Over the years Pangeality Productions has worked with The NW Pollution Prevention Resource Center on a variety of projects. Recently we wrapped work in support of their Safer Alternatives for the Automotive Industry online video training curriculum. The training curriculum focuses on helping automotive owners and technicians learn about safer alternatives, best management practices in a repair shop, and how to green your operations.
Incentive for the training comes from the fact that commonly-used cleaners in an automotive shop can be dangerous to your health and to the environment. In addition, many operations within an automotive shop (floor cleanup, antifreeze replacement, etc.) can lead to the mismanagement and misapplication of products and, therefore, may cause serious compliance issues for businesses. Therefore it’s important for owners and technicians in an automotive repair shop to be informed of the chemicals contained in the products they use as well as requiring good working habits to reduce liability and improve the business’s bottom line.
With that in mind and in partnership with the WA Dept of Ecology, The City of Seattle, Seattle City Light, and Swedish Automotive, PPRC produced a multimedia training curriculum offered free online to help any automotive related business to green their opeation. Check out the training on the PPRC website here http://pprc.org/index.php/2015/pprc/auto/
City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour
Vehicle Painting Facility on City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour
City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour
Brand New Harley Davidson Police Motorcycles Ready to Enter Service
City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour
City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour
Excited to announce that one of our videos recently won an honorable mention in the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable’s MVP2 awards for our film ‘Zinc in Stormwater: Galvanizing Business Solutions’. The awards are designed to recognize outstanding and innovative pollution prevention (P2) projects/programs judged on the 5 criteria: innovation, measurable results, transferability, commitment, and optimization of available project resources. The overall focus is on projects that demonstrate source reduction activities.
“The video provides context to the issue of zinc pollution by showing how the metal leaches into stormwater from many different sources. Because zinc comes from so many places, no one solution is likely to suffice for any business. Businesses need to carefully assess the sources of the metal and then implement a variety of site-specific solutions.”
The film was produced in connection with The Pollution Prevention Resource Center, and funded by a grant from The Russell Family Foundation. Increasingly, a number of commercial properties were not meeting the necessary benchmarks outlined by the WA Dept of Ecology and this video is meant to assist those entity’s efforts in getting into compliance following BMPs set forth by others regionally. See earlier blog posts for photos and more info.
Over the years I’ve done a variety of work with Puget Sound/Seattle area salmon fishermen, helping them to use video as a tool to share their story. Some of that content is now featured in a CCTV report about fish consumption worldwide. CCTV America is the American arm of China Central Television of Beijing. Based in Washington D.C., producing daily English language programming for a global audience. The content shows salmon being caught in Puget Sound, and unloaded at Fishermen’s Terminal for sale in Seattle area markets and farmers markets. For more info visit LokiFish and Puget Sound Salmon Commission.
Spent some time filming last week at the Port of Tacoma and The Washington Stormwater Center. In the port, shipping giant Tote runs twice weekly freight runs between Tacoma and Anchorage Alaska (that takes 66 hours nonstop one way). Tote has had great success in reducing the heavy metals and specifically zinc in their storm water runoff from their property. Working together with 12,000 Rain Gardens of Puget Sound, they’ve installed a series of rain gardens designed to filter and process water runoff. The water which collects on the paved surfaces of their facility and warehouse roofs carrying industrial pollutants and heavy metals, are filtered and absorbed by the garden now prior to it returning to Puget Sound. This video is being produced by Pangeality Productions for Pollution Prevention Research Center, with funding through a grant provided by the Russell Family Foundation, and is geared toward recording and sharing best practices among industries for managing and treating specifically zinc in storm water.
Mt Rainier towering over the Port of Tacoma
Rain gardens like this one take water running off warehouse roofs through gutters, and filter it for heavy metals with soil and plants.
Courtesy of 12,000 Rain Gardens of Puget Sound.
Varied materials used in similar conditions for measuring and analyzing stormwater runoff.
Water that previously flowed out of this pipe untreated now passes through rain gardens that filter it before returning to Puget Sound
Water collected in each zone for comparison
New and rental cars for summer tourists shipping up to Alaska.
