Welcome to the 2nd Annual
Sustainable West Seattle Festival
4314 SW Alaska St, One Block West of the Alaska Junction in West Seattle
Welcome to the 2009 Sustainable West Seattle Festival! We have chosen a theme of “Building Resilience in our Local Community” for this year’s festival. Sustainability is of course not only about reducing our footprint and cutting carbon—it is also about creating communities that are resilient to the changing conditions of our economy, changing climate, and energy, food, and water supplies.
Communities focused on a resilient economy are thinking about increasing the number of locally owned businesses that produce items made close to home. Resilient citizens are focused on learning the skills they need for a changing world, whether it be green jobs, renewable energy at home, repairing their bikes, or raising food.
Communities interested in a transportation system that is resilient to oil depletion are diversifying into more walkable and bikeable communities, are carpooling and driving less, investing in rail and bus networks, working closer to home, and investing in vehicles powered by electricity or sustainable biofuels. People who want to move from a agricultural system that is powered almost exclusively by oil and want resilient food networks are buying local, growing their own food, canning and raising chickens.
In this Festival Program you will find a number of great articles written by activists in your community who are trying to do these very things and build a more sustainable and resilient future. Read about them, get inspired, and get involved. At our festival this year, we have done our best to invite speakers and exhibitors that reflect that spirit of building a stronger, more localized, and more resilient community.
Sustainable West Seattle would like to thank the generous sponsors who have helped make this year’s event possible both through the donation of funds and supplies. We are also thankful to the volunteers that step forward to help plan, give input, and run the festival on the day of the event.
One more thank you: our festival this year is generously funded by a small and simple “climate protection” grant from the Department of Neighborhoods—we would like to thank the City of Seattle for valuing the grassroots work and difference that engaged citizens can make.