Blog | WEC

Rick Dubrow (June 1, 2024)

Six years into my retirement, on 8-23-24, I met with Carl Weimer for a beer. It was time for me to explore dipping my toes back into local activism. Why the long break in the action?

Right after retiring, after helping to morph A-1 Builders into a worker-owned cooperative – A1DesignBuild -- I needed a third back surgery. Great start, eh? The good news was a very successful rehab.

Now ready to re-engage into local, progressive rabble rousing, I found myself so disillusioned about the state of the environment, and the likely success of further activism, that I insulated myself from the groups I had been so attached to: RE Sources; Sustainable Connections; Transition Whatcom; Futurewise Whatcom.

Over time, though, the nagging sense that I couldn’t stop trying to save the world kept growing and growing until, well, this growing sense began to surpass my continued disillusionment with renewed activism. But for 6 years I had been uninvolved, so how would I re-engage?

I decided to call Carl and ask him where I might be helpful. He had been the Executive Director of RE Sources while I was Board President, and our successful teamwork left an impression on me that has not wavered. There’s no person in this community I respect more.

“So, Carl, where would you suggest I reinsert myself if you were in charge?”

The beer flowed and so did this story…

Just before Covid striketh, Carl and Stan Snapp, an admirable, respected, retired, former City Council member, had been discussing the idea of tapping into the experience, success and wisdom of older, progressive locals. Where have they landed in retirement? What are they doing with themselves? Have they fallen to the wayside politically? Why not tap into their experience, contacts and wisdom?

Covid arrived and stuck a cork in Carl and Stan’s emerging idea. But now, with Covid predominantly in the rearview mirror, might the time be ripe to revisit this idea? We thought so, so Carl, Stan and I started meeting to discuss this further. It was October 30, 2023.

Why, we thought, would another organization be warranted, within a community so full of pre-existing, successful, progressive groups?

Here’s the answer that emerged… once retired, one need not seek re-election, or worry about losing one’s job, or threatening an advancement or pension, or answering to whomever. From my own perspective, while working as a local contractor, I needed to protect my brand so as to sell additional work, right? How far dare I go to speak truth to power if my actions, perhaps too aggressive, could threaten the health and wellbeing of my company?

That was the seed that germinated: find others who are no longer working, for the most part… others who had been embedded in local governance, local progressive activism, healthy and safe community. A bucket of individuals, yet to be identified, who are older, who were successful, proven and wise. Yes, experience takes time to simmer into such a brew, and yes, it shows. We’re old, and proud of it. For good reason.

For good.

The three of us decided to individually pen a list of our own local champions who fit this bill and might be interested in being part of such a group. And, to a person, we were convinced that the names on our list would be too busy, too immersed in retirement, in family, in travel, in the garden. We thought not a one would engage.

Wrong. Within about 48 hours everyone on our list who received our initial invitation unanimously responded: they would like to learn more about joining such a group. Further, almost everyone voiced something close to “…I have been feeling too far removed from local community since retiring, especially since Covid. Something like this may help to fill a void I’ve been sensing within.”

Our first gathering was on January 8, 2024. Ten of us. Rather quickly what emerged was our desire to focus on local, environmental issues. Hence the name “Whatcom Environmental Council.”

I write this in June of 2024. A few weeks ago we went public for the first time at a City of Bellingham City Council meeting, offering input on a rezone proposal in the Silver Beach neighborhood. We still have about 150 names on our potential “members” list, with more people contacting us all the time as word of the group gets out. Stay tuned while we try to decide how best to engage and unleash this pent-up knowledge, experience, and desire to make this community a better place.

Our time has come.