From the editor - Truth of land and water

Of all the true stories we need to hear, the one of the fragility and failing of the fishes of the Salish Sea is one of the most important and yet faintest.

For fifteen weeks this fall, KNKX, public radio from Seattle, brought a variety of stories to us as they reflected on their “Return to the Salish Sea.” We can’t say we don’t know.

Seventy-eight orcas and consistently plummeting salmon stocks are not just numbers signaling a wakeup call. They are a countdown to a disaster.

A church friend told me that a fundraising consultant teaches that a person’s initial gift is one tenth of their potential giving. It is likely that our commitment to saving – not protecting, but saving – the Salish Sea has to be ramped up by a factor of ten. And not just this year, but every year, year in and year out. Some suggest closing the salmon fisheries to all for a decade: That’s two breeding cycles. What a great way to bring Native and non-native fishers together, though it might be to skewer such an outlandish proposal. And yet, at some point, that may become the consensus decision.

It is likely that for the rest of our lives we have no choice. Year in and year out for this generation and the next, for our own survival, we have to screw up the courage to boldly go where no one has gone before.

This is the only way to live and prove the example, being Justice League heroes to our children and our children’s children.

And, no super powers: merely will, determination and follow through, year after year of perserverance moving us from our present course.