EnviroIssues celebrates 18 years of business with the addition of new staff. Susan Hayman joins us as a project manager in Boise, Idaho and will be facilitating the 31-member Hanford Advisory Board. Chris Morse joins our team as our first Chief Technology Officer after working with us on projects for over four years.

We are also pleased to welcome Associates Heidi Sowell, and Vivian Shin; Project Coordinators Laura Dye, Diann Strom, Kristin Dean, Erin Pittenger, John Chaney, Lisa Timmerman, and Maurice Hines; and our summer interns Ethan Bancroft, Alissa VandenBerghe, Jamie Stroble, and Catherine Kilbane.

Cheryl Ellsworth, a Senior Project Manager at EnviroIssues, recently served as the outreach committee co-chair for Seeds of Compassion. This five-day event welcomed His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama to Seattle to participate in a dialogue with the public, leading educators, researchers and policy makers surrounding the issues of teaching compassion in early learning.

Targeting her outreach to schools, community organizations, early learning institutions and faith based organizations, Cheryl was able to distribute over 28,000 group tickets for the main event held in Qwest Field. As she reflects on her experience Cheryl is struck by the promise for continued action in the community. "One community leader told us that Seeds of Compassion brought together neighbors who don’t always sit together. Over the last several months trusting relationships have been built among these communities. Our dream is to continue to work together to create a more compassionate world for our children."

In addition to Cheryl’s role as outreach committee co-chair, five EnviroIssues employees, Diane Adams, Penny Mabie, Rebecca Sadinsky, Pat Serie and Sarah Brandt, volunteered to facilitate small group dialogue sessions using an innovative tool to quickly consolidate and summarize participant value statements. EnviroIssues was honored to donate some of our time and services to this historic event. We look forward to finding new ways to help keep the conversation going.

For more information about Seeds of Compassion and to watch web casts of the event click on the link provided.

EnviroIssues is proud to be a part of Seattle’s Climate Partnership. The Partnership was created in 2005 in response to the Kyoto Protocol and Mayor Nickel’s Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection. In joining the Seattle Climate Partnership, EnviroIssues is committed to taking actions that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. As the 79th firm to join the Partnership, EnviroIssues seeks to encourage other area businesses to help reduce our collective footprint and uncover new ways to protect Puget Sound’s natural resources.

Learn how you can make a difference and view a complete list of area businesses that have signed the Seattle Climate Partnership agreement.

EnviroIssues is always looking for new ways to present complex information to the public. We recently rolled out a new tool to help clients share their message in an engaging and clear way during open houses. Instead of making a presentation only once during a public event, our team developed a narrated presentation to help bring the topic to life throughout a meeting. This tool has been used for clients with diverse messages ranging from a new central maintenance facility in Pierce County to the SR 99 Aurora Bridge suicide prevention fence. Take a look at this exciting new tool!

EnviroIssues worked closely with Sound Transit to develop a new web site to communicate the transit agency’s plans for regional transit expansion. Our team quickly developed user friendly navigation, informative content and interactive materials to help engage the public and gather feedback. Take a look at the new site: http://future.soundtransit.org/