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As I’ve mentioned before, the artwork in our office rotates every few months. It’s great to have local artists decorating our walls. Our latest exhibit is “Bloom,” by Susan Melrath. Below are a few shots—it’s striking work, something you notice even from down the hall. Read more on over at Art and Sustainability.

Who likes subsidies for Big Oil? Well, Big Oil, for one. They really like the billions of dollars they get in tax breaks. Then there’s the Republican caucus’s three votes this year to protect those loopholes. But that’s about it. Nobody else likes them much at all, including Republican voters. Center for American Progress pulled together some recent polling numbers. And we’ve piled more on: 66 percent: The proportion of...

Anyone with a box of Crayolas and a 1-year-old, and anyone who’s been following climate politics in the United States would tell you that, contrary to the rules of color theory, red and blue make an ugly mud color. But new research from Pew suggests that red and blue actually come out green—bright green, in fact, when it comes to “red-” and “blue-state of mind” support for alternative energy! All...

I was going to wait until Friday to include this New York Times Opinionator piece in our Weekend Reading links, but the idea is just too good to wait: why don’t we stop calling junk food “food”? I won’t try and top Mark Bittman’s prose, so here’s the salient part (after comparing food and obesity to tobacco and lung cancer): “I frequently hear, ‘The difference between tobacco and food is...

After a dreary April, things were downright nice in the Northwest yesterday—just the way you’d want to start May, which happens to be Bike Month (in BC, you’ll have to wait til June.) Groups across Cascadia are hosting commuting challenges, rides, and events to get people on their bikes. If you’re in Seattle, check out Cascade Bicycle Club’s page of events and resources, and if you’re in Portland try Bicycle...

For more than a decade, all of the eco-friendly stormwater projects that Seattle touched turned to green. The city rebuilt block after neighborhood block to incorporate rain gardens and other natural strategies that can clean up and reduce polluted runoff. The projects worked great: they showcased native plants and sucked up the extra rainwater like green urban sponges. Seattle Public Utilities won awards for its work and was viewed a...

Clark: Fascinating price charts: It’s not just oil prices that are hitting the roof: copper, corn, soybeans, coffee, cocoa, and sugar are all at or near historic highs. (Well, sugar’s just coming down from a price spike, but still…) I understand why corn, soybeans, and sugar are spiking at the same time as oil: we turn corn & sugar into ethanol and soybeans into biodiesel, so when oil prices rise,...

I filed my taxes a long time ago (just one of the many benefits of being married to someone far, far more organized than I am). So, I haven’t been thinking about my own taxes much this week—except to hope for a refund and follow President Obama’s road-show about his budget (He did Jay Leno, 60 Minutes, two nationally-televised town hall meetings, and a prime-time news conference—but I caught most...

Holy cow, how did this not get noticed before?  The Washington Department of Transportation’s 2010 deep-bore tolling study claims that tolling the deep-bore tunnel will actually increase driving through downtown Seattle. Take a look at the gem of a chart to the right, from page 31 of that report.  The chart compares forecasted 2030 traffic volumes from a toll-free tunnel (the column to the left) with a tolling scenario in...

I have a confession to make: I don’t own a bike. (Don’t tell any of my bike-loving coworkers.) Truth is, I hadn’t ridden a bike in over a decade—until last weekend. Six months ago I sold my broken-down, paperweight of a car and have been mooching rides for trips too far outside my neighborhood ever since. With the promise of better weather around the corner, I decided it was finally time...