Dear Sequimers and Sequim visitors, Whether Global Warming is a myth or not, we all can and should do something for our Sequim town environment. When we chose Sequim as 'our' best US town for retirement, we were impressed by its cleanliness and well taken care store fronts and Sequim house fronts. We were impressed by little things like the beautiful flowering hanging baskets in Washington St and the bird sounds at traffic light crossings to let blind people know when they can walk...
Having lived in Sequim now for about 1 1/2 years, we became aware that each of us can actually do a better job to contribute to an even better, cleaner environment in our hometown Sequim. We don't know whether there are environmental groups who already pursue these issues. If so, we would like to hear from them and join efforts with all environment concerned people.
The fairly new Sequim weekly newspaper SequimThisWeek is a great addition to the Sequim Gazette. We welcome that Sequim This Week recently started letters to the editors. We intend to write a letter about Sequim and its environment issues. Just a few ideas. One cannot write a lot with the allowed 250 words but we think its a start.
Here are a few ideas how we think we can make Sequim a town of environment awareness.
1. Ride your Bike or Walk in Sequim
Lucky us that there is no industrial pollution in Sequim but what about all the car traffic. Do we really need to drive our car everywhere or wouldn't it be so much better to ride our bikes or walk?! We could kill two birds with one stone...do something good for our health and reduce the CO2 emission. With gas prices steadily rising, this will become a consideration and hopefully a healthy choice for more and more Sequimers.
We need: more bike lanes (Discovery Trail is nice but this is leisure!) and more bike racks in front of stores! The only store where to find a bike rack (for 5 bikes!!!!) is Sequim Safeway. This is pretty bad. Guess what there are already quite a number of Sequimers who regularly bike. So, we need the help of Sequim town authorities to make at least the big markets add bike racks in front. Of course, the motivated biker will find lots of bike racks in front of Sequim's bike shop Mike's Bikes and not only that. These guys help you find the right bike for your age and your needs. Give them a try.
2. Save a Bag when shopping at Sequim markets
Having grown up in Germany and the idea of recycling, I get really upset when people don't pay any attention to the waste we daily 'produce' and what happens with it. Why not take your own shopping bag or basket to the store instead of coming home from your shopping with 3 or more plastic bags each time which end up in the garbage because you forget to dispose them at Safeway (other Sequim markets don't even have a disposal for plastic bags)?! In Germany or other European countries, the shopper has to pay 25 Euro cents when they want/need a plastic bag. Believe me you don't forget your shopping bag too often. Bring your own bag to the store and help reduce waste 'production'!
3. Make efforts to Recycle your waste
I know easier said than done in Sequim. When we first set up our garbage pick-up with Waste Management of Sequim, we noticed that recycling was becoming an expensive issue. More than we wanted to spend on it. It took us quite some time to find out from neighbors that there is a free recycling place for glass, plastic, paper & cardboard and at Blue Mountain outside from Sequim off Hwy 101. We collect all our recyclable materials and drop them 1x a month at the recycle place. Why not join efforts with neighbors and share the car pooling?
We ask our Sequim town authorities to 'advertise' this possibility for new Sequim residents in our Sequim newspapers regularly. Especially since opening hours are 'just' Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let Sequimers know when they can recycle for free! Better still make recycling a Sequim town concern!
We are looking forward to hearing from many Sequimers. Please, make use of the blog feature to leave a comment...click 'post a comment, sign in with 'other' (not google), add your name and URL (if you have any) and write what you think about our Sequim environment post. Enjoy the Sequim Irrigation Festival and the just opening boat season in Sequim Bay Marina. The Sequimers
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4 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly about the need for more bicycle racks around town. As a frequent cyclist I find that I often have to get really creative in finding something that I am able to chain my bike to around town and have noticed other people with the same problem. In a town this size where you can bike from one end to the other in just a few minutes there really should be encouragement from town and businesses to cut down on traffic and provide people with a place to park a bike. I find it ironic that we have a very nice bike path in town but no bike parking.
Jason, Sequim
Hello:
I read your letter in the paper this week and found that it sounded like just what I have been searching around for. I recently went to the City Hall and asked about forming some sort of citizen effort around the environment and left my name and address and was told that some one would be calling. Well ..... not yet, at least. But it seems to me that there is a whole lot more we could be doing in this beautiful community to make people aware. And doing such things as a group seems to carry more weight.
I very much like your idea about the shopping bags and have talked with Safeway about this. I take two cloth bags if I ever go to Safeway and have been doing the same at all the local stores (sometimes being met with a strange look when I refuse paper or plastic!). I was recently in Cornwall, England and stores there
are stopping the free bag idea and either not having them or charging for them.(I am originally from England, so was brought up with our own shopping bags.) I,
too, take stuff to Blue Mtn every so often.
So, where to go from here? Not sure I like the idea of yet another wordy meeting, but a gathering of like-minded people is always useful to see where
interests lie, etc. Would you be up for this?
Looking forward to hearing from you, Patricia
dear jason and patricia,
thanks so much for your comments on our sequim environmental issues. hope we will still hear from some more people. of course, they would have to find my article in the 'Seqim this week' paper or find this blog post.
jason, guess what, today i searched the entire front store of wal mart for some bike racks and really i found one rack hidden behind some columns where i don't necessarily want to leave my bike, even when it's locked. so, i intemd to talk to the sequim wal mart store manager.
patricia, i am so happy that i have found you. i hope we can make sequimers more concerned about our environment. let's tackle our first project 'save a bag', plastic bag that is.
anybody who wants to join us is invited. email us to sequimtown@hotmail.com
enjoy life in sequim! the sequimers
I prefer to be known as a Sequimarian, rather than a Sequimite or Sequimer. Sequimarian has a more elegant tone to it than something that approaches another name for a member of the isoptera insect family.
Sequimarian approaches Centarian, which I hope to be someday. It is also near to librarian, which also has a more elegant sound to it. Not to forget the Bostonian, or the Bostonian Librarian, for that matter.
The suffix, "ian" means: related to or resembling, and we -- as residents, certainly are related to Sequim.
Regarding bike racks. Excellent idea, along with areas marked for scooters, electric cycles, electric trikes, etc.
There is never enough room in front of or adjacent to store fronts. I've been waiting for the BENCHES that someone suggested some time ago. It's nice to walk downtown, but if there is no place to sit, then it's a problem, like Las Vegas, because they want you inside, sucking up smoke and dropping quarters in their slot machines.
I hope we can have a shaded walk, with tulips planted in brick planters that serve as benches. Boulder has had this in their downtown core for years, and it is one of the most "walker" and people-friendly towns I've ever been in.
Let's set our goals a little higher for the downtown core. A little piece at a time is less costly, but the little piece at a time approach has not worked in so many ways. I'm referring to our lime green crosswalks, the Texas cattle guard "gate" at the W. end of town, planters in the middle of the road, cut-outs, high plants blocking views on major roads, no turn lanes, etc., etc. All these were attempts to control traffic, beautify the core, but failed in so many ways. Do it right the first time, I hope.
T. Pitre
Sequimarian
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