Profile: Shallan Dawson

When Shallan Dawson was 10, she received the book, “101 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet.” She credits the small book with shifting her perspective about the earth. “I started reading things to my parents, and we made small changes—turning off the water when brushing teeth,” she said. After high school graduation, Dawson spent time in Central America, where environmental degradation is everywhere. The next obvious choice to her was to earn a degree in environmental science and “get to work.” This interest and passion took her to the University of Idaho, and still continues for the 32-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident who is involved in several local environmental, service and community projects, including a leadership role with the Gaia Institute and acting as strategic coordinator for this year’s Sustainable September Spokane. What’s the Gaia Institute and what do you do there? Gaia is Spokane’s holistic family law firm with the philosophy of “do no harm” legal representation. This means that we will work with clients that are transitioning their family in a compassionate way and within the financial means they can afford. We also try to give them more support than “this is the law” and “sign here.” We have a Peaceful Communication class once a month, offer meditation twice weekly and hope to have yoga classes and mediation soon. My role has been to set up the educational aspect of the organization, as well as help the organization through the birthing process of getting up and going. I am excited to see the next steps of growth we will be taking soon. With what other organizations do you work and why? I also volunteer on the executive committee of the local Sierra Club: Upper Columbia River Group. The work they have done since the 1970s has been instrumental in restoring and protecting our Spokane River. The strength and determination to protect our resources is inspiring, and the reason I enjoy working with this group. How do you hope Sustainable September events will impact the Spokane area? Sustainable September Spokane is reflective of Community-Minded Enterprises, a local nonprofit that works for a healthy, sustainable community by focusing on a range of projects that produce tangible results, such as Health for All, the Community-Scale Biodiesel, Community-Based Economic Development and Family Resources, just to name a few. We have designed this year’s Sustainable September Spokane events to fall into one of several tracks, knowing that some events will overlap into multiple tracks. The hope is that we will reach a larger population of Spokaneites and each person will find value in events that pique their interests and give them practical tools to become more sustainable themselves. The series ranges from celebrations like the kick-off luncheon with amazing local food from Sante restaurant, to substantive projects such as home energy audits through Avista, and informative events such as the Green Business Networking Luncheon sponsored by Eco-Depot, which understands that we cannot be environmentally sustainable without being economically sustainable. Other events include the Green and Solar Home Tour, the Spokane River History Tour, tree plantings, the annual Spokane River Clean-up and everything in between. What do you see as your greatest accomplishment so far? With the help of magazine articles, lectures and nagging, and the gift of a metal water bottle, I have weaned my mom from plastic, throwaway water bottles. One small step, but an important one. Why do you feel it’s important to continue your environmental work? The more I learn about environmental issues, the more I think that relationships are the key to making the changes in the way we live. Relationships with each other, ourselves, and our natural environment are all important steps to healing our planet. I see this work continuing in a larger way, as more people gain awareness of how everyday actions have impacts on our planet. It seems to me that we need to be going in a radically different direction, but we will only get turned with small shifts, like a 20-point turn in a semi-truck. The truck will only move if we work together. Where do you see the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area in terms of environmental responsibility and sustainability in the next five years? 10 years? My hope is to observe tangible changes in our communities, to see sustainability less as a movement and more of a habit. I already see an obvious increase in people riding bikes around town. How great would Spokane be if we designated every right lane of four-lane roads as bike lanes? I think shifts in policy, planning and habits could transform our communities. I can see it now: vegetable gardens in everyone’s front and back yards, neighbors treating each other like family, a light rail between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, and a free-flowing Snake River. Yes, these are high hopes, but we need a direction and I think we might be headed there.