March Newsletter
We’re excited to introduce you to our new spring look. We’ll be unveiling new directions and new horizons for the Kicking Gas community in the weeks to come. For now, check out our new logo designed by our very own Ian Joseph Jackson and local artist Gabe Adams!
March 27th Info Session
We’re happy to announce our first in-person Kicking Gas Info Session of the year on March 27th at 6PM at the South Whidbey Community Center. Many prospective clients have been waiting for this opportunity to learn more about Kicking Gas, what we’re offering, and to fulfill their program requirement to attend an Info Session. We’re excited to be in-person because we’ll be able to share food and drinks, offer a family friendly space, and build stronger relationships among our community.
Details:
March 27th, 6-7:30PM
South Whidbey Community Center (Room 116)
723 Camano AvenueLangley, WA, 98260
Register for our March Info Session by clicking HERE.
Solarize Island County with Kicking Gas!
If you missed our announcement—we’ve launched Solarize Island County! This new solar energy program is open for enrollment now through July 4th, 2024, and will support Island County residents to install solar panels on their homes and businesses. Local residents can reserve your free solar assessment on the program webpage: SolarizeIsland.org.
We have negotiated special pricing with Whidbey Sun and Wind, Northwest Electric & Solar, Western Solar, and Blossom Solar. By purchasing solar in bulk and partnering with trusted installers, Kicking Gas is making the process of going solar simple, secure, and accessible for our community. Sign up for this limited time offering where you’ll get discounted prices, vetted local installers, and quality made-in-Washington equipment.
We are holding a Solarize workshop on April 16th at the Bayview Cash Store! Please join us to learn more about the program and ask questions directly to our team.
Details:
April 16th, 6:30-7:30PM
Bayview Cash Store (Front Room - upstairs, accessible by elevator)
5603 Bayview Rd, Langley, WA 98260
Register for the April 16th workshop HERE.
Plastic Food Packaging In The News
As those who have attended our Info Sessions may recall, one of the foci of our community awareness campaigns this year involves exploring, through sister organization Uncommon Electric, the connection between the fossil fuel industry, plastics, our food system and public health.
What comes as a revelation to many is that, as described by the International Energy Agency, plastics are set to become the dominant force behind global demand for oil by 2050 and already account for 12% of current demand. For this reason, reducing our dependence on plastics therefore amounts to reducing global demand for fossil fuels; in addition to the fact that so many of our tax dollars are utilized to subsidize the fossil fuel industry through petrochemical processing subsidies and other programs.
For those of us seeking to transform this dynamic, it’s even more alarming to learn that plastic food packaging is not only ubiquitous but deeply deleterious to human health. As we discuss in our program, fossil fuel combustion during cooking and heating already contaminates indoor air in our homes, restaurants, businesses, schools and other spaces with endocrine-disrupting toxins. Detailed in this article from “The Hill” (please click here), we also learn that plastic packaging leaches toxins into our food and water, further causing cellular and metabolic damage to endocrine function, grossly impacting cardiovascular, reproductive and digestive health.
As always, education, awareness, petitioning at the local and state level – as well as conscious consumerism – are keys to transforming toxic outcomes to healthy ones in our products, economy, communities, food, homes, rivers, soils, institutions and bodies.
Kicking Gas and Uncommon Electric are here with you every step of the way.
Delivery of SW Aquatic Petition
We are appreciative of your support for the SW Aquatics Center to be built from the ground up as an All-Electric facility in alignment with our community’s vision of an environmentally sustainable, healthy, and equitable island! In the end, we submitted signatures from five organizations and 57 individuals and delivered these signatures to both the SW Aquatics Foundation and the SW Parks and Recreation. Thank you for taking action by adding your name to our letter and spreading the word.
Kicking Gas Renews Contract with Washington State University
We’re excited to announce that we’ve officially renewed our contract with Washington State University’s Energy Program as a partner in the Community Energy Efficiency Program! We are now starting our second funding cycle. We know folks have had to wait for this funding to be secured to move forward and we thank you for your patience. And thank you to the folks at WSU Energy Program for your support and collaboration. This funding, along with the help of our incredible community donors, help us provide an accessible and affordable way for residents to take part in climate action at home!
In community,
Derek Hoshiko on behalf of the Kicking Gas Team