Eric
Sara Bernard points out that, whoops, the Gates Foundation would’ve made billions if it had divested from fossil fuels.
David Sucher does the math for Seattle land use and demonstrates that just one triplex per single family city block would make a very significant contribution to meeting the city’s density goals.
Rolling out a new blog platform, Communitywise Bellingham casts a gimlet eye on the job creation promises for the Whatcom County coal terminal and finds them follow.
Serena
Jelani Cobb had a perfect summation of the arguments happening on college campuses—my alma mater’s next-door neighbor being no exception—around racist events and policies that occur there:
The default for avoiding discussion of racism is to invoke a separate principle, one with which few would disagree in the abstract—free speech, respectful participation in class—as the counterpoint to the violation of principles relating to civil rights. This is victim-blaming with a software update, with less interest in the kind of character assassination we saw deployed against Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown than in creating a seemingly right-minded position that serves the same effect.
Holy. Moly. A decade and over $1 billion into a project to digitize US immigration forms, exactly this many are online: ONE. Could I please have a billion dollars and help y’all set up some Google Forms or something?! Sheesh.
A fascinating and holiday-shopping-timely think-piece on what the anti-shopping brands are actually selling us. Don’t Buy This Jacket? #OptOutside? “The most brilliant [marketing campaigns] are the ones that flatter the consumer into thinking he doesn’t care about material goods.”
Keiko
This recent promotional video for Amtrak Cascades features scenic views of the Northwest and plenty of smiling faces. But it’s hard to feel inspired to ride the train when everyone in this video is white. (Except at 1:14, but don’t blink or you’ll miss him.) There is a complete lack of ethnic diversity in this video, as well as economic diversity. All passengers are joyfully typing away on their Apple products, storing their expensive road bikes, or boarding with their business attire. Come on WSDOT, Amtrak isn’t just for white people.
What are you doing for Black Friday? You can be a part of Green Friday! Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park just announced that entry will be free the day after Thanksgiving. It’s time to walk off that turkey.
