Grist’s Humorous Take On Being Green
Podcast: Download (Duration: 31:50 — 36.4MB)
Brendon Smyth, socked in atop Mailbox Peak over the Snoqualmie River Valley.
Grist.org doesn’t exactly embrace your father’s approach to environmental and green matters, leaving sanctimonious outrage on the shelf in favor of humor, irreverence, and a Daily Show meets The Onion template for expressing personable, small-scale, day-to-day advice on making the world a greener place.
As befitting the clever mind and well-trained humor writer, the crew at Grist also never pass up an opportunity to work in a joke.
In doing so, Grist is the funniest, most refreshing site you’re likely to find on the internet discussing the environment or contemporary culture, though their biting editorials on matters of the day also demonstrates Grist isn’t willing to shirk away once the punchline has been delivered or the irony or hypocrisy of a situation been demonstrated.
Exchanging preachiness for hipness in the pursuit of a more relatable approach to good environmental practices, Brendon Smyth, Communications Director for the Seattle-based website, joins us for a chat about the inner workings, worldview, and motivations behind Grist from atop a sustainable skateboard made of from renewable bamboo. Kudos.
Stehekin and Lake Chelan, Part 2
The second of Treehuggers International’s two-part, on location program from Stehekin, one of the most remote and visually stunning areas in Washington state, located at the head of Lake Chelan deep in the wilderness of the North Cascades.
Stehekin and Lake Chelan, Part 1
The first of Treehuggers International’s two-part, on location program from Stehekin, one of the most remote and visually stunning areas in Washington state, located at the head of Lake Chelan deep in the wilderness of the North Cascades.
The Big Trees of Federation Forest State Park
Podcast: Download (Duration: 28:02 — 38.5MB)
A hidden jewel located along the route to the White River entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park, Federation Forest State Park preserves several hundred acres of rapidly vanishing low-elevation old-growth forest along the White River near Greenwater, Washington, smack dab in the middle of timber country.
While Federation Forest’s history spans two locations and the history of the nearby Naches Trail, the park remains a mecca for tree lovers, where remarkable stands of ancient Western Hemlock, Douglas-fir, Western Redcedar, Sitka Spruce, even Pacific Yew, can be found within a few hours’ drive of Seattle and Tacoma.
In this edition of Treehuggers International, Washington State Park rangers Eric Lewis and Jeff Vassallo make the drive from Federation Forest to The End’s studios to talk about recent storm damage and volunteer opportunities at “Fed Forest,” and the wonder of working among some of the biggest, best-preserved trees in the state.
Note: Ranger Jeff Vassallo has since been named head ranger at Kanasket-Palmer State Park near Enumclaw along the Green River Gorge. Congratulations, Jeff!
