State-of-the-art stormwater station in Georgetown to protect the Duwamish River and Puget Sound
King County’s new $275 million Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station will be ready for crews to operate this rainy season enabling better protection of the Duwamish River and Puget Sound from stormwater pollution during severe rainstorms, which are occurring more frequently due to climate change. Read more and watch the video.
Executive Constantine on adoption of $15.8 billion biennial King County budget: A road map to our values
King County Executive Dow Constantine released a statement after the King County Council unanimously passed a $15.8 billion biennial budget that adopts major investments in his priority areas focused on battling the climate crisis and restoring our environment, ensuring every person has a home, ensuring a community where every person is safe, and uprooting racism and racial disparities. Read the full statement here.
Friday, Nov. 18, is the last day of the 2022 Annual Giving Drive
With more than 1,200 nonprofit organizations in the program and five ways to give, it’s fast and easy to support the causes you care about. The Employee Giving Program would like to thank you for continuing to support causes that are important to you, such as climate change, animal welfare, and food security. It all makes a difference. View this website for all the ways you can participate.
Executive announces new actions to rapidly reduce countywide greenhouse gas emissions
King County Executive Dow Constantine’s proposed budget includes actions to decrease countywide greenhouse gas emissions at a faster pace as an analysis of the Puget Sound region shows an urgent need for collective action to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. A first-of-its-kind analysis led by King County found that greenhouse gas emissions per person have decreased as the result of more energy efficient vehicles and buildings, but total emissions have increased as the population has grown. Read more.
Executive Constantine unveils 2023 – 2024 budget
Focusing on four priority pillars of work first introduced in his 2022 State of the County address, King County Executive Dow Constantine joined the King County Council today to deliver his 2023 – 2024 biennial Proposed Budget. The $15.8 billion budget will make major investments in the Executive’s priority areas focused on battling the climate crisis and restoring our environment, ensuring every person has a home, ensuring a community where every person is safe, and uprooting racism and racial disparities. Read more.
King County’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan survey
King County is starting a once-a-decade update to its Comprehensive Plan, which guides where people live, work, and play in unincorporated King County. To ensure that King County will be a welcoming community where every person can thrive, the 2024 update will focus on policies related to racial equity, affordable housing, and climate change. To achieve this goal, King County employees and residents are encouraged to participate in a survey to provide input. Click here to learn more.
Executive Constantine announces King County’s first-ever Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy
King County has developed its first-ever Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy, a set of 12 recommended actions to improve preparedness, response, and recovery as the region experiences hotter, drier summers due to climate change. The strategy’s recommended actions are organized around three guiding priorities: Make King County forests more resilient to wildfire, reduce risks to communities and infrastructure in the wildland-urban interface, and enhance emergency response. Read more.
Be ready for smoky days with 1-minute air filter
Cross-posted from Public Health Insider Wildfire smoke is a near-annual event with the hotter, drier summers we’re getting (see Climate Changes Health). No amount of clever crafting can turn back the climate, but this simple D.I.Y. project can make the smoky days a little more bearable and safe. Read more.
Executive Constantine demonstrates progress on making region’s treatment plant more resilient to climate impacts
As King County hosts a four-day national conference of clean water agencies, Executive Dow Constantine showed progress toward making the region’s wastewater treatment system more resilient to climate impacts. King County crews are preparing to install on-site batteries at West Point Treatment Plant, providing operators with an uninterruptable power supply when voltage sags occur. It’s the latest in a series of improvements to make the 56-year-old treatment plant more resilient to climate impacts. Read more.
How a beaver boom is reshaping floods and fire
Jen Vanderhoof, a senior ecologist with the Water and Land Resources Division of the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, was recently interviewed for a story on beavers. The video was produced by Grist, a non-profit, independent media organization focused on covering climate solutions. The piece highlights how beavers may offer real protection against climate impacts like flooding and wildfires, if people can learn to live with them. Watch the video.
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