Forwarding March Elwha Legacy Forest Coalition News and Events!

On March 11, 2026 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Forestry, Uncategorized

Friends of the Elwha Legacy Forests dates for February:

On February 14, 2026February 14, 2026 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Forestry, Politics, Uncategorized

Indivisible Encourages Us To Contact Our Legislators Here in Washington State

On February 13, 2026 By Brian BerardoIn Politics, Uncategorized

Jolie Will has sent out the coming week’s legislative agenda so we can lend our voices to secure social justice:

Indivisible Sequim Legislative Action Alerts for the week of February 16
There are several bills before the Washington State Legislature that need your help by FEBRUARY 17. Please review the list below, pick one or all five, and follow the instructions and links to make your voice heard. Thank you! The Indivisible Sequim Legislative Action Team
1) Support HB 1710: Strengthen the WA Voting Rights ActThis bill will require that certain local governments that wish to change their voting policies must first vet those changes to ensure they will not negatively impact voters of color. Changes include: adding or changing at-large seats, redistricting map boundaries, changing language interpretation services for voters, and changing to voting center/ballot box availability.Email or call Representatives Berbaum and Tharinger in support of the bill HEREDEADLINE: Feb. 17 • 4:00 p.m
.2) Support SB 5892: Protecting our voter registration databaseThe Secretary of State was requested by the federal government to hand overthe state of Washington’s full voter registration database. Fortunately, hedeclined, however he seems to have concerns that rogue county auditors orother county election officials might disclose the information without hisknowledge or consent. This bill is designed to prevent these types ofdisclosures, making it a class C felony to do so.Email or call our Senator Mike Chapman in support of the bill HERE(Senate: On Floor 2nd Reading)DEADLINE: Feb 17 • 5:00 p.m.
3) Support HB 2464: Reporting requirements and law enforcement responses for private detention facilitiesThis bill requires private detention facilities to report serious or undesirable outcomes that occur in the facility to the Department of Health and the law enforcement agency with primary jurisdiction by the end of the next business day.Email or Call House Speaker Laurie Jinkins in support of the bill HERE(House: On Rules Review List For 2nd Reading)DEADLINE: Feb 17 • 5:00 p.m.
4) Support HB 1750: Guidelines for Voting Rights Act claimsIn 2013 the Supreme Court gutted the Federal Voting Rights Act in Shelby vs. Holder. In 2018 WA State passed the Washington Voting Rights Act to protect our state from voter suppression. This bill creates the standards for the courts to rule on voter suppression claims by creating a clear standard of protection to assess voter suppression and vote denial to ensure our communities’ votes are never abridged when attempting to make their voice heard. Email or Call House Speaker Laurie Jinkins in support of the HERE(House: On Rules Review List For 2nd Reading)DEADLINE: Feb 17 • 5:00 p.m.
5) Support HB 2210: Ranked-Choice VotingRanked-Choice Voting lets you rank candidates in order and your vote moves to your next choice if your top pick is eliminated. Ranked-Choice Voting’s big advantage is that it rewards candidates who can appeal to a wide range of voters, because winning requires building broader coalitions rather than relying on a small but intense base. This encourages positive, grassroots campaigning and empowers voters to vote their conscience freely.Email or Call Representatives Berbaum and Tharinger and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins in support of the bill HEREDEADLINE: Feb 17 • 11:00 p.m.
Our Final Call for Action, is more of a CHALLENGE. Once you have completed the above critical actions, we ask Indivisible Sequim members receiving this mailing to please take a few more minutes to forward this email to (at least) five local friends who may not be members. Ask them to help us support these issues. They are local citizens, Washingtonians, and voters. Their support on these issues is also gravely needed to help dig us all out of this black hole. THANK YOU.

Adding the Category “Food and Animals” to worthyvisions.com

On January 17, 2026 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Food and Animals, Health, Uncategorized

This might have been a subcategory of “Health” and the subject has come up indirectly under “Environment” (see the documentary “Eating Our Way to Extinction” on Netflix and other venues), but a recent article in “80000hours.org” reminded me of the scale of our cruelty to animals. Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Please allow yourself some time to read one of the best and most comprehensive articles I’ve encountered to date on this complex and troubling subject: https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/factory-farming/

This article was published by Benjamin Hilton in July of 2024. The scope of it is remarkable. We DO have alternatives – even Burger King offers the “Impossible Burger” and it’s delicious. If the label on your meat products doesn’t have the “Certified Humane” label or otherwise indicate the animal was pasture raised, chances are it is Factory Farmed. That includes Costco, most meat in your supermarket, etc. Whole Foods is among the champions of ensuring the ethical handling and farming of animals.

Look, I enjoy a good steak every now and then, and our own Country Aire market here in Port Angeles, WA endeavors to provide organic foods and animal products that are more humanely raised. Enterprises like Oregon Meat Co sells beef that has been 100% grass fed and finished. And these are catching on, not only because people recognize the importance of treating animals ethically, but they taste better too!

