Local Links

Transition Whatcom deeply values existing organizations and all that they contribute to community resilience. We hope to work closely with other groups and not reinvent the wheel where good work is already being done. Whatcom County is fortunate indeed to have so many groups doing such good and important work.

We will be working gradually to update this list and to provide actual links. If someone would like to volunteer to take this on, please email miles58@yahoo.com!

A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity (A W.I.S.H.) - An international nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide models and support for life sustaining activities that integrate solutions to poverty and the environment while fostering self-reliance.

Appliance Depot (formerly ReUse Works) - promotes a locally sustainable economy by tapping the waste stream to generate new economic activity. By extending the life of existing products, we save energy and reduce the need to consume virgin raw materials. We also keep local dollars circulating in the community.

Bellingham IONS - The Institute Of Noetic Sciences (IONS): a network of caring individuals from the larger Whatcom County community who support and inspire one another in our personal and collective search for and development of transformative values, deeper heart connection and conscious co-creation.

Bellingham Permaculture - A thriving and rapidly growing international grassroots movement, permaculture is being taught and practiced in every country on the planet, in both rural and urban environments. It is inspiring a new generation of visionary and capable leaders among our emerging sustainable cultures.

BUGS (Bellingham Urban Garden Syndicate) - BUGS is a support coalition of urban agriculturalists in the greater Bellingham district. We need your help and support as we hope to help and support the urban food movement here. Mission Statement: To promote, sustain, and advocate for urban agriculture in Bellingham through education, garden support, community action, and making local healthy food accessible.

Campus Community Coalition - Our mission is to promote working relationships and communication between the campus and community by striving to enhance shared responsibility, prevent and address problems related to student alcohol abuse, and contribute to the health and safety of the entire community. The Neighborhood Education work group is responsible for proposing, developing, editing, reviewing, and updating all print and promotional materials designed for distribution to students living in residential neighborhoods. Examples of print and promotional materials include: (a) Think Locally-Act Neighborly doorknockers, (b) More Than 101 Things to Do While at WWU, and (c) Off Campus Life: A Resource for Western Students.

Center for Expressive Arts and Experiential Education - CEAEE is a community inspired family friendly creative space located in the heart of downtown Bellingham. CEAEE promotes Art, Recreation & Educational activity by offering a variety of classes, workshops and events for all ages. Our center is a quiet safe welcoming space available for public and private functions. Artists and Teachers are encouraged to participate in our ongoing programs that benefit Whatcom Co. CEAEE rents space to community minded organizations and individuals with a discount for non profits. We are devoted to providing an affordable rental that is available to the public. We encourage rentals with an educational purpose. We want our presence in Bellingham to help bring the community together.

The Center for Local Self-Reliance - The Center for Local Self-Reliance (CLSR) teaches gardening, food preservation, seed saving, medicinal plant preparation, and other self reliance skills. We are Bellingham neighbors, builders, gardeners, business owners, and educators who care about our community and see opportunity at the Caretaker’s House.

Chuckanut Park District - A Park District encompassing the Chuckanut Mountains would serve as a foundation for protecting theis unique mountain to sea corridor for people, wildlife and future generations. It will collaborate with other organizations to leverage resources and develop strategies for protection and management.

Common Threads Farm - At Common Threads Farm, we offer farm based programs designed to foster wonder, curiousity, and thoughtful engagement in sustainable food and energy.

Community Car Share of Bellingham - We will feature Bio-diesel and hybrid vehicles. Members will be able to reserve them by the hour or day on-line and pick them up conveniently near the downtown Bellingham bus depot. Prices will include gas, insurance, and parking. Our mission is to provide Members with clean, reliable, convenient motor vehicle transportation while encouraging them to use alternative and public transportation, reduce their number of car trips, and even get rid of your personal vehicle altogether!

Community Food Co-op - Bellingham’s natural grocer. Part of the mission of the Co-op is to serve our community. We do this through a variety of means, including offering classes, sponsoring events, and making donations to organizations that do good in the community. While the Co-op is sustained by the community, our values state that we exist to support and build community by cultivating connections within the Co-op itself and in Whatcom County. We want to be a part of creating a sustainable world by helping support one another.

