Eco - Local Eco News

POSTED: Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2009

Bellingham hydrologist says don't pollute bathtub Earth

Holding a bachelor's degree in geologic engineering and a master's in hydrogeology, Llyn Doremus knows how water works.

"We live in a huge bathtub called Earth, (more than) 75 percent of which is covered by water," she says. "We can't damage the waters of our planet without ultimately damaging that 70 percent of ourselves that is made up of water."

Doremus is group chairwoman for the Sierra Club Cascade Chapter's Mt. Baker Group and works closely with many environmental organizations such as People for Puget Sound, Chuckanut Conservancy and North Cascades Audubon Society. She and her husband, Kelvin, recycle, hang-dry laundry and are currently building a backyard chicken coop.

"I believe that the primary factor contributing to our overly large footprint on Earth is the massive and disproportionate consumption rate that we maintain in this country," she says. "We are having impacts on the entire world through our consumption patterns (of which) we have no understanding."

ABOUT LLYN DOREMUS

Age: 53.

Residence: Bellingham.

Occupation: Hydrologist, Nooksack Indian Tribe.

Mode of transport: Subaru Outback.

Average fuel bill: $40 a month.

Eco-cheat: Driving a car.

Turning point: First hike in teenage years "hooked me into a completely different awareness of the world around me."

First step: Planting trees on Earth Day in 1972.

Favorite green Web site: coastwatchsociety.org.

Pet peeve: "Politico-speak or spin that turns information into misinformation."

Personal eco victory: "Helping prevent groundwater pumping from aquifers supplying springs on the south wall of the Grand Canyon."

BEST TIP

"Don't use a machine to do a job you can do by hand. It helps reduce energy consumption, carbon loading to the atmosphere and has the personal benefit of providing exercise."