Environmentally, we can do ourselves, the planet, and the animals a favor by going vegetarian. If that seems too radical or extreme, consider the https://reducitarian.org approach which posits the idea that ANY reduction in meat consumption is a win win win. They reject the premise that it’s all-in or forget it. As the documentary “Eating our Way to Extinction” reminds us, Agriculture and Factory Farming as practiced in the United States and elsewhere, is simply unsustainable. These animals ARE sentient and DO feel pain. This should be reason enough to rethink our diets even without considering Karma.

Dino Alonso in Substack brings us focus on what’s happened in Minneapolis and elsewhere…

On January 8, 2026January 8, 2026 By Brian BerardoIn Inspiration, Politics, Uncategorized

Dino is one of the more inspiring and thoughtful authors in Substack. He wrote the following today:

“I’ve been up much of the night and this morning, calling my friends and associates. We’re all in agreement this isn’t a sensational headline or another political football, but that it’s an actual existential boundary crossed in full daylight.

I spent more than two decades inside the immigration system. As I mentioned in a previous response, I worked closely enough with ICE to know the difference between enforcement and domination. What happened here isn’t the hard edge of law doing difficult work. It’s restraint giving way, followed by a rush to explain force after the fact. Those are not the same thing, and anyone who’s worked inside institutions knows how dangerous that substitution is.

Renee Nicole Good’s death is first a human catastrophe. Three children lost their mother in minutes. A family shattered on a residential street. That alone should stop us. But it’s also something else. It’s a legitimacy test.

Legitimacy doesn’t come from uniforms, jurisdiction, or the seal on a press release. It comes from consent, restraint, and accountability. When armed agents kill an unarmed civilian, block medical aid, fabricate a public narrative, and walk away unnamed and untouched, legitimacy doesn’t wobble. It drains out.

This is how institutional rot actually looks. Not as chaos, but as procedure losing its moral anchor. Training shortened. Oversight treated as friction. Speed rewarded. Narrative management replacing truth. Force moving faster than accountability, then daring the rest of us to catch up.

I’ve watched institutions lose their bearings before. It almost never starts with cruelty declared. It starts with language changing. People stop saying, “We need to be careful,” and start saying, “We need to move.” Explanation gives way to assertion. Death becomes a communications problem instead of a moral rupture.

That shift matters more than any single incident, because it carries forward. What’s normalized becomes practice. What’s excused becomes precedent. What goes unchallenged becomes inheritance. Systems trained to act this way don’t self correct. They teach the behavior downward and outward until restraint feels optional and violence feels administrative.

That’s why this moment can’t be absorbed quietly.

A republic doesn’t survive on good intentions or internal assurances. It survives on boundaries that hold even when they slow things down. Especially then. If those boundaries fail here, in public, on a city street, the loss isn’t abstract. It’s civic. It’s moral. It belongs to all of us.

This isn’t about vengeance. It’s about refusing a future where power explains itself only after blood has been spilled, and even then, badly. Accountability isn’t hysteria. It’s the price of legitimacy.

If we can’t say that plainly now, then we’re not preserving order.

We’re surrendering it.”

A Comprehensive Article from Greenpeace: “Plastic Merchants of Myth: Circular Claims Fall Flat”.*

On December 6, 2025December 6, 2025 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Health, Plastics, Politics, Uncategorized

*PUBLISHED by Greenpeace U.S. DECEMBER 2025 GREENPEACE INC. 1300 Eye Street, NW Suite 1100 East Washington, D.C. 20005 – http://www.GREENPEACE.ORG

This is an incredible article. It is illuminating and packed with charts, summaries, and tables. Here’s the table of contents:

