Welcome!

SWS brings together community and sustainability here in West Seattle. Learn more about us!
Stay up to Date Want to know what is going on at SWS? Follow us on Twitter @sustainablews, Facebook or you can subscribe to our newsletter by clicking on the link below:


West Seattle Tool Library
We Need Your Help!

Ever borrow a tool from your neighbor? Ever wish they had a better selection? Sustainable West Seattle has won a grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and has set up a tool lending library. You can find out more information or check out our inventory!

SWS & The Tool Library Offer Round Trip Airfare Raffle

On February 21st, 2012, Sustainable West Seattle will be giving away 2 roundtrip tickets* good for anywhere Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air fly.  Raffle tickets will be awarded to all those who complete any of the following before the date of the drawing:

Raffle tickets can also be purchased at The West Seattle Tool Library during open hours.  Those who sign up or renew their memberships on the web will automatically be entered in the drawing.  There is no limit to the number of times any individual can enter, through whichever means.  SWS Board Members and their relatives are ineligible to participate.

Sustainable West Seattle and The West Seattle Tool Library sincerely thank Alaska Airlines for this kind donation as well as its continued commitment to advancing environmental responsibility in commercial aviation.  Visit here to learn more about Alaska Airline’s environmental and corporate responsibility commitments.

 

*These tickets are unrestricted, nonexpiring and valued at up to $1,500. They can be used on a flight anywhere Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air fly. Alaska and Horizon now fly directly to four Hawaiian Islands, several cities in Mexico, Newark, Boston, Wash. DC, Florida, Canada and, of course, almost anywhere in the state of Alaska. See a full route map here.

Tool Library Offers Power Tools 101: Lose Your Fear, Not Your Fingers

January 31, 2012
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

Join instructor Amy Ecklund at The Tool Library as she welcomes you in to the basics of using small powertools such as circular saws, jigsaws, powerdrills, impact drivers, nail guns, and miter saws.  As part of the class, you’ll demonstrate what you’ve learned by building a take-home, cedar planter box.

As a bonus, this class counts as the required safety credit at The Tool Library’s Community Workshop.  After the class, all ..continue reading

Tool Library Offers Indoor Winter Gardening Class

February 1, 2012
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

This winter, The West Seattle Tool Library is offering The Make-It Workshop Series, exploring a wide variety of unique crafts from beer brewing to beekeeping.  Register for classes online either through The Tool Library’s Meetup Page or its Events Calendar.

 

This week at the Tool Library:

Introduction to Indoor Winter Gardening

Wednesday, February 1st, 7-9 PM There’s no reason to let the cold weather stop your veggie gardening.  Learn how to grow an indoor ..continue reading

The Seattle Share Fair: Celebrate the Sharing Revolution!

February 21, 2012
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

There’s been an amazing increase lately in the rather common practice of sharing. With the prevalence of online services and social media, simply having access to the “stuff” we all need is suddenly becoming far easier, cheaper, and more useful than ownership. As a result, sharing everything from bikes to cars to land itself is developing into common practice. Join us to celebrate this sharing ..continue reading

Sustainable Healthcare: One Community At A Time

March 19, 2012
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

Our health care system is both more expensive and has lower quality than other industrialized countries. Many describe this as a sick care system because significant is not spent until after you get sick. Communities are now developing alternatives that cost less and move people toward whole health. By focusing on prevention and early intervention we can also drop the costs of health care.

Our speaker is Dale Jarvis, a healthcare ..continue reading

Proposed Sustainable West Seattle 2012 Strategic Plan

The Board of Directors met recently to create a 2012 Strategic Plan. Below is our draft plan. Please let us know any comments on the plan by February 6th. This plan will be reviewed at the February 6th board meeting.

 

City Web Portal for Walkers, Lists Tours, Monthly Events

Seattle has a new web portal which promotes walking – in and around Seattle.  For those of you whose New Year’s resolution includes more physical activity, www.seattle.gov/walking is your ticket to walk!

Aging and Disability Services, a division of the Seattle Human Services Department, collaborated with the city’s Department of Information Technology to promote walking organizations, events, and resources for older adults. The page includes links to local walks and hikes, neighborhood walking maps, and volunteer ..continue reading

Update on Barton Sewer Overflow Green Infrastructure

King County’s Wastewater Division is working in West Seattle to upgrade two pump stations. Work on the Barton Pump Station includes installing green infrastructure in several West Seattle neighborhoods up-water from the station.

Sunrise Heights and Westwood neighbors will have seen King County Wastewater Division crews doing field investigations throughout the fall. This is necessary field work to understand the characteristics of Sunrise Heights and Westwood neighborhoods and begin the process of selecting sites for the bioretention swales.

To learn more about the ..continue reading

Draft Shoreline Restoration Plan Released for Comment

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is pleased to announce the release of the draft Shoreline Restoration Plan.

The Restoration Plan can be accessed at this link.

Written comments on the plan are welcomed and encouraged. The comment period lasts through Friday, February 10, 2012. Please send your written comments to Margaret Glowacki at margaret.glowacki@seattle.gov or via US Mail at: Margaret Glowacki, City of Seattle – DPD, 700 Fifth Ave. Suite 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019

To ..continue reading

Community Centers Get Realigned, Have New Hours

Seattle Parks and Recreation has announced new Community Center and teen programming hours for 2012 and, following significant discussion throughout the last year, also announced that a tiered system will replace the traditional Community Center model.

In response to challenging budgets and a directive from City Council, Seattle Parks and Recreation spent 2011 meeting with community stakeholders and staff to develop a new plan for operating community centers in 2012. That work has resulted in a new tiered system ..continue reading

Energy Blog: Superheroes Without Cape: NW Energy Group Ponders Efficiency, Grids

by Andy Silber Not All Superheroes Wear a Cape: Energy Wonks in Seattle for NWEC’s Fall Conference

Thirty years ago a group of intrepid energy wonks realized the solution to our energy needs was not building a bunch of expensive nuclear power plants, but to aggressively capture the cost effective energy-efficiency measures available at a fraction of the cost, risk and environmental impact. These champions of truth, justice and the Northwest way continue their struggle. Few know them: they do their work in the meeting spaces of government commissions, utility boardrooms and wherever ..continue reading

Walk Score Introduces New Apartment Feature

Introducing Apartment Search from Walk Score.

The local folks who created Walk Score have  launched a new site that helps you find apartments by commute time. Whether you prefer driving, public transit, walking, or biking, Walk Score can help you find a commute that fits your lifestyle.

Visit walkscore.com/apartments and enter your work (or school) address, select your preferred mode of transportation, and set the time slider to how long you’re willing to commute.

Apartment listings from craigslist ..continue reading

Energy Blog: Coal Export Ports Dumbest Thing We Can Do

Why building coal export ports in Washington is about the dumbest thing we could do

By Andy Silber

There are two proposals to build coal-export terminals in Washington: one in Longview and the other just north of Bellingham. Building these terminals is akin to building a road through a wilderness area to a bridge you just torn down. Washingtonians didn’t pass I-937 (the initiative that requires utilities to increase their use of renewable resources) so that we could export more coal to China. Our state legislature didn’t ..continue reading

Want To Help Plan Your Local Bus Route? Metro’s Ear Is Open

When Metro launches the new RapidRide C (West Seattle) and D (Ballard) lines in September 2012, Metro will be changing existing bus service to improve the transit system and provide more connections to jobs, schools, and other destinations in Seattle, Shoreline, Burien, Tukwila, SeaTac, and Des Moines. Now is the time for the community to review Metro’s system improvement concepts and share their ideas.

Metro will be hosting a number of public meetings, community partner ..continue reading