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.

Farmer’s Market Events

15th anniversary of the University District Farmers Market
Watch for special events and activities this summer, and join us in celebrating 15 years of beautiful fresh food from local farms.
Sat 9am-2pm, Year-round
Corner of 50th and University Way NE, in the University Heights lot

Opening Day at Broadway Sunday Farmer’s Market
Celebrate the start of another delicious season of fresh produce from local farms!  Get many kinds of produce and products from Washington state family farms and small food businesses.
May 11, 2008 from 11am-3pm
10th Ave E and E Thomas, behind the Broadway B of A on Capitol Hill

Are you tired of hearing about electronics recycling yet? It's been getting plenty of attention the past couple years. The media constantly runs stories about how many old computers and other electronics are piling up across the country, and all the toxics in them. But don't tune out, even if it seems like old news - there's still a lot to say, and do, about this problem, and there have been a multitude of new developments lately.

Chris James, Chief Farming Officer of Fresh Earth Farms in EcoMetro cities Minneapolis/St Paul, offers readers this recipe for later in the summer, when all the ingredients will be ready at the same time.

On Friday, May 2, Nau announced that "due to crisis in the capital markets" the company was unable to obtain enough funds to move forward. They did it with their typical charm, even nabbing the best headline, "Goodbye for Nau" for their press release. Through their 5% donation program, Nau donated $223,000 to non-profits in just under one year of business. That's an admirable achievement for a little company struggling to stay afloat.

I covered Nau twice before they launched, first for Ultra PDX in November 06' and later for Plenty Magazine, so this is the death of one of my pet companies. The offices were buzzing with energy back then, and the people could not have been nicer or more enthusiastic. They were heavy hitters too, coming from years of experience at places like Patagonia and Nike. So, what went wrong? At the risk of kicking Nau while it's down, I saw this coming.

Seattle’s winter 2008 has been too long, too gray, and too cold for this transplanted soul. But one day of sunshine can erase the memories of the drab and dreary days past and induce a euphoric state of optimism.

Saturday was just that sort of day as I left home for a romp in the Washington Arboretum Annual Plant Sale. Gazing across the lawn, I noticed a soft blurry blanket of white dandelion fluff hovering six inches above most of my lawn. As I backed out of the driveway I noticed more dandelion foam cresting over the front slope. I confess I’ve been harboring thoughts of chemical weed killers. The weed mass being so much bigger than my time and energy makes the promise of quick weed eradication tempting.  “Darn, I’ll have to deal with that as soon as I return”, I thought .

A planet-friendly trend appears to be taking off around some new thinking in how we use energy.

There are many activities from manufacturing steel to storing data on computer servers that require significant electricity or other power and generate heat as a byproduct. Until recently, much of that heat was considered a problem to get rid of. Data centers use air conditioning to cool server rooms and the furnaces of a steel plant are vented after melting the metal. Now, some organizations are recognizing how that heat can be put to additional use.

On April 12th, I woke up early with the bubble of excitement that only comes when I know I’m getting 

free samples. It was the morning of the Seattle Green Festival and I was determined to get there early, 

before the crowds.I looked over at my snoring boyfriend, on his back with his mouth hanging open catching flies. The previous night I had asked him if he wanted to attend the festival with me and ended up getting a look that plainly said, “is-this-one-of-questions-where-if-i-don’t-go-you’ll-be-offended-and-hold-it-against-me-for-a-week?”

Timidly, he answered, “not really, but if you really, really want me to….” To which I simply stated, “never mind.”

I’d have more fun on my own anyways.

On Earth Day, the Seattle Mariners are set to host the first carbon-neutral baseball game in major league history.

The Mariners are working with (shameless plug) my employer --Seattle City Light-- and the utility’s Green Up program to power Safeco Field with wind energy all day April 22. Additionally, the team is purchasing carbon offsets for all its travel and operations that day while also promoting waste reduction and recycling.