Executive Summary Circular Claims Proven False (2025 Update) Introduction: Unmasking the Merchants of Myth
1 Timeline of Deceit
2 Circles of influence
5 1. Mapping the Merchants of Myth: Members, Messages, Tactics
7 1.1.2 Petrochemical Industry 7 Propaganda techniques used by Petrochemical Industry trade associations
9 1.1.3 Consumer Products Industry
11 1.1.4 Organizations funded by the Plastics and Products Industries
12 1.2 Merchants of Myth: Main Deceptive Messages
14 1.3 Merchants of Myth: Primary Propaganda Tactics
16 1.4 Merchants of Myth: Circular Blame Game for Causes of Plastic Recycling Failure
21 2. U.S. and California Legal Requirements for Claiming Plastics Are Recyclable
23 2.1 U.S. FTC Green Guides Requirements
24 2.2 California Legal Requirements
25 how2recycle labels prohibited under the Truth in labeling Law
26 3. U.S. National Post-Consumer Rigid Plastic Waste and Recycling Assessment
29 3.1 Summary of Results
31 3.2 2025 U.S. Plastic Waste Generation by Type
32 3.3 U.S. Population Access to Curbside Recycling (Factor 1)
33 3.4 Percentage of U.S. MRFs That Accept a Specific Item (Factor 2)
33 3.5 Existing U.S. Recycling/Reprocessing Capacity (Factor 3): Assessment of U.S. Post-Consumer Rigid Plastic Waste Recycling/Reprocessing Facilities
35 3.5.1 Assessment Scope
35 3.5.2 Assessment Results
36 4. 2025 California Post-Consumer Rigid Plastic Waste and Recycling Assessment
41 4.1 2025 California Plastic Waste Generation by Type
43 4.2 Acceptance of Items in California Curbside Recycling Bins (Criterion 1)
44 4.3 Sortation of Items into Defined Streams in California MRFs (Criterion 2)
44 4.4 Recycling/Reprocessing Capacity for California’s Post-Consumer Plastic Waste (Criterion 3)
45 4.5 Contamination Levels in Plastic Waste Bales Produced by California
46 MRFS and Compliance with Basel Convention (Criterion 4)
5. Conclusion: what we are calling for
48 Appendix A: U.S. EPA 2018 Sustainable Materials Management Report – Table 8 for Plastics
50 Appendix B. 2025 Survey of U.S. Materials Recovery Facilities for Plastic Waste Item Acceptance in Curbside Recycling Bins: Survey Methodology and Public Transparency
52 appendix C: Survey of u.s. post-consumer rigid plastic waste recycling/ reprocessing facilities
53 Appendix D: Survey of U.S. Post-Consumer Rigid Plastic Waste Recycling/ Reprocessing Facilities
55 Appendix E: Master Survey of All U.S. Plastic Waste Recycling/Reprocessing Facilities
55 REFERENCES
62 endnotes

Time to Get Plastics Out of Kids Clothes

On October 28, 2025 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Health, Plastics, Uncategorized

This just in from BeyondPlastics.org:

Spread the word about these companies’ plastic clothing to more people and build momentum for change.

Sign the petition to urge children’s clothing makers to reduce their polyester footprint. here

Here’s their message that arrived today from their email to me as a subscriber:

“Did you know that most clothing is made of plastic? In fact, polyester is now the most widely produced fiber in the world, accounting for more than half of all global fiber production.¹

This is a particular concern for the youngest members of society. 👶👶🏾 Babies and kids are more vulnerable to the toxic chemicals used in plastics than adults because their brains and organs are still developing, they receive a higher dosage due to their smaller body size, and they tend to put their hands and clothing in their mouths often.² 😨

That’s why we’re working to protect children’s health by calling on three top children’s clothing-makers to stop using so much toxic plastic in their products. 🛑 Will you please join us by signing our petition to these brands? ✍️

Unfortunately, more and more clothing is made out of polyester—a form of plastic made from fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals that includes many chemicals of concern. ☣️👕👖👚

Defenders of Health’s 2025 Children’s Fashion Scorecard found that many of the chemicals used in polyester — including phthalates, bisphenols, and flame retardants—are known “endocrine disrupters”³ that interfere with the body’s hormonal system, which is essential to a child’s development. Studies have found that exposure to endocrine disrupters, even at low levels, can have long-lasting consequences in children.⁴

Add Your Name: Stop Making Kids’ Clothes from Plastic📣

On the bright side, there are safer fibers available to clothing-makers, including cotton, linen, wool, and hemp. ✅ And, just as they control the style and fit of the clothes they manufacture, clothing companies can also choose to cut down on polyester and other synthetic fabric in their products.

Please join us in urging leading children’s clothing makers Carter’s, H&M, and The Children’s Place to stop using so much of this plastic in their products. Add your name to the petition here.

In 2024, H&M reported that polyester makes up 22% of its clothing, with other synthetic fabrics including acrylic, elastane, and cellulosic fiber fabrics like viscose, modal, and lyocell accounting for an additional 12 to 22% of its products.⁵
In 2024, Carter’s reported that polyester makes up 28% of its clothing, with the synthetic fabrics viscose and elastane accounting for an additional 2.8% of its products.⁶
In 2022, The Children’s Place reported that polyester makes up 17.9% of its clothing, with the synthetic fabrics modal, viscose, nylon, elastane and acrylic accounting for an additional 2.6% of its products.⁷

That’s a whole LOT of plastic. 🆘

We believe that all babies and children deserve to wear safe, non-toxic clothing that will not threaten their health or harm the environment.

Please join Beyond Plastics and our allies at Defend Our Health in urging these companies to commit to reducing their polyester footprint and providing more transparency about the chemicals used in their clothing. Click the button below to add your name to the petition. ⬇️

Stop Making Plastic Kids’ Clothes

Then please spread the word to reach more people and build momentum for these companies to act.

