From:            sarah shifley
To:                Commission-Public-Records
Subject:           [EXTERNAL] Port of Seattle Commission Meeting -- Public Comment
Date:              Monday, July 27, 2020 3:52:44 PM

WARNING: External email. Links or attachments may be unsafe.
Dear Port Commissioners,
My name is Sarah Shifley. I am a member of the 350 Seattle Aviation Team
and am writing to comment on Agenda Item 8a. 
Given the current climate crisis and the Port's stated commitment to
environmental stewardship, there is no reason it should be spending well
over a million dollars to encourage climate-destroying aviation activity.
The staff memo in favor of Agenda Item 8a goes into great detail hyping up
the revenue generated from tourism in Washington, but not once does it
mention the environmental impact of increasing tourism to the desired
levels. The environment, it seems, is of no concern, despite the Port's
purported commitment to "stewarding our environment responsibility."
The Port of Seattle cannot continue to pretend like its activities don't play a
very real and direct role in our climate crisis. The crisis cannot be ignored:
we are on track to see the hottest year on record (making 2019 the second
hottest), and this year's hurricanes are predicted to be unusually intense. At
the same time, greenhouse gas emissions from SeaTac continue to make
up one of the largest fractions of our region's total emissions, before even
considering that aviation emissions have a two to four times greater
warming impact than on-the-ground emissions. And aviation emissions
remain, by far, the fastest growing source of emissions in the region.
There is no reason that the Port cannot simply focus on in-state, lowercarbon
travel. In addition, the Port should be closely tracking the climate
impacts of activities it encourages and facilitates, and ensure that it only
encourages and facilitates activities that don't have disastrous climate
impacts.
Please pay attention. Please stop putting profit ahead of the health of our
planet and our childrens' future.

SarahSarah