Grassroots, local activism

I have been neglecting this blog to some degree, but there is much I would like to put into it. During the past few weeks, I have participated in several local Olympia public hearings. Each has a significant concern from many points of view. Puget Sound Energy is up for sale and the top bid is from an Australian and Canadian bidder. The oversight council had a hearing at which I testified against the sale to a distant mega company using retirement funds (and a loan) to purchase the utility. My view is that a far distant company will make it even more difficult for consumers to have their needs addressed and to take effective responsibility for their environment. This potential purchase is an example of "privatization." Private entities are purchasing public assets to make profits. Toll roads and bridges, water, utilities, etc are shifting to corporate ownership, unless we organize to stop them.
Another issue at which I testified to the Port of Olympia Commissioners meeting is the construction of the Children's Hands On Museum over a toxic chemical site which the Port sold to the City. "Oh, the Department of Energy will clean it up or cap it." Easier said than done. There is leaching into Puget Sound which was originally filled in to create the site. There is also deterioration of the cap which takes place in time. How much risk can we put the children to? The public knows little about toxic chemicals and how they are communicated to the people and living creatures through the environment. The toxic effects are multiple: cancers, birth defects, many illnesses.
These are just two of the issues I have addressed.
My time is also going into the final stage for printing my book: THE AMERICAN GANDHI, My Seeking Truth With Humanity at the Crossroads. The book should be out around the end of July, early August.