Community to Community Development - Community to Community Development is a women-led, place based, grassroots organization working for a just society and healthy communities. We are committed to systemic change and to creating strategic alliances that strengthen local and global movements towards social, economic and environmental justice. We accomplish this, using inclusive strategies to: - Empower under-represented peoples to have an equal voice in decision making processes - Develop cross-cultural awareness - Restore justice to our food, land and cultural practices - Promote community relationships towards self-reliance.

Conservation Northwest - Based in Bellingham, Washington, Conservation Northwest (formerly Northwest Ecosystem Alliance) was founded in 1988 and now has over 6,000 member households. In the last decade, Conservation Northwest has worked to maintain the ecological integrity of the Northwest's wildlands, combining organizing, media and science skills with innovative strategy and field work. Along with protecting countless acres of forestland, Conservation Northwest has helped protect endangered and threatened species such as the lynx, gray wolf, grizzly bear, and salmon. Our knack for combining science with passion compels us to dream big and work toward restoring the grand American wilderness that once was. We imagine rivers rich in wild steelhead and salmon, wolves and grizzlies roaming the Cascades, and big trees returning on the foothills–for the benefit of future generations.

Fertile Ground - We are people who share a commitment to restoring balance to the ecosystems in which we live and on which we depend for our survival. Although we recognize that human civilization has wreaked havoc upon the earth, we also believe that we have the ability, as our ancestors did, to live in ways where our lives enhance these natural systems.

Fourth Corner Exchange - A local currency working to foster goods and service exchange on the community level. Your talents; your energy; your community.

Fourth Corner Slow Foods - Bellingham, Washington is proud to have a strong convivium involving a community of like-minded individuals and businesses. Our events have ranged from farmers market cooking demonstrations to an ice cream social, a clam-bake and a community sponsored Harvest Dinner to thank our hardworking farmers. Fourth Corner Slow Food fundraising currently supports Whatcom Farm Friends and community education programs.

Friends of the Trees Society - Dedicated to doubling the world's forests. This involves doubling the area covered by trees; doubling the number of trees; and doubling the weight of the world's forest biomass. Friends of the Trees Society's mission is to inspire, enable, educate, and assist people to live in harmony with forests and trees. The Society endeavors to publish positive visions of a sustainable world and strategies to get there. There are solutions to world deforestation and the Society describes them through publications, courses, and events.

Futurewise Whatcom - Actively involved in shaping a smart future for the county by working to promote healthy communities and cities while protecting farmland, forests and shorelines today and for future generations. Futurewise Whatcom engages in growth management issues as an advocate for smart growth policies, focusing on land use policy changes through local governments, especially Whatcom County.

Growing Washington - A project-based community organization that seeks to exclude no single Washingtonian. Growing Washington strives to continuously enrich and improve the lives of all Washingtonians by empowering communities to work together toward mutual goals and by strengthening the sense of connectedness between individuals and between diverse groups. Growing Washington focuses on four program areas to fulfill this mission: Sustainable Agriculture Program; Economic and Societal Health Program; Environmental and Cultural Health Program; and Doing the Right Thing.

Just Food - Centered in Whatcom County, Just Food (under the Growing Washington umbrella) cultivates sponsors in our community to support local agriculture and then redistributes fresh local food to people of low-income and those in homeless/rehabilitation shelters. With local resources pooled together, we simultaneously support local agriculture by providing new and profitable markets for local farms and offer a complete harvest season of food for families and individuals in need!

Lake Whatcom.org - Two of Twenty One Goals include: 1) To recognize Lake Whatcom and its watershed as the major drinking-water reservoir for the County and develop public and private management principles for the lake and watershed consistent with a drinking water reservoir environment. Affirm this goal by establishing the name: Lake Whatcom Reservoir. 2) To protect, preserve and enhance water quality and manage water quantity to ensure long-term sustainable supplies for a variety of uses, with priority placed on domestic water supply. Management programs and actions will be made in recognition of existing contractual agreements and potential for review and renegotiation in light of these goals.

A New World Rising - There are far more reasons for hope than for despair. Instead of just discussing the conditions and challenges of the world we at ANWR have decided to create a network of those who want to actually do something positive and tangible to make a difference. We believe that together, we can get involved and actively participate in the creation of a peaceful and brilliant future for all people. ANWR is committed to just such a future. Inspired by numerous progressive organizations and individuals, this project has two key areas of focus: Provide information and resources to help us all become more: 1. Empowered: mind, body and soul. 2. Personally inspired towards health, happiness and personal enlightenment. Our next goal is to provide the information and resources to help us: 1. Create stronger, healthier, and more enlightened communities. 2. Create ongoing support and networking opportunities for individuals and groups. 3. Bring new and progressive ideas to public awareness.

