Neighbors helping Ballard live a little lighter.
Sustainable Ballard is a volunteer-powered nonprofit that’s been turning good intentions into hands-on, hyper-local action since 2003 — one shared tool, rescued meal, and backyard garden at a time.
Our Story · Since 2003
It started with three peace activists.
Sustainable Ballard grew, in 2003, from the frustration of three peace activists who recognized that the war in Iraq was driven in part by our dependence on oil. They organized around a bold idea: that Ballard could become the first town in the country to declare its energy independence — and that the work should start at home, with neighbors.
It became the first neighborhood sustainability group in Seattle and a founding organization of SCALLOPS — Sustainable Communities All Over Puget Sound — earning local, national, and international recognition for a grassroots approach to community action on climate change.
More than two decades on, Sustainable Ballard works with over 25 organizations and a growing network of neighbor-run projects. We invite everyone to find their place on the spectrum of sustainability — driving less, growing and eating local food, sharing resources, and building a stronger community together.
Why We’re Here
Mission & vision
Our Mission
Sustainable Ballard educates, inspires, and engages neighbors to take action to live more sustainably — both individually and collectively.
Our Vision
A diverse, equitable, inclusive, joyful and sustainable community, co-creating a world for this and future generations where eco-systems are healthy and peace is inevitable.
The Mark · Why a Seastar
Five arms, five aspects.
A seastar reaches out with five arms — each one an aspect of sustainability — and holds the shore fast with hundreds of tiny suction-cupped feet, every one of them a neighbor keeping Sustainable Ballard going. Food, waste, energy, repair, connection: pull on any arm and the whole neighborhood grows a little lighter.
Food
grown, gleaned & shared
Waste
less in, more reused
Energy
lighter on the grid
Repair
fix it, keep it
Connection
neighbors, together
What It Takes
Key ingredients for resilience
To help our community sustain and thrive, we keep coming back to a few essentials.
Connected neighbors
Getting connected with the people next door — strengthening the social fabric that holds a community together.
Skills & sharing
Learning new skills and sharing resources — tools, food, knowledge — instead of each of us going it alone.
Equity & local roots
Striving for diversity and equity while building a local food supply and a local economy we can rely on.
How We Got Here
A few marks on the tide line
2003
Sustainable Ballard is founded
Sparked by three peace activists, it became the first neighborhood sustainability group in Seattle — and an early voice for energy independence at the local level.
2004
A founding member of SCALLOPS
Sustainable Ballard helped launch Sustainable Communities All Over Puget Sound, sharing the grassroots model with neighborhoods across the region.
Every fall
The Sustainable Ballard Festival
A neighborhood celebration of hands-on sustainability that has anchored the calendar for two decades — returning to the Commons each September.
Today
25+ partners, a network of projects
From the Tool Library to gleaning, menders, knitters, and barter fairs, Sustainable Ballard now works with over 25 organizations — and there’s always room for one more.
Our Team
The neighbors behind it all
Board members, staff, and project leads — all volunteers and neighbors.
Marcia Coté
Olivia Price
Judy Tangen
Jenny Heins
Rain Gilman
Jackie Lindsey
Susan Ridgley
Alyssa Pittman
Ashlee Norris
Henrietta Cottingham
Jody Grage
Lesya Chopivsky
Lynn Livesley
Paula Jenson
Clare Mason
Bryn Bachman
Andrea Faste
Brianna Widner
David Cullmer
Lynda Emel
Polly Freeman
Scott Radford
Land & Labor Acknowledgement
Sustainable Ballard acknowledges that the greater Ballard area is on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish, including the Duwamish, Suquamish and Muckleshoot peoples. We honor with gratitude all the tribes who have been faithful stewards here since time immemorial. If you don’t know whose traditional land you work and live on, we encourage you to find out.
Further, we respectfully acknowledge the enslaved people, primarily of African descent, who provided exploited labor on which this country was built, with little to no recognition. Today, we are indebted to their labor and the labor of many Black and brown bodies that continue to work in the shadows for our collective benefit.
Be Part of It
Ready to add your foot to the seastar?
However much time you have — an afternoon or every week — there’s a place for you on the shore.