by Claudia Finseth and Kirk Kirkland

The presidential election results are heartbreaking for people who care about the environment. For the next four years—perhaps the most crucial humankind has ever experienced—our country will be run by climate-change deniers, fossil fuel enthusiasts, and profiteers.

There will likely be more damage to the planet and climate rather than less.

It’s easy to look at the presidential election results with despair, but we encourage you not to. Grieve, yes; rest and renew, yes; but don’t despair, because in darkness the stars above are at their brightest.

In Pierce County, when it comes to the environment, we have light again. Here, the election went very differently. In Janurary we’ll soon have leaders who care about the environment and other important issues that are affecting all of us.  They will be far more responsive than the previous county administration.

One of those leaders is Jani Hitchen.

Jani’s re-election to the County Council has long-term positive implications. For one thing, she has learned a lot in her first term. She has made some mistakes, owned them, and is determined to do better. This is very hopeful, indeed!

As a science teacher, Jani understands the dynamics of our natural world. She will work to protect our waters and shorelines—the jewels, along with the mountain of Pierce County. And she will work to make them more accessible to the public so we can all benefit from them.

Hitchen’s election means that the county’s Comprehensive Plan, which determines zoning, will be written to better protect farmland, rural lands, forests, waterways and wildlife.

‘Bonus density’ designations, which allow developers to get out of following the zoning laws, and  tree removal, loss of farm land, wildlife habitat destruction including for endangered marine mammals, and increased water contamination and degradation, will be eliminated.

Jani also has plans for helping people experiencing homelessness, not by isolating them in jail or on marshlands, but by helping them solve their problems without asking them to break ties with their children, friends, pets and others who are important support as they navigate job loss, family disintegration, housing crises, addiction, mental illness and societal shunning.

Ryan Mello is another light in the darkness.

The election of Mello as Pierce County Executive means a return to integrity in county government. Oh yes, he has also made mistakes during his term on the County Council. He has also learned from his mistakes, and will be careful not to repeat them.

We have a responsibility to closely watch what our elected officials do, and hold them to account. This will be possible, as Mello will open the Executive’s Office to the people again.

Mello will welcome environmental advocates back to the table, instead of excluding them as the previous administration did. As the dust settles and county chaos and favoritism ends, we will all have a say again in decisions that affect us.

As far as environmental issues are concerned, Ryan is committed to following the rule of law as spelled out by the State Environmental Policy Act. He will stop practices like handing out building permits with favoritism to developers by giving them ‘Executive Priority” status.

Mello will also guide the planning department back to the rule of law as it is spelled out for wetlands, tree retention and protecting wildlife corridors in the Communities Plans and the Comprehensive Plan. Gone will be by-passing existing zoning with continual PDD exemptions.  A Conditional Use Permit review will again be required as per the law.

As one example, Mello will use the budget for road building—not to pave over rural areas and farmland for runaway development—but to improve existing roads and arterials.

In real terms, just in the last few years in Spanaway and Parkland, Mello will protect neighbors and districts from having to spend $140,000 or more on legal and court fees, simply so they can ask county courts to require Environmental Impact Statements.

Projects like the Tiny Home Village on the critical wetlands of Spanaway Marsh will be stopped in the beginning because zoning will be enforced. In Pierce County, we can trust our elected County Executive again.

Ryan Mello and Jani Hitchen will need our help. As the community, as taxpayers, as citizens, we will have a very important part to play in Pierce County government.

We will continue to advocate for the environment and other causes we hold dear, holding our elected officials accountable to the rule of law.  And we will continue to work to heal the division that has cracked open our society like a vast crevasse.

We will not widen that divide by imposing our will on our fellow-citizens without their having a seat at the table, too. The environment and homelessness need not be mutually exclusive issues. In fact, there are many people who value both. Listening to each other will again be important, and compromise the wisest course.

Our friend Bob Warfield provides these words to help guide us over the next four years:

“We are where we’ve arrived…

Firm in our convictions, but open to knowledge about how our world, in nature, works—the laws of motion, rules of physics, lessons of history, affections of place and family, and the essential business of living lives of purpose and of progress toward sound opportunity and justice.

Let us pledge all the love we need to meet catastrophe with conviction and commitment; to be citizens of our country and of the world — with creative good and steadfast service to the wholeness of nature.

And to human endeavor, as we may best comprehend our duty to informed regard of space and time.  And to let us pledge good measure to live toward a harmony of justice and peace, mindful of the planet island that we all share, circling a modest star.”