North Cascades Institute (NCI) - A nonprofit educational organization dedicated to increasing understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. It is committed to creating a sense of wonder and place through education about natural and cultural environments, stewardship and sustainable communities. Its primary focus is field-based, environmental education for children and adults. NCI's programs take place throughout the North Cascades - from the inland waters of Puget Sound to the Columbia River Basin. This diverse land provides an ideal natural classroom. Incorporated in 1986, NCI is dedicated to helping people learn about, appreciate and care for the land and all its inhabitants. NCI is committed to offering the best in environmental education. Its adult programs are sustained by tuition, the children's programs depend upon public support. It is NCI's belief that ecological literacy is the right of every child, not just those who can afford it. Scholarships and special initiatives benefit diverse audiences, including minority and low-income individuals.

Northwest Activism.com - Your no frills, easy and convenient site to better the world. We are not officially connected to any political parties. We pledge to make common cause with the people of the world to bring about justice, freedom, and peace. Another world is possible. And we pledge to make it real.

Northwest Environment Watch - NEW is an independent, not-for-profit research and communication center based in Seattle. NEW's mission is to promote a sustainable economy and way of life in the Pacific Northwest. We do this in three ways: 1) We monitor the Northwest's progress toward a sustainable economy and way of life with the Cascadia Scorecard, an index of seven key trends critical to the future of the Northwest. 2) We identify the most important systemic solutions for the region: high-leverage changes that could redirect business as usual to more sustainable ends, such as compact urban development, tax shifting, and pay-by-the-mile car insurance that rewards consumers for driving less. 3) And we make our research, books, maps, and commentary widely available to the Northwest’s engaged citizens, media, and leaders, so that they can explore and help build the case for sustainability in their communities.

Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association - Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) is a community–based nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring sustainable wild salmon runs in Whatcom County.

The Outback (Fairhaven College) - the Outdoor Experiential Learning Site provides an outdoor learning laboratory that offers the Western Washington University and greater Bellingham communities a unique natural environment to study interdisciplinary issues of concern to everyone: environmental education, applied human ecology, natural resource planning and use, sustainable development, appropriate agriculture, spiritual revitalization, and aesthetic value.

People for Lake Whatcom - A volunteer organization concerned about the current water quality of the Lake Whatcom Reservoir and its long-term viability as Bellingham's drinking water source. We advocate for a comprehensive program that addresses land use issues, landowner property rights, stormwater management, education, scientific study, residential stewardship and public awareness.

Planning & Community Development - COB - Mission: To guide community growth and development in a manner that protects environmental resources, promotes distinctive neighborhoods and a healthy downtown and involves citizens in the decisions that affect them. Planning: Public Notices - Planning notices for the whole City of Bellingham, labeled by neighborhood. It's a great way to keep up on proposed development! Hooray for the City for making it easier to be an informed and active citizen.

The Power of Hope - Youth empowerment through the arts. The Power of Hope unleashes the positive potential of youth through arts-centered intergenerational and multicultural learning programs that value self-awareness, leadership, community and social change.

RE Sources for Sustainable Communities - Empowers children and adults in the Pacific northwest region to do all we can to protect our home. By providing key information, citizen trainings and workshops, and volunteer-led field programs, RE Sources helps community members actively safeguard our marine waters, rivers, lakes, beaches and air. Vision: Healthy, prosperous communities, living in balance with the natural world. Mission: RE Sources promotes sustainable communities through recycling, education, advocacy, and conservation of natural resources.

The RE-Store - The RE Store serves the greater Puget Sound region with used building materials and mobile removal services. Two retail stores in Seattle and Bellingham offer an economical, green-building option for remodeling supplies. Clean, efficient work crews visit job sites, homes, and businesses to recover a wide variety of quality items. Workshops, recycled art events, and celebrations connect you with The RE Store, our communities, and partners throughout the region.

