Jumping In

Greetings and welcome to my blog!

I am ready to take the big plunge! I am going to jump in feet first and hope that I know how to swim. I am going to seize the proverbial bull by the horns and use new social media to further a progressive social/environmental agenda. I am going to use this blog to generate discussion and develop insights into a pressing issue that faces us today.

I am part of the group the Alliance for Community Transition - South Sound (ACT-SS) that started about a year ago in Olympia. We are an alliance of already existing local environmental groups that have decided to become part of the international transition movement. In the face of global climate change, economic uncertainty and peak resources, communities around the world are working to develop local transition plans.

The transition movement began in England during the past decade. It is best understood by reading Rob Hopkins's book The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience. This book lays out why it is important to think seriously about how our culture uses and abuses our resources, our oil supplies, how our climate is changing, how this will affect our food production, and how our economy is increasingly vulnerable to erratic fluctuations.

ACT-SS has divided up into a number of issue areas. Each of these has a lead contact person who will facilitate developing that portion of the transition plan. My area is water, which is why I have named my blog “Water Wise.” We must learn to make mindful choices when it comes to using water.

To begin with I see the broad issue areas that I will address as being:

1) Fresh water supplies for human use;

2) Designing our communities so that they mimic and fit into our local watersheds;

3) Preventing stormwater runoff from causing damage by encouraging green roofs and urban vegetation, and

4) Learning to use our feces and urine for our gardens.

I am not going to go into any details now, but please comment on what you think of my project.

This will be a challenge but I am going to take the plunge and jump in. Hopefully, you will join me and help generate discussion concerning our water resources and the best way to manage them!

Krag Unsoeld