Progress on plastic, climate action, and saving salmon: a review of 2022

Tackling Plastic: We’re building support for state level policies that will tackle wasteful plastic packaging and help improve our recycling systems in the state.  This year Environment  Washington and our partners in the Plastic Free Washington coalition organized educational events, trainings, and community action workshops to get the word out about how we can prevent plastic pollution in the first place. 

At our October community clean up day, our partners organized events in 7 locations, with over 120 volunteers participating, 1000 lbs of trash picked up. Read more about it here.

Salmon & Orca recovery: For the first time, Governor Inslee, Senator Murray committed to making dam breaching viable to save salmon, orcas. This announcement came after years of organizing and building public support, and a particularly busy summer of rallies and high visibility organizing. 

Clean car commitment: Earlier this week, the Washington Department of Ecology passed a rule which will require all new cars sold in Washington be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. This ambitious target of having all new car sales be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 will get more clean vehicles on the road, help us hit our climate pollution reduction goals, clean up our air and take advantage of the fact that Washington’s electric grid is getting cleaner every year.

Healthy homes: The Washington State Building Code Council adopted new building codes for both commercial and residential construction that will make new buildings healthier for Washingtonians and more climate friendly. These codes will require energy efficient heat pumps for space and water heating/cooling, and will also improve ventilation requirements for any new homes built with gas ranges for cooking.

America invested big in action against climate change. In 2022, our nation moved to address climate change, giving people and local and state governments crucial support for a transition to a climate-friendly future. Environment America focused on tax credits for clean energy, building support in key congressional districts. We delivered a letter to Congress signed by 250 government officials, health professionals, small business owners and more. By the end of August, Congress passed and President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, our country’s largest-ever investment in clean energy and climate solutions.

Thanks for standing with us in this work to create a cleaner, greener future. Onwards into 2023!