A Lump of an Idea Becomes Reality

About a week ago, I fell asleep chuckling to myself about a practical joke I was going to play on my coworker.  Matt Krogh and I had spent the afternoon talking about the issue of a possible coal export terminal at Cherry Point.  He was passionate about the fact that this is a very bad idea and I absolutely agreed.  Regardless of how you slice it there is nothing good that can come from exporting coal that is mined in the Powder River Basin in Montana, shipped by rail through our state, and then transported via huge freighters to China where it will be burned to fuel their economic development i.e. more plastic crap for us to buy from Wal Mart...but I digress.

Like I was saying, I was laying in bed, chuckling as I planned to glue googly eyes to a lump of coal and leave it on Matt’s desk the next morning.  Of course my idea didn’t stop there.  I visualized attaching pipe-cleaner legs and a silly mouth to this lump and photographing it around town.  Soon I could see this character making appearances at key community meetings, showing up for a brew at Boundary Bay or kicking back on the beach surveying the land that is threatened by the short-sighted development plans of some pretty powerful people.

Dusty visits Kulshan Cycles

Well it turns out that I was so inspired by these nocturnal ideas that I made my little lump into reality.  His name is Dusty Coal.  He made his debut at the December Green Drinks, has over 100 friends on facebook, recently test-rode a power-assist bike at Kulshan and enjoyed a slice of cheese pizza at Rudy’s.  He’s also developed quite the personality as an unofficial spokesperson for the coal industry. 

Dusty visits Cherry point

If you’re not already, please become a friend of Dusty's, stay tuned for his new blog, and follow the coal issue closely.  It has the potential to have huge impacts to our community and our region.  In the meantime, I urge you to make your lump of an idea into a reality, too.

Crina Hoyer
Program Director