By Katherine Garvey

‘Sustainability’ is certainly the buzzword of the day.

Whether it is plastered on the side of a bus to promote public transit or peering out from the window of a locally-owned business, support for sustainability is gaining ground in Whatcom County.

As one potential solution to globally diminishing natural resources, sustainability, among other things, will be studied as part of an Energy Resource Scarcity Task Force.

Passed by the city and county councils in May, the 18-member task force will look at several aspects of Whatcom County and Bellingham and recommend how they can be better prepared to meet the impacts of resource scarcity.

“Since abundant and cheap fossil fuels are the lifeblood of our economy, the economy as a whole can be expected to suffer significantly,” said David MacLeod, a member of the Core Vision Team for Sustainable Bellingham, in an e-mail.

The task force will have sub-committees to study transportation, social services, economic transition, land use, agriculture, energy and water.

“The biggest obstacle that comes to my mind at this moment, however, is the obstacle of conveying accurate information and understanding for good decision making,” said MacLeod. “Having an accurate understanding of the problem will be very important in order to avoid jumping to misguided solutions.”

According to some, Whatcom County is already well on its way to promoting more sustainable lifestyles.

“The rest of the U.S. is in much worse shape than here in the Northwest, I think,” said John Rawlins, a professor at Whatcom Community College, to council members at a Public Works and Safety Committee meeting in May.

“We have wonderful assets and wonderful people here (in Whatcom County), and we also have numerous organizations working towards sustainability in different ways,” MacLeod said.

MacLeod is a strong voice in one of these organizations, Sustainable Bellingham.

According to Sustainable Bellingham, an important goal is to create a self-reliant community that depends on locally produced foods, energy and goods.

Another of these groups is Sustainable Connections, which provides resources for local businesses to become more sustainable.

“They are such good stewards of the environment,” said Michelle Grandy, from Member Services at Sustainable Connections.

Grandy is the manager of Think Local First, a program which encourages the community to support these locally-owned businesses.

In addition to these groups, Bellingham also boasts a popular farmer’s market.

“We have a healthy farmer’s market selling locally produced food, and we also have potential for growing a lot more food locally in Whatcom County, which is very important,” said MacLeod.

A frequent visitor to the market, Elie Samuel recognizes the importance of buying local.

“It’s a big thing (for me),” said Samuel, whose business Samuel’s Furniture is a member of Sustainable Connections. “Not only because it’s tastier and more nutritious, it’s better for our planet.”

Perhaps due to the work of many of these organizations, Whatcom County may be more prepared to face the problems that diminishing natural resources will bring about.

Terry Meyer, an independent consulting engineer for renewable energy, is confident in Whatcom County’s ability to be self-sustainable.

“I’ve done some seriously back-of-the-envelope calculations – nothing too pinned down,” he said.

Meyer has found that Whatcom County may have the resources to generate its own electrical energy.

He is hoping to receive funding for his group, Bellingham-based Convivium Renewable Energy, to conduct more critical research.

The city and county councils still feel that it is worth creating a task force to look at the problem of diminishing resources more closely, though.

“We staff this with the minimum staff possible and so far that’s me,” said Clare Fogelsong, Environmental Resources Manager for the City of Bellingham. “We’ll rely on the task force members to do some of the note-taking and agenda-writing, do some of the organizing and see how it goes.”

The community can expect to have a relatively strong involvement with the task force.

“I would really like to be a task force-driven process so it’s really a community process,” said Fogelsong. “When we bring speakers in or bring speaker forums for the task force, to the extent possible, we’ll open those up to the public also.”

Fogelsong recently posted notice of the available positions on both the city and county websites. Those interested in joining the task force will be able to find application directions on the websites.

Members will be chosen by County Execute Pete Kremen and Mayor Dan Pike

“We’ll try to pick a task force that is skill diverse, experience diverse and represents people throughout the county,” Fogelsong said.

“It’ll probably be people that have expertise in energy, oil, electricity and natural gas,” said Whatcom County Communications Coordinator Joe Bates. “I would imagine it would be some ordinary citizens. Cause we’re all suffering, right?”

Photo credit: Josh Parrish