The high winds, snow and power outages that have battered Whidbey and Camano islands this winter are a wake-up call, said Janet Hall of WSU Extension – Island County. The winter of 2006-07 may not be just an “off year” but a taste of more unsettled years to come as our climate adjusts to global warming.

“It’s not only scientists now but citizens who see the problem,” Hall said. “More and more people want to know why it’s happening, how to prepare and how to help.”

Many of the answers can be found in WSU Extension’s Waste Wise training. The popular, month-long course is offered free of charge, one evening a month, each spring on Whidbey and Camano islands.

This year’s Whidbey classes will be held Wednesdays, April 4, 11, 18 and 25, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland. To enroll, call Hall at WSU Extension, 360-678-7974 or e-mail her at

halljn@wsu.edu.

For years, Waste Wise training has focused on household recycling, composting and sustainable living. Now the training is growing broader to teach strategies to become more carbon-neutral.

“Much of what we do every day releases carbon into the atmosphere,” Hall pointed out. “Carbon emissions add to global warming. By understanding the sources of carbon emissions, we can make personal choices to reduce or offset them.”

Household recycling is a good example.

“By recycling half of our household waste at home we can each save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. And since recycled paper requires only 10 to 30 percent as much energy to manufacture, it makes sense to buy recycled paper products.” She added that by avoiding heavily-packaged goods, homeowners can reduce their garbage by

10 percent and save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide.

More and more people are consciously down-sizing or making changes in their lifestyle that value quality of life rather than quantity of possessions. “Recycling is good and we should all practice it. But it’s even better if we can learn strategies to consume less and generate less household garbage and fewer discards.”

These and many other strategies will be discussed in this year’s Waste Wise classes.

“Nobody expects perfection,” Hall said. “Waste Wise is not about being perfect — it’s about sharing knowledge, exploring ideas and the excitement of learning.”