Washington community action

The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center was founded in 2002 by local activists, and has been one of the most active such centers in the nation.

In October 2006, the Bellingham City Council passed a Troops Home! resolution, making Bellingham the first city in the state of Washington to pass the resolution. Two years later, the City Council passed a resolution urging elected representatives and the federal government to avoid war with Iran, becoming the first city in the state to do so. In 2012, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the federal government to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the case of FEC v. Citizens United by declaring that U.S. Constitutional rights apply to natural persons and not to corporations. In 2014, coinciding with Columbus Day that celebrates the arrival of European explorers, the City Council officially established Coast Salish Day to celebrate the Native American peoples who continue to call the geographic region their home.

In 2015, the Seattle Arctic drilling protests spread to Bellingham when a protester chained herself to the anchor chain of a Royal Dutch Shell ship for 63 hours.

In May 2024, students at Western Washington University formed a pro-Palestine encampment outside of Old Main. It has since disbanded after negotiating with the university.

At the end of 2015, the installed capacity of wind power in Washington was 3,075 megawatts (MW) with wind power accounting for 7,101 GWh. In 2016, it reached a generation of 8,041 GWh, comprising 7.1% of the electricity generated in the state. In 2023, it had a capacity of 3,407 MW (with another 600MW under construction), responsible for 7.75% of generation.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that Washington has potential to install over 18,000 megawatts of onshore wind power. Washington ranks 24th in its potential for onshore wind generation, and also has the potential to install 120,964 MW of offshore wind generation which could generate 488,025 GWh/year.

The Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project is a 21st-century project of the U.S. National Park Service to remove two dams on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, and restore the river to a natural state. It is the largest dam removal project in history and the second largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the National Park Service, after the Restoration of the Everglades. The controversial project, costing about $351.4 million, has been contested and periodically blocked for decades. It has been supported by a major collaboration among the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and federal and state agencies.

The removal of the first of the two dams, the Elwha Dam, began in September 2011 and was completed ahead of schedule in March 2012. Removal of the second dam, the Glines Canyon Dam, was completed on August 26, 2014.

The Washington state government has adapted the federal government's Marine Protected Area (MPA) system into designated Aquatic Reserves, defined as "aquatic lands of special educational or scientific interest or lands of special environmental importance that are threatened by degradation". Aquatic Reserves are meant to serve as aquatic versions of national parks or sanctuaries. Through the Aquatic Reserve Program, the DNR hopes to control these areas in an effort to restore, preserve or enhance habitats and species that directly tie into the aquatic ecosystem. The first Aquatic Reserve created under the program was at Maury Island in November 2004. Further candidate sites under review include Cherry Point, Fidalgo Bay and Cypress Island.

Washington, officially the State of Washington, is the northernmost state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named for George Washington (the first U.S. president). Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and shares an international border with the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Olympia is the state capital, and the most populous city is Seattle.

Washington is the 18th-largest state, with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,830 km²), and the 13th-most populous state, with more than 7.8 million people. The majority of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry on Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, center, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, after California. Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the state's highest elevation at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous U.S.