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I’ve mentioned before that I have a bit of a food obsession (and Roger recently divulged my baking prowess), so I hope you’ll tolerate a digression for our usual policy bent to discuss a phenomenon that brings together two things nearest and dearest to my heart—good food and common sense sustainability solutions You can read the scoop at the Stranger, but the gist is that the seven-year street food ban...

I have written about energy efficiency programs in Cascadia’s three largest cities and how each of these communities is working to combine federal, state and local dollars to incentivize energy efficiencies.  What about some of the region’s smaller cities? Small cities have as much to gain—and to lose—as the big urban centers.  When I was last in Oregon I was surprised to hear that Lincoln City was endeavoring to become carbon neutral....

Our readers certainly didn’t make it easy on us, but here you have it: this month’s winner from Sightline’s Flickr Photopool is ‘Sidewalk Lanes‘ by Jeff Youngstrom —for it’s smorgasbord of alternative transportation options all captured in just one frame. We couldn’t resist. Speaking of not being able to resist, since there were so many incredible submissions, we’re also including two runners up: a great (and very timely) shot of...

The BC Sustainable Energy Association, “a non-profit association of citizens, professionals and practitioners, committed to promoting sustainable energy in British Columbia,” has produced an analysis of the split incentive problem in British Columbia and a proposal to fix the problem through its Green Landlords Project. (Split incentives happen when owners of multi-unit housing have no interest in energy improvements because they don’t pay the energy bills and tenants don’t have...

“It’s about to be raining money.” That’s how Terry Oliver of the Bonneville Power Administration described the federal economic stimulus‘ clean-energy provisions. He was speaking earlier this month to nearly 1,000 people from the growing clean-energy business in a packed Seattle conference hall. (You can actually watch him say this—praise be to the YouTube impulse—along with everything else that any plenary speaker said on this state website.) The turnout—possibly the...

This fall, Northwest-based global businesses Nike and Starbucks led a group of consumer brands to publicly champion muscular, science-based climate and energy policies. These companies are on the field, playing hardball politics in support of serious efforts to address climate change and jumpstart a clean energy economy. At a moment when the biggest climate and energy bill ever is moving in Congress, the EPA is finalizing its ruling on greenhouse...

We have written before about incentive programs to promote energy efficiency in Portland and Vancouver, including a post that featured the race to find programs that also create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That post mentioned Seattle’s new program—the Green Building Capital Initiative—which was announced on Earth Day. Now, a closer look at that program, some of its key elements and how it compares others in the region. Like...

Want to see your photos on Sightline Daily? Sightline has a new group on Flickr and we would love to see your photos! We’re looking for unique, supporter-generated images that we can use to liven up the homepage, the blog, Sightline Daily emails… anywhere your spot of color can help to support the development of a sustainable future for our region. Each month, one photo will also be recognized as...

Last Friday was bike to work day and I was in Vancouver for a meeting being hosted by the Candian Centre for Policy Alternatives on climate justice. Before I got on the train for home I walked over to the Burrard Bridge. I have been reading lately about efforts to create a dedicated bike lane on the bridge. In other posts I have written about what supports increases in bike...

After reading earlier this week that only 24 percent of Americans know what cap and trade is (and in the same day, that 88 million votes were cast in last week’s round of American Idol), I needed a little pick-me-up. Luckily, it arrived today in the form of new Pew survey numbers indicating strong public support for the essential ingredients of a national cap and trade program. Who cares if...