The Puget Sound area is well-known and symbolized by its use of ferries throughout its waters, which at some point or another anyone of us has used. But in an immensely changing climate, concerns over pollution within the transportation department is largely on the minds of many environmentalists. Especially concerning environmental justice. Fortunately, Washington State Ferries seems to be making progress in further working towards sustainability.
“The program was really formed as part of our implementation of our long-range plan 2040 which came out in early 2019 and one of the recommendations was to kind of center around sustainability structurally with our motto being, ‘leave it better’.
Kevin Bartoy, the manager of the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Program of Washington State Ferries, discusses a new focus for addressing climate change and promoting technological innovations. Many of the goals for this program are to address greenhouse gases and water quality among a number of things that are not only important to our natural environment, but of that regarding marginalized communities.
“It’s the recognition that has probably been more recent in time that...having a degraded environment does affect people who are economically and racially oppressed etc., so you do see them disproportionately affected, be it by the siting of factories or warehouses, in neighborhoods that have fewer price points. There is that overlap to the detriment of those communities,” says Bartoy regarding the recognition of environmental justice being a key role in our transportation system, let alone the industrial-complex.
Just here in Washington State, the biggest corporations are that of Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft. Beyond this is how these companies are concentrated within the greater Seattle area, where most low-income communities live near these industrial plants, such as in Othello, Rainier Beach, and Westwood-Highland Park which are all about 10-20 minutes away from the nearest Boeing plant specifically. As for larger companies that are not necessarily “transportation-related” the impact still stands. Take Amazon as another example, who located 2 miles east of the city’s African American Central District, has placed these communities into financial insecurity as the company’s economic success creates a huge inequality gap that is centralized on the company rather than surrounding population. The entrancing spheres of Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle now symbolizes more of a terror, especially for BIPOC who are further pushed away due to a growing economic gap.
The significance of an ever developing industrial-complex in our community, correlates with the need for stronger action in terms of our transportation system as well as many other economic sectors. Currently, ferry vessels operate on diesel fuel which, as obvious, pollutes the environment. But what makes this transportation unique is its ability to transport larger amounts of people from a single vessel rather than using individual transportation. A possible innovation proposed by Bartoy to achieve somewhat “greener” transportation is the charging of ferry vessels from dock to dock, using hydroelectric power, which in Washington is “relatively inexpensive” and in abundance. However, this has extreme environmental impacts as the most common way of harnessing hydroelectricity is through building dams which have significant effects on our wildlife (salmon mainly) and the natural processes that take place in the environment. Although there is still a skepticism based on how ferry vessels would be able to go completely green, it is worth noting that experimenting and exploring new avenues towards how greener energy can be achieved, will start to bloom while also develop a stronger understanding towards how even more sustainable alternatives need to be altered in order to truly have positive impacts on our environment. Let alone for our environment.
As Bartoy mentions, “The maritime industry now has a lot of work left to do, and it’s going to take a lot of technological innovations to create those greener solutions especially in our current context.”
Our ferry system is extremely crucial to making connections with different points of the Puget Sound, but if we are to see a future in truly achieving environmental justice, sustainable innovations must also bridge together with our local, state, and national politics. Bartoy’s advice encompasses the all around issues that take place in our communities, and can be facilitated through policy.
“I think that as a citizen one of the most important things you can do is get involved in your local community and your local community governments. We need more individual citizens getting involved, not just in local elections or running for local positions as well, but by getting on committees or commissions within their local jurisdiction since those commissions actually have a lot of say...it’s about really getting down to that nitty gritty detail like zoning.”
Getting involved in your local jurisdictions are so crucial to influencing politics, which has the potential to benefit all rather than the 1%. Unfortunately, this understanding is something many of us do not realize or simply are unaware of. But community input and involvement are central to being open-minded to what is happening around you. If you are someone who, to put it simply, possesses white privilege, you have the power already to make a difference for people of color who are ignored or go unheard in policymaking. This by no means that you should fill in their voice or put a narrative around what you “think” their situation is, but rather recognize the broad idea that environmental justice is social and racial justice. Although the environment is just one part of achieving social justice, it is a very large section of it. This is the truth, and if we are to really make progress in how we as a local and statewide community function, then these actions need and should occur now.
Me: “Is there anything else you would like to add regarding environmental justice”
Kevin Bartoy: “It’s a journey. I have to remain hopeful with what I see around us, that we’re moving on the right way in the journey. I’m a part of the Diversity and Advisory Group on Washington State ferries and it’s a lot of really committed people, about 30-40 out of several thousand, that are working really hard and really and pushing that anti racism within our division, so it doesn’t take that many people inside of an organization to be able to move the needle and do some good work. Don’t be afraid to do that and make the place where you are where you want to be and where you think it should be.”