To take a crack at an old chestnut: The more things change, the more they stay the same – especially the conflict over just how change should occur.

Last week’s public meeting on WSDOT’s plan for controlling weeds along Highway 305, which was presented to the city council Wednesday, illustrated just that – a civilized and thoughtful exchange of views was had, but very little common ground gained.

At issue in the meeting was the proposed use of herbicides along a three-mile portion of the 14 miles of roadside (that’s seven miles of highway times two sides of the road) that WSDOT manages on the island. While the state’s “roadside vegetation management plan” for 2004-2007 calls for mowing or hand-pulling most vegetation, it doesn’t rule out the use of herbicides except around streams. And it explicitly calls for application on the sections of the highway with guardrails, where standard mowers won’t work. That’s necessary, WSDOT says, because it is time-consuming for crews to use weed whackers, with more labor hours and more time spent standing on the side of a high-speed roadway. It’s cheaper and safer to apply chemicals, at least until ongoing studies assess other alternatives, such as paving under guardrails – a prospect that could become reality in 2006, when 305 gets a summer-long makeover.

This is a familiar approach to change: a gradual process that keeps constraints like time and money in mind. As one WSDOT representative said at the meeting, “We’re trying to take a reasonable approach to this, and still do something.” It’s what many of us would deem pragmatic progress.

But for a number of the island’s environmentally minded, this “reasonable approach” is far from best. They want change now. Their logic, too, is persuasive: herbicides are known to be harmful to aquatic life, and may accumulate in our bodies and in our drinking water, posing a health risk. Such contamination should be stopped.

There are significant areas of factual dispute between the camps. WSDOT isn’t convinced that the herbicide in question, Roundup, will have a detrimental impact on humans or the environment – a study commissioned by WSDOT says the product’s active ingredient, glyphosate, “has a very low potential to contaminate groundwater.” The Washington Toxics Coalition, though, warns of health effects from the “inert ingredients,” and characterizes the chemical as “moderately toxic” to aquatic life.

But the most profound differences lie not in facts, but in philosophy – whether gradual change is the best path to progress, or just perpetuates a less-than-benign status quo. And very little change, gradual or otherwise, came out of the public meetings between WSDOT representatives and Bainbridge citizens and city officials; the state is sticking to its spraying, with the only alteration being the use of Rodeo, a more aqua-friendly herbicide, in place of Roundup.

There is a middle path WSDOT could follow: to proceed with the current plan, but make a commitment to Bainbridge citizens that, when it comes time to redo the highway in 2006, appropriate construction or vegetation control techniques will be employed so the state won’t need to use herbicides on island highwaysides. That’s gradual progress, but progress toward a definite goal.

Until then, we all might heed Voltaire’s advice: tend to our own gardens. There are alternatives to chemicals, and they aren’t hard to find by talking to the Natural Landscapes Project or reading Ann Lovejoy’s columns.

Together, we citizens use far more Roundup and other chemical pest controls in a year than the highway department could ever dream of. That’s where real change is needed.ww