Layton Wakatsuki
Grocery Coordinator for West Seattle Store
Time at job: 25 years with one break, only a handful of others have been there as long.
Neighborhood: Broadview, near Carkeek Park

How do you commute? I bike commute quite a bit.

Who inspired your environmentalism? I grew up on a sugar plantation in Hawaii, so my whole childhood was close to nature. I lived on the edge of one of the villages, which were surrounded by acres and acres of sugarcane with the mountains beyond them. As children most of our time was spent outdoors exploring all over the plantation on foot or on bicycle, we would play and swim in the reservoirs. Hawaii is a very nature intense place, so I grew up in that environment. When I came to Seattle for the university I was amazed by all the evergreens. My first dream was to live in the forest. I remember I took a trip with my brother who was in architecture school, we went to the Olympic Peninsula to see an artist who lived in a moss covered cabin and that fascinated me. Later as an adult I took a drive to Eastern Washington and fell in love because it reminded me so much of the plantation, all the colors and the smell of the air, so I bought some property out there. In the high desert like that you can see what I like to call the bones of the land—nothing is hidden.

What’s one positive thing that encouraged you early on? What’s one negative thing?
There’s no one thing, on a day-to-day basis while riding my bike I’m fighting gas fumes. These days where there’s so much information around, what really impacts me is the fact that if you just think about it for a moment every aspect of our life and world is interconnected, because it’s all about basically natural resources. Everything we do as individuals, because our world is so small and interconnected, everything we do or do not do impacts our environment in some way. Me riding my bike instead of driving makes a difference.

When I go home to Hawaii nobody there has a recycling program, everything goes into the trash, and you just feel so helpless and it’s so frustrating. Hawaii is a small island, there’s nowhere for the trash to go to. We as Americans use 50-70% of the resources, we have a large intake and output. All those little things everyone does, this product or plastic bag or driving, it all makes such a difference.

What have you witnessed changing about the sustainable community in the last 5 years?
When I first joined up with PCC it was a group trying to take food commerce into their own hands, at that time organic was a new thing but a very important aspect of the business. There was, as far as I know, very little organic activity elsewhere. Over the last five years or so organic has boomed in the mainstream chain stores, purely on the basis of economics because it is the fastest growing sector. The more people who get into it the more supply is needed. I am quite certain that our little PCC 20 years ago had a large part to do with the organic movement. I liken it to Bill Gates and Paul Allen starting a business in a garage—look at Microsoft now. In that way PCC has fulfilled its mission, but now just because our population and demand on resources have grown organic is only one part—there’s farmland, plastic packaging, you can’t put your arms around the whole thing but I’m so proud of our organization because saving farmland is one of our missions. It’s called the PCC Farmland Trust: we’ve helped farmers to buy or lease acreages for organic crop or produce so those lands are saved from development. It’s done through staff and local donations, such as when customers bring in their own bag several cents are automatically put into the farmland fund. I find it so gratifying to work here because most companies just want to keep themselves in business, but the more we at PCC are successful as a business the more we can forward our missions. Instead of stockholders we have the environment—that’s who gains from our success in my mind.

What do you envision the world will be like in 10 years?
A person has to be optimistic, otherwise you throw up your hands. I’m inspired by Al Gore. Most people fade out of the limelight, but he believed so strongly he went on to do his books and movies, it’s awe inspiring. John Kerry and his wife also wrote a book where they talk about light bulbs and hybrids and steps people can take. I hope in five years the majority of people believe in global warming enough to make some changes in their lives, hopefully because it’s the right thing to do, or maybe it’s because gasoline is so expensive people just have to do it. In ten years I hope we are advanced enough to realize the things we’ve done with automobiles aren’t working, so we find alternatives.

What inspires you to keep going?
PCC is one of a few companies doing this, so we can inspire other companies to add to the movement.

Where do you get your information on the environment?
I listen to NPR a lot, the other really great source I find—believe it or not—is Vanity Fair. People know it as a celebrity tabloid but the editorial stance is so progressive, it’s a good balance of entertainment and good doers. Our newsletter The Sound Consumer has tid bits of useful information that you probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else—things like genetic engineering. I’m not even on the Internet and I have more than enough information—a person just has be aware.

How do you, in your own circles of family and friends, impart your sustainable practices?
I’m one of the few people who bicycle commute to work so I have a high profile that way, every time someone asks me about it I kind of get on my soapbox. I’m always talking to people about how they could walk or ride a bike and save on gas and cut down on their weight. Biking is as much mental as physical, you have to get up and you have to brave the weather. But it does have an effect, and some people have started walking or riding to work. Every little thing makes a difference.

What are 3 things you do to be green?
I use my car the bare minimum, I try to bicycle or walk whenever possible, and if you are really committed you can get a lot done. I consolidate trips when I do use my car. Day to day I use very little packaging, I have the smallest size garbage can and only put one fairly small bag of garbage out there—in part because of our wonderful city recycling program.

What do you think is the #1 thing people can do to be green?
Really consider your mode of transportation. Because we’re such a consumer society, don’t use plastic bags wherever you shop—the hardware store, the clothing store—everyplace you go there’s no reason you can’t use a backpack or tote bag. Our natural environment is such an amazing thing, you don’t have to be a scientist to realize that, but it’s going downhill. Wars occur over natural resources, and the possibilities for friction grow greater everyday, so every little thing we do makes a difference.

In the past we gauged the advancement of a society by the number of cars they had—in 10 years I hope we gauge a society by the number of bicycles they have.