How can I best help Eagle Landing Park?  I can pick up trash, or I can persuade and inspire others to stop dropping trash.  I can remove invasive species, or I can convince others to help me, and to stop planting invasive species in their yards.  I can keep my dogs on leash, or I can ask others to keep their dogs on leash.  As long as the number of people interested in improving the health of ELP remains smaller than those who feel entitled to degrade the park, it will be difficult to turn things around.  It is certainly in people's best interests, even monetarily, to treat the park right.  Few will be persuaded, but below are my economic reasons to take actions that benefit the park. 

1.  Don't drive to Eagle Landing Park.  If you live within a three mile radius of the park, which includes 80% of the population of Burien, then walk to the park.  Walking is good for your health, good for the environment, and saves you money on gas and car repairs.  I see one woman who comes to the park several times a week.  She lives two blocks away, but drives to the park to exercise.  She starts her cold car and gets the worst possible gas mileage for two blocks, lets her car cool, and then starts her cold car again.  If she would simply walk the two blocks to the park, she would get a little more exercise, which is her primary goal, plus she would save herself money and save the environment.

2.  Plant native plants in your yard, everywhere in Burien.  Native plants, when chosen properly and planted in the right place, don't need extra water or fertilizer or pesticides.  Why would you choose any plant other than a native?  Because it is more attractive?  Who says so?  Why would you think that a non-native rhododendron pruned into a ball and completely covered in purple blossoms is more attractive than our native rhododendron with its few pink blossoms amid a background of thick green leaves?  The non-native simply is not more beautiful, and if you think so, it is because you have been brainwashed by people out to make money from you.  Save yourself money and save the environment by planting native plants in your yard. 

3.  Volunteer in your local park.  Volunteering is a great way to meet nice people.  I'm not talking about me, of course, since I am obviously obtuse and antisocial.  But you would meet other volunteers who would probably be very nice.  If you are looking for exercise, pulling ivy is great exercise, and helps the planet.  If you walk to the park and spend two or three hours pulling ivy, that's several hours that you aren't spending as a consumer, wasting your money and hurting the environment.  Volunteering every week can improve your health and save you money on health care. 

4.  Don't buy stuff.  If you don't buy stuff, then you won't need to discard it in the park.  What is this fascination with spending excessive amounts of money on beer?  What is so wrong with your mind that you would be happier if you drugged yourself?  If you stop buying that beer, you'll save a ton of money, and you won't need to throw your beer can in the bushes in our park.  Whatever is so wrong that you think beer will make it better, it is still going to be wrong when the effects of the beer wear off.  Unless you stay drunk 24 hours a day, there's no point in getting drunk in the first place.  Think of all that extra money you would have if you didn't buy beer, and the problems you could solve with that money.  Don't buy bottled water, either.  Fill your own bottle with tap water, and you will be motivated to take the more expensive bottle home, unlike whoever it is that keeps throwing water bottles in the bushes. 

5.  Read a book.  Reading a book is much cheaper than watching movies or TV shows.  The TV shows either cost money in subscriptions or in watched advertising, which makes you buy stuff you don't need.  Books make you smarter while TV usually makes you dumber.  Smarter people often make more money.  You could read any number of books on the environment, and you could choose electronic books, so no trees would be cut down.  Reading lots of books makes you a more interesting person. 

In short, be an environmentalist to save your own money and improve your own health, if you won't do it for the sake of the environment.  You can still be an ignorant, nature-hating jerk at heart, if you really feel the need, and you can take environmentally positive actions for purely selfish reasons. 

Okay, so I doubt anyone is going to be persuaded by that.  I'll try again tomorrow.