Responsible Development! - RD! is a non-profit group of local volunteers who are working to ensure responsible and appropriate development in our city and urban growth areas. RD! strives to prevent or minimize the adverse environmental impacts of large developments which are not being adequately protected by existing land-use policies, planning, and related city ordinances. RD! consists of a five-member Steering Committee, 11-member Advisory Board, several work groups, hundreds of active volunteers, and thousands of other supporters. The mission of RD! is to preserve the high quality of life that defines Bellingham. We are not antigrowth, but will take pro-active steps to ensure responsible development within our community as our population grows. Included in our mission are active efforts to support neighborhood-based planning; to incorporate public input into the Comprehensive Plan; to ensure that significant recreational lands, natural corridors, and wildlife habitat areas are preserved; to acquire and maintain public parks, trails and natural open-space throughout our city; and to require accountability from our city officials.

River Farm - an 85 acre homestead on the South Fork of the Nooksack River. It is one of five properties held in Washington by the nonprofit Evergreen Land Trust. The stewards of River Farm work to promote sustainable stewardship that protects the environment and vitalize rural communities.

Small Potatoes Gleaning Project - Mission: To contribute to the development of a community food system, focusing on equitable food distribution through gleaning, market retrievals, educational outreach and promoting food self- reliance choices.

Students For Renewable Energy - A Western Washington University Student Club that is working to support the adoption of renewable energy technologies at Western, in the community, and in the world at large.

Sustainable Bellingham - Vision (Where we want to go): To promote and participate in the co-creation of sustainable community in Bellingham and the surrounding bioregion, in partnership with other groups and individuals. Mission (How to get there): To reach the goal of Sustainability, we advocate for the strategy of Relocalization - becoming self and community-reliant (not self-sufficient) at the local level and rebuilding communities based on the local production of food, energy, and goods as well as the relocalization of governance and culture. Relocalization includes a firm commitment to reducing consumption and improving environmental and social conditions.
Be sure to sign up to the SB weekly Community Announcements email list to receive calendar listings of upcoming sustainability related events in our community, plus recommended reading links for the week.

SCALLOPS: Sustainable Communities ALL Over Puget Sound Driving Sustainable Change through Community-to-Community Organizing. SCALLOPS was founded in 2007 as a nonprofit network in order to advance regional sustainability by providing opportunities for area sustainability groups to build relationships, share resources, and educate each other on the successes and challenges of pioneering grassroots change at the community level. Whatcom County members of SCALLOPS currently include Transition Whatcom and Sustainable Bellingham.

Sustainable Connections - Our Mission: Sustainable Connections is a business network establishing and supporting a local living economy that sustains itself, our community and a healthy environment. Our Vision: We envision sustainable business practices that lead to a healthy environment, meaningful employment, strong communities and buying local first as commonplace in our region and a model for the rest of the world. All of our members are local and independently owned businesses, organizations and supportive individuals. Our members commit to improving specific business practices benefiting our community, economy, environment and workplaces. Under the Sustainable Connections umbrella are the following programs: * Think Local - Sustainable Connections supports our members in their efforts to be stewards of our region and in turn, we ask our community to be supportive of our local, independently owned businesses. Think Local. Buy Local. Be Local. * Green Building and Sustainable Design Program - Promoting healthy, durable, efficient, and environmentally responsible homes, neighborhoods and workplaces through education, technical assistance and advocacy. * Food & Farming - Works to support and further develop a vibrant and sustainable local farm community in Whatcom County.

Sustainable Building Centre - Staffed by sustainable building professionals, Vancouver’s Sustainable Building Centre opened Saturday March 25, 2006 at 1575 Johnston Street in the heart of Granville Island, as a destination for inspiration, advice and practical problem-solving for builders and the public. The Sustainable Building Centre is an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas that will shape the future of development.

The Solutions Project - The Solutions Project is a comprehensive, community-building process that shares our collective wisdom and builds the skills we need to create a truly sustainable community. Each month there is a common focus on a particular theme.

The Sound Essence Project - The Sound Essence Project, a Washington State Nonprofit Corporation, is a collaborative international gathering of people with the intention to create a cross cultural network of resources in an environment of mutual learning with an emphasis on cultural sustainability. Through the confluence of our respective wisdom's, we hope to converge traditional practices with sustainable ways of life to create a profound partnership which expands world community and peace through education, herbal medicine, sound, color, and cultural communion.

Sushi Tree Collective - Sushi Tree Collective is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to sustainable community development. We are based in Bellingham. We have a number of projects and events: Bellingham Alternative Library, Super Sexy Sustainable Skill Shares, Bellingham Permaculture.

