Letter to the Editor: Our community can learn a lot from what Denmark has done

The Jobs of the Future

We all hear so often about the low-carbon “jobs of the future,” but until
we’ve seen them with our own eyes, they can be hard to imagine. Last week, I
traveled to Denmark with a bipartisan delegation of five Republicans and six
Democrats from the State House of Representatives to see just how a rural
economy can create jobs while also reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

Denmark hasn’t always been a leader in clean energy jobs. Until recently,
Denmark’s number one export was pig meat and their manufacturing industries
were heavily reliant on coal, natural gas, and petroleum. A deliberate effort
to break the addiction to fossil fuels has resulted in a greener, more
profitable agricultural industry and new exports such as medicines and wind energy
technologies. Our community can learn a lot from what Denmark has done to
create a strong, diversified economy built on jobs that are both
environmentally-responsible and high-paying.

Kalundborg, a town almost exactly the size of Lynden, has a remarkable
industrial project employing over 5,000 people. It’s designed around the
concept of Industrial Symbiosis, an association between industrial facilities
and companies in which the waste or byproducts of one become the raw materials
for another. Each company creates value for its neighbors via an intricate
network that transforms one company’s waste steam, gas, water, gypsum, fly ash,
or sludge, into valuable inputs for another company. I saw the waste products
from a Novo Nordisk insulin production plant used to generate biogas, a
renewable replacement for natural gas. Being able to save money on inputs or
lower disposal costs has attracted innovative companies to Kalundborg and
corporate cultures that value a circular economy.

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Click for more information   Samsø Island, once a meeting place for Vikings, is now home to an economy
driven by farming and tourism. In 1997, the island was dependent on oil and
coal imported from the mainland. Today, Samsø produces more energy than it
uses. Farmers have installed wind turbines on their land and lease out space
for additional turbines that are owned by the community. Partial community
ownership has meant people are proud of the turbines and broad ownership means
people think they are somehow less noisy and more aesthetically pleasing.
Farmers also produce biogas from manure, straw, and other agricultural wastes,
which is burned to create heat for the island. Meanwhile, solar panels power
electric vehicles and heat homes.
In rural Jutland, researchers from Århus University are working on new pathways
to generate biogas from manure and waste, turn products that require minimal
water and fertilizer such as grass into superior cow and pig feed, synthesize
biocrude from waste, and create fertilizers with the precise ratios of N, P and
K for local crops and soil conditions. Processing manure generates value as
well as avoids the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and removes
excess ammonia, which makes the neighbors happy because it reduces the smell.
Because transporting agricultural waste long distances is expensive, these jobs
are guaranteed to stay in rural communities and deliver dividends to local
farmers, rural residents, and local entrepreneurs.

In a week of global climate strikes and engagement at Whatcom County Council
meetings, it is clear Whatcom is at a crossroads. What will our economy look
like in 15 years? 30? I’m committed to working toward a local economy that is
cleaner and more vibrant, while still valuing rural livelihoods, family-wage
jobs, and domestic agricultural production. If Denmark can do it, so can
Whatcom County!

And I’m hardly the first Whatcom resident to dream this way. Local
engineers, technicians and farmers are already building this economy with
biodigesters and biotech projects like the ones Ferndale-based company Regenis
is pioneering. I’ve seen their products in action – like the high-tech manure
management system they built in partnership with the state government at
Coldstream Farms in the Southfork.

What more can we do together? Denmark reminded me how much we can accomplish by working rural with urban, liberal with conservative, and public with private to transition to a clean energy economy. Now that I’m home, I look forward to working with leaders across Whatcom County to build a more sustainable, circular economy. Nobody knows exactly what the future holds, but I got a peek at one possible version in Denmark, and I’m pleased to report that it looks like a future I’d feel good about passing on to our kids.

Sharon Shewmake
State Representative for the 42nd Legislative District, which includes Ferndale

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