Conscious Choice Seattle: Class of 2005

December 2005 | Evergreen Citizen

Class of 2005

By EM Staff

For two years, Evergreen Monthly has been redefining the concept of citizenship in this space. That’s why we have named artists, activists, businesspeople, filmmaker, Internet entrepreneurs, teachers, fashion leader, musicians and more as Evergreen Citizens. Here’s a look back at the Evergreen Citizen Class of 2005, as reported by Miryam Gordon, Andrew Mulholland and Bob Condor:

Vegetarians of Washington leader Stewart Rose enjoys telling the wonderful statistics of VegFest (www.vegfest2005.org): “We have more than 152,000 food samples total. There are 400 different kinds of food. About 7,000 individuals attend each March.

As a faculty member and environmental researcher at Antioch University Seattle’s Center for Creative Change, Kate Davies is lead author of a groundbreaking 2005 report showing that our state has the highest rate of breast cancer in the country—and that environmental toxins play a role. Davies found associations between those toxins and rates of asthma in children too. Visit www.iceh.org for more details about the research.

Pat Hughes is part of a dynamic staff at Seattle’s Center for Ethical Leadership. Her main role is to run the center’s “Gracious Space” program, which has won raves from all sorts of locals (visit www.ethicalleadership.org).

Steve Butcher wants corporate America to adopt the “not-just-for-profit” ethical business model. To underscore his point, Steve created a new business that exemplifies his ideals. Seattle-based Brown Paper Tickets (www.brownpapertickets.com) is a national ticketing agency where transparency is king.

Elise Miller has worked in the environmental health field for about 13 years—or just a few years shy of the original coining of the term environmental health. Her current focus is running the Freeland-based Institute for Children’s Environmental Health (www.iceh.org). ICEH co-sponsors a winter lecture series at Town Hall.

Once a mainstream mortgage broker, Christy Diamond has transformed into a mercury poisoning activist and filmmaker. She used her own money to create a documentary, making 2,500 copies. She brought 550 of them to the U.S. Congress (450 for the House and 100 for the Senate).

A five-year plan is a snap of the fingers to Chuck Pettis. His plan for Earth Sanctuary, a 72-acre parcel of land on south Whidbey Island, is significantly more long-term. Try 500 years. Earth Sanctuary is his giveback after making good money during the Internet boom years as a branding consultant.

When she moved to Seattle, Susan Partnow found spirituality could bind with her activism and vision. Her current project is Global Citizen Journey. In this venture, groups of citizen “diplomats” go to global hotspots to build a project with citizens of that country and, in the process, bring compassionate listening and conflict resolutions skills.

Rusty Thomas is a coordinator with the Freedom Project. The Project facilitates workshops on meditation and nonviolent communication in three Washington prisons and works to support “returnees” to society. To support this brand of citizenship, check, check out www.freedom-project.org.

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