The Village Design Institute - VDI was founded for the purpose of creating, organizing, and disseminating a scientific, multi-disciplinary knowledge resource base intended for promoting and facilitating the design and implementation of sustainable human settlements for the 21st century. A fundamental working premise at VDI - and thus the namesake - is that the designing of truly sustainable settlements is most effectively conceived and accomplished at village-scale, with all that implies. At VDI, we believe that the emerging vision of the ‘ecovillage’ is the obvious solution to the ecological, economic, cultural, and spiritual challenges facing humanity at this dawning of a new millennium.

Whatcom Community Foundation - The Whatcom Community Foundation is a public charitable organization created to enrich the quality of life for all residents of Whatcom County, Washington. We are both a grantmaker and a vehicle for donors to accomplish their philanthropic dreams. Our Mission: Enhancing philanthropy to strengthen Whatcom County by linking people who care with causes that matter

Whatcom Farm Friends - Originally formed as part of the Whatcom County Agriculture Preservation Committee, Farm Friends is now an independent, non-profit organization. It's sole purpose is to help preserve agriculture in Whatcom County. To do so, Farm Friends is enlisting the help of non-farmers. Farmers alone can't preserve agriculture for the future. And since we all benefit from the many ways farming contributes to our way of life, non-farmers are invited to help support the future of farming.

Whatcom Human Rights Task Force - Joining Hands Against Hate. The WHRTF organized to help monitor, respond to and prevent acts of malicious harassment against targeted groups or individuals. It is the belief of the WHRTF that intolerance, whether or not it is coupled with acts of aggression, is unacceptable in our communities and in our nation. The Task Force early on made commitments - to be allies with the many different parts of our county and the organizations that represent them; to educate the community on diversity and multi-culturalism; to be an anti-racist organization.

Whatcom Information Network (WIN) - An on-line directory of over 2000 clubs, organizations, and agencies that provide services to residents of Whatcom County. All kinds of organizations are in WIN. See below for a list of the type of organizations that are included. The directory is maintained by the Bellingham Public Library.

Whatcom Network for Compassionate Communication - Imagine connecting with the human spirit in each person in any situation. Imagine interacting with others in a way that allows everyone's needs to be equally valued. Imagine creating organizations and life-serving systems responsive to our needs and the needs of our environment. Locally people have come together to form the Whatcom Network for Compassionaate Communication organization. We have a powerful vision of what NVC can do in our own lives. Seeing this for ourselves, we are putting our energies together in order to move to another plane of connection. Our vision includes presenting NVC at no charge to all who want training-- individuals, schools and organizations. Doing so will provide a foundation of cooperation for the entire community. NVC is a language of emotional literacy and is remarkable because only one person in an exchange needs to be fluent. With enough skill it can be used in virtually any situation.

Whatcom Nonprofits - A listing and description for all known local Nonprofits and Associations. Check out our Whatcom Community Calendar.

Whatcom Peace & Justice Center - Committed to putting our money where our mouths are in support of peace and justice activism. With nearly 50% of our federal income tax dollars spent on military-related expenditures, we felt the need to create a space to further our vision of another world that affirms peace, nonviolence, and socio-economic justice. The Center is supported by the financial gifts and talents of over 500 county residents, businesses, faith communities and other local organizations. Join us in raising our voice for peace and justice!

Whatcom Smart Trips - Walk, bike, share a ride, or ride the bus. Make a difference anywhere you go.When you make Smart Trips, you accomplish a lot more than getting to your destination. You help create a clean, healthy, and vibrant community in Whatcom County. Log your Smart Trips to win prizes.

Whatcom Volunteer Center - Has served as the "Heart and Hands" of the community for over 30 years by channeling the goodwill and talent of volunteers of all ages into 350 nonprofits, schools, government, and healthcare organizations to meet community needs. The Volunteer Center recruits and refers volunteers to partner agencies and manages a database of nearly 3,000 volunteers' skills and interests.

Whatcom Watch - A monthly grassroots environmental newspaper focusing on local politics, environmental news, and community events for Whatcom County, Washington.

WWU - Teaching for a Positive Future - a pilot project to help us learn ways to infuse information about sustainability into the preparation of teachers and other education and human services professionals. The project provides a variety of professional development activities for teacher education faculty and pre-service teachers. We also conduct research related to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that contribute to development of sustainability literate education professionals.