Earth Day 2020: Snohomish County Executive Leads Through Local Action

Earth Day 2020: Snohomish County Executive Leads Through Local Action

Let’s hope the 50th anniversary of Earth Day is a wake-up call and people will look back at our successes and tackle our problems of today. People of Snohomish County understand we live in a beautiful place.

Dave Somers understands the need for conservation. He once loved to go fishing at every opportunity, until he saw the effects of over-fishing without thought to the environment.

When he became the Snohomish County Executive, Somers worked to bring opposing groups together, based on his love of the land, of its people, and his inner-working knowledge of tribal rights and land concerns as the Tulalip Tribes’ fisheries biologist straight out of grad school.

Earth Day holds special meaning for the County Executive.

By Ellen Hiatt

Dave Somers remembers the very first Earth Day celebration 50 years ago. He lived in the Napa Valley and an early morning frost had every smudge pot employed to prevent the grapes from freezing. “Throughout the whole valley, you couldn’t see 100 yards through the smoke. I was just thinking about this. Back then, the big issues were acid rain, smog caused by automobiles and engines, and ocean dumping. We tackled a lot of those issues.”

Over time, there have been environmental successes, but “what comes out of the tailpipes now is invisible,” so it can be harder to engage people on the issues.

“We can do it. There are pathways forward that are extremely do-able. If we just put our minds to it. I am hopeful that people will keep working on it. We can see the effects of climate change. The implications of acidification of our oceans is terrifying,” he said.

Somers noted that catastrophes can galvanize people to action, much like we are experiencing with the coronavirus and the past catastrophic wildlife seasons. “Unfortunately, it takes catastrophes to get people focused on it. Let’s hope the 50th anniversary of Earth Day is a wake-up call and people will look back at our successes and tackle our problems of today. People of Snohomish County understand we live in a beautiful place. We do have to take local action and lead the way. But it is a worldwide problem.”

“Shared Vision for Conservation and Prosperity,” Welcome Magazine Spring/Summer 2020