From late August to early December Audubon Washington brought on organizers from Green Corps to build membership capacity and campaign support in Snohomish and Pierce Counties. Their goal was to assist our efforts in expanding our membership, identifying volunteer leaders for our clean transportation field work, and connect Audubon’s mission with local community groups. 

Josh Swift, who worked out of the City of Snohomish, was a recent graduate from Western Ontario University where he studied Geography, Environment, and Health. Shasta Kaul, who organized in Tacoma, got her Masters degree in social science from the University of Chicago.

Together they lent their invaluable help to many of our priorities including our annual chapter assembly, the Survival By Degrees rollout, and bringing Audubon’s message to local civic groups, schools, and businesses. They also did their own independent community organizing around clean transportation in some of our most crucial districts.

Shasta and Josh got over 2,000 new members signed up through a clean fuel standard petition drive, and trained over 2 dozen local volunteer leaders. They each organized multiple volunteer training events and discussion panels from local leaders, working closely with traditional allies as well as new recruits looking to make an impact in their community. Finally they got more than 50 businesses to come out in support of a statewide and regional clean fuel standard!

They learned a lot in a short amount of time and earned the respect of clean energy advocates everywhere for their tireless work in often difficult regions. They will be greatly missed but Audubon Washington will be stronger because of them!