“You need to move to Vashon!”

I was sitting in the Roasterie on my first visit to Vashon, drinking coffee with a former professor I hadn’t seen for 40 years. We were collaborating on a radical new building system that would be green, resilient and low cost. He continued, “Vashon is full of interesting people doing big things.”

By coincidence, four months later I found myself at a table in The Hardware Store with a different colleague. We were talking about a scheme to electrify BNSF’s Northern Transcon — the rail line that connects Seattle and Chicago — and power it with renewable energy. The concept is now described in a book titled “Solutionary Rail.”

Before we had finished off the pitcher of Lucille, I heard those familiar words: “You need to move to Vashon.” After a hike up Shingle Mill Creek that afternoon, I was sold on Vashon, and my quest for island housing began. And once I was settled here, it took no time at all to find more of those “interesting people doing big things.”

A fledgling outfit called Vashon Climate Action Group was forming. Their first project was to take on one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the state, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and put it on a path to become carbon-free. The opportunities for doing so were three upcoming public hearings before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC).

It had come as news to me that when you flip a light switch on Vashon, you’re telling a coal plant in Colstrip, Montana to throttle up and spew carbon dioxide and soot into the atmosphere. PSE’s power is about 60 percent fossil-fuel based. Yes, you can sign up for PSE’s green power, which is helpful. But it’s a little like 30 years ago when you asked for the nonsmoking section of a restaurant. The server would just bring a little “Thanks for not smoking!” sign for your table. The transformational changes now needed to stabilize climate must come through collective political action, not just individual behavior.

I don’t need to remind Vashonites that mitigating global warming is an uphill struggle or that climate changes are real and imminent. But giving up on climate would be the practical equivalent of climate-change denial. A Yale study found the highest support for climate action in the nation right here in our own 7th Congressional District. If Vashon won’t step up to this, who will?

PSE’s 20-year plan calls for our greenhouse-gas emissions to be as high in 2037 as today.

Climate science tells us we need to be carbon-free by then. If PSE has its way, Maury becomes a real island again. More importantly, 20 million Bangladeshis lose their homes.

Some have suggested we leave PSE, as Jefferson County has done, and form a public utility district (PUD) that reflect our values. I like the idea, but it would solve only 1 percent of the problem, leaving the remaining 99 percent of PSE ratepayers to deal with Colstrip cleanup and PSE’s misguided plans for additional fossil-fuel infrastructure.

Please understand, I love the PSE lineworkers who come out to my house to restore power every time the wind blows. So too the employee who appears magically when I call PSE and utter the words “gas leak.” It’s PSE’s top management and owner — Australian and Canadian investors — who now need our adult supervision.

Last July in Bellevue, a bus-load of us Vashonites dominated the first UTC public hearing with cogent, heart-felt testimony. At the second hearing in Olympia, UTC Chairman Danner, began, “Let’s start with people from Vashon,” noting some might have to leave to catch a ferry home.

My name was called first. I managed to stumble through my two-minutes of dry and technical testimony, lowering the bar for all who followed.

The third and most important UTC public hearing takes place next Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Renton. (See tinyurl.com/utchearing for details). You too can testify. Our message is simple: Close Colstrip ASAP and replace it with renewables. If you decide to testify, be nice. I believe our three UTC Commissioners are fair-minded citizens acting in the best tradition of public service.

Please join me and your other Vashon neighbors at the rally and hearing. We need a show of strength. We’re Vashon! We have a reputation to uphold. We’re “the little island that could.”

— Rob Briggs is a retired research scientist, licensed architect, and member of Vashon Climate Action Group.