

Bremerton

Ellensburg

Everett

Mercer Island

Mount Vernon

Parkland

Port Townsend

Puyallup

Seattle

Spokane

Tacoma

Vancouver, WA


SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL UNION:

Click here for the Washington State AFL-CIO website to get involved in protecting your rights in the workplace. Click here to see what you can do now.

The Directory of AFL-CIO Unions in Washington State

Every year, the Washington State Labor Council prints and distributes to its affiliated unions the Directory of AFL-CIO Unions in Washington State, which lists contact information for every union organization that is affiliated with the AFL-CIO (whether or not they are affiliated with the WSLC). Click here to download a PDF of the latest edition. Unions are urged to use this site's Directory Update Form to update or correct their organization's contact information. If you have any questions, or if you would like to order a printed copy of the Directory, email Kamaria Hightower or call her at 206-281-8901.


For those who want to mix social and political fun, here are Drinking Liberally groups in Washington:

Bellingham
Second and Fourth Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm
Horseshoe Cafe, Ranch Room, 113 E Holly St
Hosted by Dave Willingham

Burien
Fourth Wednesday of each month, 7:00 pm
Mick Kelly's Irish Pub, 435 SW 152nd St
Hosted by Cherisse Luxa | Joe Fitzgibbon

Olympia
First and Third Monday of each month, 7:00 pm
Urban Onion in Downtown Olympia -- In the Bar, 116 Legion Way SE (In the Bar--enter on Legion)
Hosted by Bruce Lund | Barry Piercy

Seattle
Every Tuesday of each month, 8:00 pm
Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Ave E
Hosted by Nicholas Beaudrot | Chris Mitchell

Seattle Eastside
First and Third Thursday of each month, 7:00 pm
Angelo's Restaurant, 1830 130th Ave NE
Hosted by Norman Furlong | Doug Hightower | Rich Erwin

Newport Hills
First Monday of each month, 7:30 pm
Mustard Seed Grill and Pub, 5608 119th Ave SE
Hosted by Robert Sargent

Shelton
Third Monday of each month, 7:00 pm
El Serape Restaurant, 2503 Olympic Hwy N
Hosted by Mike Mosbarger | Drew Noble

Spokane
Every Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm
Working Class Heroes Bar & Grill, 1914 North Monroe Street - (509) 327-0448
Hosted by Andrew Brewer

Tacoma
Every Wednesday of each month, 7:00 pm
Hub Restaurant, 203 Tacoma Ave S (in the bar area)
Hosted by Melissa Thompson | Traci Kelly

Tri-Cities
Every Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm
O'Callahans - Shilo Inn, 50 Comstock Richland Washington
Hosted by Jim McCabe | Kendall Miller


Alternative Energy in Washington:

Some statistics from Repower America:

* Two wind power farms in Washington - Hopkins Ridge and Wild Horse - produce enough renewable energy to meet the needs of approximately 100,000 homes

* Washington's energy efficiency programs save enough electricity to power almost 50,000 homes for a whole year, save more than $43 million in energy costs, and prevent the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking over 48,000 cars off the road. Although great progress, the state still has much more potential to increase its energy efficiency.

* Washington has a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that requires all public utilities to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2020.

Alternative energy and YOUR energy bill: YOU can be part of the solution for America by signing up to purchase your energy through a Green Power Provider. My wife and I have been doing this in NYC for years. All our energy usage is provided through wind energy generation on American farms. So we use clean energy AND help American farmers. It costs us three cents per kilowatt-hour more per month, but we feel great about it. Although our actual energy may come from anywhere, we are paying to purchase wind energy for the energy grid. Each state has different programs available, usually through yuor existing energy provider right on your existing energy bill. To find such options in Washington State, go here and pick your energy provider from the list. If you need help, you can email me and tell me who you get your bill from (don't give me any other info!) and I can tell you who to contact to go green through that energy provider. Or you can do the same thing using Renewable Energy Certificates through an organization that works with utility companies, though in this case it is a separate bill. One off the cheapest (.4-1 cent per kilowatt-hour), but still e-Green certified, ways to do this is through Good Energy. Or, for about half a cent per kilowatt-hour you can purchase renewable energy certificates through Carbonfund.org. ANY of these ways you do it, you are helping the environment, helping America, and helping cut carbon emissions.


ALTERNATIVE FUELS:

There are two kinds of alternate fuels that are readily available that lower your carbon foot print and use AMERICAN resources and create AMERICAN jobs rather than supporting big oil companies and oil nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela.

ETHANOL: Cars labeled FlexFuel (now becoming common in some states) can use up to E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline). E85 burns cleaner than gasoline and is usually cheaper. I have used E85 in California and found it to be 10-40 cents cheaper than the cheapest gasoline at the same station. CLICK HERE TO FIND STATIONS IN WASHINGTON STATE OFFERING E85. This can be a really good way to help the American economy, help the environment, AND save money.

BIODIESEL: Pretty much ANY diesel engine can use biodiesel. Biodiesel burns cleaner and in most engines is better for the engine. It can be more expensive than regular diesel depending on the location, but is better for the environment, is better for most diesel engines, and is good for the local economy. You can find nearby stations and cooperatives (often the best option) that offer biodiesel by clicking here and either clicking on your state on the map or entering your zip code. We used biodiesel in a rental car one year and loved it.

Here are a biodiesel cooperatives in Washington State. If you drive a diesel car or truck, check it out.

Tacoma Biodiesel
Tacoma, WA

Biodiesel is an alternative to petroleum diesel made from vegetable oil that can be used in any diesel engine. Now this clean, renewable, domestically-produced fuel is available right here in Tacoma, and you can be a part of it! The Tacoma Biodiesel Cooperative is a grassroots group of Tacoma-area citizens who have chosen to support this alternative fuel through advocacy and use in our personal vehicles.

Check out their website. And to find places to buy biodiesel for use in your car, truck or home heating, go here.

And here are Propel Fuel Stations around Washington State that offer biofuels (and sometimes E85): (I came across them through their carbon offset program)

* Seattle, South Lake Union Flagship
609 Westlake Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98109

* Bellevue/Factoria
3204 129th Pl SE
Bellevue, Washington 98005

* Seattle, Ballard Neighborhood
4420 Leary Way NW
Seattle, Washington 98107

* Kenmore
8002 NE Bothell Way
Kenmore, Washington 98028

* West Seattle
3500 SW Barton Street
Seattle, Washington 98136

* Mount Vernon
2120 East College Way
Mount Vernon, Washington 98273


Here are some other alternative energy resources in Washington State:

Our Wind Co-op is a unique cooperative of small-scale wind turbines on farms, ranches and public and private facilities across the Northwest. Through this collaborative effort, 10-kW turbines were installed at numerous rural sites serviced by publicly-owned utilities. To find out more or ask about participation, Contact:

Northwest SEED
1402 Third Ave #901
Seattle, WA 98101
info_at_nwseed.org
(206) 328-2441

Climate Solutions
219 Legion Way SW #201
Olympia, WA 98501
info_at_harvestcleanenergy.org
(360) 352-1763


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