Varied materials used in similar conditions for measuring and analyzing stormwater runoff.
Old metal chains leaching heavy metals into runoff
New and rental cars for summer tourists shipping up to Alaska.
Where the vehicles that load onto the boats stage.
Illustration of water passing through to be absorbed by soil, not funneled into Puget Sound.
Flat and sloped roofing samples that are being used in research to determine zinc and other metals leaching from rain
Tote owns and operates two ships weekly between Tacoma and Anchorage AK.
Tires are a big source of zinc pollution that reaches Puget Sound.
Cyrus and I have been working together on this story for PPRC Pollution Prevention Resource Center
Discussing the various research projects they have going on at the WA Stormwater Center.
Roofing samples intentionally leeching zinc into captured water for comparison. At The Washington Stormwater Center at Washington State Uinversity Extension Center in Puyallup, WA.
Hustlers, cabs that pull trailers on and off of ships
Spent a day this week filming at the Port of Port Townsend on a storm water project with Seattle based nonprofit PPRC (Pollution Prevention Resource Center). The project is about sharing best management practice regarding removing heavy metals from surface water before it drains into Puget Sound, our regional body of water, and with this site specifically at maritime facilities. Specifically zinc, is present in tires, roofing and siding, gutters, paint, fencing, pressure treated lumber and so many other materials and products found in a typical setting like this. Ironic that the material used to protect against the elements, in this case rust in the marine environment, is the main polluter. So the pollution sources are both the marine vessel maintenance and the on site buildings themselves. It was quite fascinating to learn about the port of Port Townsend being the only remaining DIY port in the state of Washington and the battle to maintain that character and access, which means allowing boat operators to work on their own boats in the facility 24/7. To my surprise that is apparently unheard of in this day and age and the battle to do so is both an importantly held value there, and a top reason for the presence of a high volume of heavy metals in their stormwater that they’re responsible for before it returns to sea. We spent most of the day with the environmental compliance officer whose role it is to police the work being done in the port, and make sure the rules and regulations are being enforced, specifically around things like whether people who are sanding their boats before painting have the proper vacuum attached to their sander to limit the airborne dust, where the toxic chemicals removed from the hulls of ships are draining to, as well as the installation of proper downspouts on the gutters of the port’s warehouse and maintenance buildings. One sound bite that stuck with me from the interview with our host were the challenges of bridging the two worlds- that he had the credibility of having worked in the maritime trade for many years himself, but enforcing the environmental rules with a lot of salty dogs not too happy to have him around looking over their shoulders and ‘seeing those same guys at community BBQs and events in ‘a county of only 37,000 people’…
I’m thrilled to announce that a story I did for the Seattle Channel program City Stream has been nominated for an Emmy award in the human interest category. The story is a piece about sustainable fishing in Puget Sound, and profiles friend and client Pete Knutson of Loki Fish. I shot and edited the piece, working together with producer Penny Legate who wrote and voiced the story. Last year I was nominated twice, but unfortunately didn’t bring home the award. Hoping this year will be different. I continue to produce stories for the Seattle Channel, mostly focusing on green and environmental issues. Recent stories include how Safeco and Qwest Fields are composting their food scraps and packaging, teaching organic gardening in public housing at Yesler Terrace, a profile of Sustainable West Seattle, a new housing and commercial development along N. Rainier Ave, and others. Most of these videos can be found on other parts of this site or on our Vimeo channel linked to in the bottom left corner of the front page of this website.
I was excited to show how a video like this can make an event come to life online, in a way that still pictures and words simply can’t. With a video, folks who have an interest in the event but wonder whether it’ll be worth their time or not can get a real sense of what’s going on here, and see and hear the testimonials of the participants. Plus, I’ve been helping to educate the group about how to share the file with their members on their blogs and website to give the piece further exposure in attracting more members to the community. Based on what’s being said here, it’s clear this group is an effective place for networking and connecting both for learning around these issues and for business. It’s my hope to make some new connections with this community so that they can begin using video as a tool to share with their customers and community the green choices that they’re making in their businesses.
