Futurewise

Futurewise is an environmental non-profit originally created in response to the rapid growth and development across Washington state and the resulting change in landscape. People were afraid they would lose everything they really liked about Washington. The Growth Management Act was enacted to protect the natural legacy of the state while still enabling growth in the right places. The Act acknowledges that growth is happening, while also acknowledging the necessity to control it. Other than citizen appeals, there is no legal enforcement of the law, so 1,000 Friends of Washington was created, eventually spawning Futurewise as protectors/enforcers of the Growth Management Act. Their focus evolved from enforcement of law to protecting the natural landscape while building great cities through public education, technical assistance/policy development, advocacy, and litigation.

One of their greatest current efforts is the Livable Communities Initiative in which they have formed partnerships with other cities in the Puget Sound area to establish a path forward to implement sustainable policies in those cities (i.e., Green Streets in Spokane).

An interesting part of Futurwise's efforts is the time spent lobbying for their causes. According to April Putney, more time is spent lobbying against bad/threatening legislation than in favor of good legislation. An underlying theme of the discussion was the importance of relationships, more so, in fact, than a specific education in many respects, since so much of the job is persuading others to see things your way.

The most interesting thing I took away from the discussion was the way April came to work with Futurewise. Originally, she didn't see how their focus on land use and transportation impacted climate change, but she came to realize that transportation is the best place to start in Washington, where transportation is responsible for nearly 50% of emissions. It illustrates how easy it is to be so focused on a bigger picture that we miss what is literally right in front of our faces.