MARNIE JACKSON: WEAN hires director, plans to extend reach (SWR)

MARNIE JACKSON: WEAN hires director, plans to extend reach (SWR)

Jessie Stensland reports in the South Whidbey Record.

…[Whidbey Environmental Action Network’s] board of directors welcomed Marnie Jackson as the executive director, beginning April 10. Jackson, who moved to Whidbey when she was 11 years old, has been “an activist and an advocate for animals, people and planet since her early teens, when she was inspired by WEAN to organize South Whidbey High School students against a proposed McDonalds at Bayview Corner,” the organization reported.

They Said It

Jackson is a current member of the South Whidbey School Board, a role she said she sought in order to support students who are seeking equity and climate action….

Jackson said she has long admired Edain and Erickson for the “amazing work” they have done in protecting the environment through WEAN, which has a mission of the restoration and preservation of native biological diversity of Whidbey Island and the Pacific Northwest. She said she plans to continue the group’s government and industry watchdogging and policy advocating.

Jackson hopes to collaborate with other groups and delve into social justice and other areas of concern. She anticipates, for example, that WEAN will be part of the community discussion on affordable housing, which has long been identified as an urgent need on the island. She rejects the “false zero sum choice” between affordable housing and environmental protection.