Conscious Choice Seattle: A Dozen Ways to Define Citizenship

January 2005 | Evergreen Citizen

A Dozen Ways to Define Citizenship

We established the Evergreen Citizen feature to signal how Evergreen Monthly views citizenship. Americans are adept at being consumers. In our past 12 issues, we highlighted people who are giving back to their communities. We explained that citizenship might involve establishing an organic chocolate factory, pumping alternative fuels for cars, helping people make the right decisions about dietary supplements or tackling the seemingly not-to-be-wrestled-down problem of providing reasonable health care to the U.S. population.

It’s all citizenship and all good. Here’s a look back at our 12 months of Evergreen Citizens for 2004, which is actually a baker’s dozen if you count them up. A baker knows a good thing, and so do we (the complete story for each Citizen can be read by clicking on her or his name):

JANUARY: Meet Jeff Fairhall, activist and businessman. Jeff is founder and president of Essential Foods, The Essential Baking Company and the Essential Chocolate Company. Here’s what Fairhall had to say about the new Essential chocolate factory and community hub in Fremont, which has deliciously established itself in the last 12 months: “We create our own chocolate directly from the cocoa bean, then craft confections, chips, candy bars and bulk chocolate for both consumers and processors such as pastry chefs and chocolate product manufacturers. With quality production from organic and fair trade cocoa whenever possible, we aim to establish a niche for socially responsible, fine chocolate.”

FEBRUARY: Here is a song excerpt from one of Mary K. McNeill’s classes. The line about war was suggested by a 7-year-old boy and essentially cost the teacher her job:

“We are the children of peace, we are the children of the world.

We are the children of love, we are the children of the world.

We don’t want war anymore, we are the children of the world.”

When this antiwar sentiment was included in one of the class songs, a parent complained to the school district. The school confronted the teacher. Presented with an ultimatum, the teacher was told the subject of peace was allowed; antiwar was not. Reluctantly, McNeill decided in September 2003 to not return to her position at Olympic View elementary school.

MARCH: With a long list of accomplishments, including a Seattle City Council position, Nick Licata decided to stretch a bit further and publish his first children’s book, “Princess Bianca and The Vandals” (visit www.princessbianca.org). Licata spins an engrossing tale for 8- to 12-year-olds, delivering adventure, suspense and magic through the eyes of a daring princess — and a subtext that calls our rapid pace of modernization into question. In the book, Tiara is a peaceful, environmentally sound kingdom with no cars allowed within its borders. Bicycles and horses are used, unlike in nearby Zurbia, which is car-choked. Licata worries that Seattle is getting too close to Zurbia, but vows not to leave town: “With all the downsides Seattle has that are similar to other major urban cities, there is a sense of optimism and can-do. As I always say, it’s a town filled with people who ran away from home. We’re not exactly in Never-Never Land. But we are creating our own land.”

APRIL: Mary Embleton is executive director of Cascade Harvest Coalition, which now operates in 12 counties to publicize locally grown produce and meats. She is fiercely loyal to and fond of open spaces, whether in her native western Montana or here in Seattle and the Puget Sound area:

“Western Washington is different from Montana in that we have smaller, more intimate farms. But it’s all about keeping that sense of wonder and open land.”

MAY: When Jerry Armour sold his Good Health Pantry store in Bellevue in mid-2004, lots of customers were left without a trusted advisor. But Armour wanted to cut back his workload before celebrating an 80th birthday last September. He continues to formulate vitamin and supplement products for Oregon Health, a Phoenix-based company.

JUNE: As it did for all of us, Sept. 11 changed William Brent’s view of the world. What he decided to do about it was return to Seattle within about a year’s time to help start The Film Connection, a nonprofit joint project among local filmmakers, activists and businesspeople to develop a national DVD lending library of independent films to encourage movie clubs.

The idea is to use movies as a starting point for discussion and breakthroughs in social justice. You can borrow hundreds of films at www.thefilmconnection.org to host a regular movie group.

JULY: “Look fabulous, live well, do good” is the tagline for the Sustainable Style Foundation (SSF), and many people seem eager to do just that. Started in Seattle last May by style veterans and social and environmental activists Sean Schmidt and Rebecca Luke, the international nonprofit launched a Los Angeles chapter in April. Chapters are planned for New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris and Milan among other cities.

The foundation’s website (www.sustainablestyle.org) offers information about local companies that practice sustainability. The site also showcases new earth-friendly products.

AUGUST: As a health care activist, Kathleen O’Connor says, “I joke with people that I now speak three languages: English, Japanese and health care.” But O’Connor wasn’t kidding at all when she staged a nationwide contest for plans on how to “fix” health care for Americans. She offered a $10,000 first prize and $5,000 for second. The Code Blue Now project (www.codebluenow.com) invited any American last fall to pitch a 50-or-fewer-page proposal. The entries were stunningly sound and groundbreaking: “One of our winning proposal writers has both a master’s in divinity and an MBA,” says O’Connor. “That tells you something positive.”

SEPTEMBER: Dan Freeman has been selling alternative fuels through his business, Dr. Dan’s Alternative Fuel Werks, for more than eight years. The only Seattle-based outfit that sells both biodiesel and natural gas, Dr. Dan’s provides fuel for about 800 customers in the Puget Sound area and averages eight new accounts a week.

“If gasoline were the new fuel there would be no stinking way,” Freeman says. “The most dangerous thing people do is fill up their car.”

OCTOBER: As founder of the Whidbey Island-based Giraffe Heroes Project, Ann Medlock set out to honor the courage and compassion of citizens who “stick their necks out for the common good.” Since 1984, the Project has honored over a thousand ordinary people who have taken extraordinary risks to fight AIDS, preserve the environment, reform schools, protect neighborhoods, defend civil liberties and combat homelessness, among other causes. “I believe there’s a Giraffe inside everyone,” she says.

NOVEMBER: Paul Rogat Loeb, a Seattle-based author, has traveled across the United States talking to college students and seasoned activists alike about the history and the future of activism in this country. He has confronted a deep sense of hopelessness. To address it, Loeb set about assembling a phenomenal collection of essays from authors of all backgrounds.

The result is his latest book, “The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear.” Essayists include Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Nelson Mandela and Arundhati Roy. It is a truly hopeful anthology, just when we need it most.

“In a way, the job of the book is to change people’s perspectives that the forces of bigotry and vengeance hold all the cards,” says Loeb. “If people look at life that way, they see nothing but darkness.”

DECEMBER: Most of us feel time-poor. John de Graaf, a Seattle author and documentary maker with an office at the public television station KCTS, is doing his part to make us a bit richer. He is cofounder of Take Back Your Time Day. The event is Oct. 24 each year (visit www.timeday.org), but de Graaf and colleagues work year round to win back our lost time.

Thanks to writers Heather Nordell, Emily Garland, Keith Mack, Silja J.A. Talvi, Andrew Mulholland and Bob Condor for their reporting and storytelling.

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