Olympia area – Page 5 – Glen's Parallax Perspectives

“Local Governments Must Protect the Environment”

August 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

SEPTEMBER 2018 “Local Governments Must Protect the Environment” This month’s interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” will inform, inspire and motivate us to urge our local governments to do a better job of protecting the environment. People everywhere really do care about the environment, but environmental problems persist all the way from the global level down to the local level. This interview will help you understand why local governments often fail to protect the environment – and how we can be more effective in urging them to protect it. We can indeed think globally and act locally. Three knowledgeable, insightful guests […]

“Hidden Costs of Local Population Growth”

April 16, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The May 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” interviews two very knowledgeable guests who have been working to protect the broad public interest in matters affecting our local community. Typically, local communities assume that they are supposed to grow in population. Local population growth is promoted as good for us, but the promoters avoid disclosing the real costs – the hidden costs – of local population growth. This interview explores the costs of such growth. Although some of our examples come from the greater Olympia area, the principles pertain elsewhere too. The City of Olympia expects 20,000 more people here […]

Saturday April 14: Participate in Olympia’s March for Science!

April 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

11:00 a.m. at Washington State Capitol steps. Hear a few brief speakers. 11:45 Proceed down Capitol Way, turn left (decision pending on whether to turn left on Legion Way or 5th Ave), and enter Heritage Park. Visit informational booths until 2:00 p.m.. • Stop the denialism and corruption that interfere with honest science and good public policy. • Demand that public officials respect honest science and enact evidence-based public policies. • Human beings and our natural environment need this! Background and more information: • The head of the U.S.’s Environmental Protection Agency does not “believe” in climate change and works […]

“Empowering Ourselves for Profound Democracy”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

In modern American society, people recognize that giant impersonal systems have too much power, and often they oppress us. These include big business corporations that cheat us out of our money, destroy our environment, outsource our jobs to low-wage countries, buy the politicians who make the political decisions, and own the media that control how we perceive the world and what we learn and think about political issues. The big impersonal systems also include governmental systems that make wars despite public opinion and protect big business interests in defiance of the public interest. All of the problems we face seem […]

“A Public Park for Olympia’s Isthmus”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Overwhelming public opinion supports having a public park instead of privately owned high-rise condominiums on the isthmus that connects downtown Olympia and West Olympia. This much beloved strip of land at the southernmost tip of Puget Sound has a great view of the Capitol Building and the Olympic Mountains. The isthmus is in the heart of an area where people love to hang out. The community struggle to protect this land for public enjoyment turned more positive in July 2011, when Thurston County Commissioners Karen Valenzuela, Sandra Romero, and Cathy Wolfe unanimously offered financial support for the Olympia Capitol Park […]

“Decades of Solidarity with Santo Tomas, Nicaragua”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Since 1988 our local community has built and sustained a strong relationship with a sister community in Nicaragua. The Thurston – Santo Tomás Sister County Association (TSTSCA) has built peace and across thou-sands of miles of distance by interacting face-to-face with back-and-forth delegations and by collaborating on practical projects in Santo Tomás. While the Reagan Administration was making war on Nicaragua, people in Thurston County and Santo Tomás forged relationships of mutual understanding and respect. Bypassing governments, we just went ahead and did what was needed – and what was right. In March 1987 the second episode of the Olympia […]

TV: “Occupy Wall Street, Olympia and Everywhere”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The democracy movement that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and many countries in the Arab world in 2011 also was demanding a fair economy instead of corruption by cronies in unaccountable governments. (See the Olympia FOR’s July 2011 TV program posted at www.olympiafor.org). Los Indignados in Spain, the anti-austerity protests in Greece, and other actions around the world are also related to this movement for democracy, human rights, and a humane economy. And now – with similar consciousness and demands – the Occupy Wall Street movement has swept the U.S., resulting in hundreds of local “Occupy” encampments, protests and other grassroots activities. […]

TV: “Local Economics”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

For many of the topics the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s TV series addresses – such as coping with peak oil and the climate crisis, opposing the global economic system that causes wars and oppresses people in poor countries, and strengthening democracy and human rights – we keep coming back to one solution that pertains to all of these: creating a sustainable and humane local economy so we can meet our needs with fewer resources, without damaging the rest of the world, and while strengthening our local community’s resilience and democracy. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s April 2012 TV program focuses […]

TV: “A Publicly Owned Electric Utility for Thurston County?”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Puget Sound Energy, the capitalist-owned electric and gas utility that serves Thurston County and other parts of Western Washington, was based in Bellevue, Washington until a few years ago when it was sold to a different group of capitalists based in Australia – on the opposite side of the world. In 2012 local people in Thurston County Now the Thurston County Public Utility District – which is owned by the general public of our own local community – were exploring the feasibility of buying out Puget Sound Energy’s business in Thurston County and operating it with local ownership, local management, […]

TV: “Local Government Fairness and Accountability”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

How many people actually pay much attention to local governments’ detailed decisions about zoning, funding streets and sewers, and so forth? Hardly anyone pays attention – except those who have a direct financial stake in those decisions, such as real estate developers and other persons who have direct financial interests in local governments’ decisions. So what happens as a result? The “special interests” are able to exploit local governments to serve their narrow economic profits, while the rest of us never know that we are being ripped off. For example, the local elites that run many local governments and media […]

TV: “Creating a Sustainable Local Food System”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Increasingly, people are getting savvier about how to deal with food. In our local community, more and more people are interested in sustainability, are growing good food locally, and are helping other people grow food. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s May 2013 TV program is all about “Creating a Sustainable Local Food System.” Three knowledgeable guests with interesting first-hand experience teach us a lot during this program: • TJ Johnson is a former Olympia City Council member, organizer of the October 2011 Food Summit, and a vigorous participant in the local food movement. The Food Summit attracted so many pre-registrants […]

TV: “Restoring the Deschutes Estuary to its Natural Flow”

November 20, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

To watch this 1-hour interview, click HERE. To read the information below in .pdf format, click Program Description — December 2014. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s December 2014 TV program examines an environmental problem that has hurt the greater Olympia and south Puget Sound areas for more than half a century – the problems in the waters near the west side of downtown Olympia where the 5th Avenue dam prevents the Deschutes River flow freely into Budd In-let, the southernmost tip of Puget Sound. Only in the past few years have people been organizing vigorously to solve the problems with […]

TV: “LBA Woods and Other Parks for Our Community”

November 20, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s April 2015 TV program explores the need for local parks. We focus on a timely opportunity to devote a large amount of addi-tional land to become a park that would serve the greater Thurston County area. A community group formed a few years ago and has generated wide support throughout our community for a 150-acre “LBA Woods Park” next to the current “LBA Park” in SE Olympia, within the city limits. This non-profit organization, the LBA Woods Park Coalition (www.lbawoodspark.org), has been urging the City of Olympia to buy the available land now so it […]

TV: “Young People Downtown: Realities and Opportunities”

November 17, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s June 2015 TV program provides fresh insights into the realities experienced by young people who spend a lot of time downtown. We debunk the myths and offer constructive ways for our local community to address problems and include everyone. While this program focuses especially on young people, much of our conversation will pertain also to people of other ages whom we see downtown. The most common way that governments and social service agencies deal with disadvantaged people is from the top down. In contrast, all three of our guests on this TV program practice solidarity […]