Thank you for your help.

Cheers,

Judith Enck
President, Beyond Plastics
Former US EPA regional administrator”

Donate to fight plastic pollution

References:

1. https://textileexchange.org/app/uploads/2024/09/Materials-Market-Report-2024.pdf
2. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/estimating-mouthing-exposure-in-children-compilation-of-case-studies_debe99f0-en.html
3. https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/endocrine/files/advocacy/edc-report2024finalcompressed.pdf
4. https://defendourhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Fashion-Scorecard-Report-2025.pdf
5. https://hmgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/HM-Group-Sustainability-progress-report-2024.pdf
6. https://cdn.bfldr.com/7AQFZOE0/at/3z75gg9c6jxxrqnmm7vsksqf/2024_RTF_Impact_Report.pdf
7. https://corporate.childrensplace.com/static/TCP-2022-ESG-Report-Final-85d3db4e7e0d6e97bdfd2425839573c5.pdf

Surprising Data on 5 Exercises for Seniors

On October 2, 2025 By Brian BerardoIn Good News, Health, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Here’s a link to a YouTube video about 5 exercises clinically superior to long walks. These are no substitute for cardio IMO and I will continue to do fast walking on my treadmill. However, I’ve been adding planks, several yoga poses, and some resistance work every other day. After viewing this video and learning about the studies behind it, I’m likely to incorporate some, if not all, of these exercises in my routine because it’s hard to argue with the clinical results. Here’s the link:

https://youtu.be/Ado6dItMebE?si=uPl8bq8c9K8YelzW

A big Thank You to the author for these amazing data. You’ll probably be surprised as I was. Cheers!

Tell Your U.S. House of Representatives to Support the Microplastics Safety Act Today

On September 6, 2025 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Health, Plastics, Uncategorized

This came in today from Environment America:

It’s bad enough that researchers keep finding plastic trash blocking the digestive tracts of dolphins. Or “shocking” levels of smaller plastic particles, known as microplastics, in sea turtles.¹Now scientists are finding microplastics in people too, and they’re growing increasingly concerned about the impacts on our health.That’s why we’re urging the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Microplastics Safety Act, which would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to study the impacts of microplastic exposure on human health.²Add your name. Tell your U.S. House representative to support the Microplastics Safety Act today.Research suggests microplastics in people could lead to inflammation, lung and liver effects, and a disturbing list of other health problems. But the researchers need to do more. And given increasing plastic and pollution, we can’t wait long for the answers.Just as a turtle doesn’t know that it’s eating a plastic bag instead of a jellyfish, most of us don’t know that we’re ingesting plastic dust from plastic-wrapped tomatoes and peppers, plastic water bottles or even the air we breathe.³ Nor do we know what all this plastic is doing to our health. We’re guinea pigs in a massive science experiment that nobody authorized.Researchers have found links between microplastic consumption and health issues ranging from inflammation to rising rates of cancer and more.^4,5 But they need to do much more research to determine how strong these links are — and how worried we should be.The Microplastic Safety Act would help fill this knowledge gap by directing the FDA to conduct a comprehensive study of the impacts of microplastics on our health. And this bill has something rare in Congress these days: bipartisan support.Will you tell your U.S. House representative to help protect our health from microplastics?The Microplastics Safety Act wont stop the flow of plastic waste and pollution into our environment and our bodies. But it could result in powerful new evidence for why we must stop this pollution — not only to save sea turtles and dolphins, but people, too.Congress has an opportunity to take a step in the right direction to help us all better understand how microplastics affect human health. Ignoring the threat of microplastics to our health is unacceptable.Urge your U.S. House representative to support the Microplastics Safety Act today.Thank you,Lisa Frank
Executive Director

1. Rob Hutchins, “‘Shocking’ levels of microplastics found in sea turtle organs,” Oceanographic, January 4, 2025.
2. “Bynum introduces legislation to examine the impacts of microplastics,” Office of Congresswoman Janelle Bynum, July 17, 2025.
3. Grace Vickers, “Studies show how microplastics from packaging get into our food,” PIRG, July 21, 2025.
4. Nina Agrawal, “What Experts Want You to Know About Microplastics,” The New York Times, May 20, 2025.
5. Beth Dougherty, “Microplastics and Cancer: Your Questions Answered,” Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, March 7, 2025.

Environment America, Inc.
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Member Questions or Requests: 1-800-401-6511
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A Quick Look at Plastics in Building Materials

On August 20, 2025 By Brian BerardoIn Environment, Health, Plastics, Politics, Uncategorized

Here’s an excellent article from BEYOND PLASTICS that details where plastics are being used in building materials (only packaging accounts for more) and what alternatives are available in each case. The impact to our environment and our health is growing and plastics in building materials are expected to TRIPLE from 2019 levels by the year 2060. LINK