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Apropos of British Columbia’s big announcement yesterday, I have some ranting to get off my chest. One of the most frustrating things about US climate policy is the reflexive fear that if we ever raise the price of gas—or of driving generally—people will riot in the streets or something. This makes it exceedingly difficult to re-arrange the economy away from oil and its carbon contents. But, of course, the price...

Welcome news: two British bishops are calling for a “carbon fast” to trim climate-warming emissions during the Lenten season. The idea of the “fast” is to take one energy-saving step every day during the 40 days of Lent: insulate the hot water tank, for example, or check for leaks in windows and doors. By Easter, you’ll have trimmed your emissions, and also accumulated lots of good karma. This is yet...

In 1999, Sightline (then Northwest Environment Watch) published a slim book called Green-Collar Jobs. Researched and written by Alan Durning, the book chronicles the changing economic base of rural towns in the Pacific Northwest, from resource extraction industries such as timber to “green-collar” jobs such as sustainable forestry, ecosystem restoration, and tourism. The book was well-received as a landmark study of the post-logging Northwest economy.   Fast forward to 2007. Sightline...

As we’ve writtenhere before, forests have gained a lot of attention in the climate change conversation because of their ability to suck carbon out of the atmosphere. Individuals can buy “reforestation” offsets on the Internet. There’s talk of including credits for carbon stored in trees and wood products as part of many proposed cap-and-trade systems. Cities and businesses are even planting trees as part of their efforts to slow climate...

I’ve written about the American political horse race before. We all know what’s wrong with it. First, the obvious: It’s only January and we’re already dead sick of hearing an endless (and fairly mindless) tally of strategic moves, campaign tactics, fundraising, and poll numbers. More importantly and fundamentally damaging though is that horse-race tunnel-vision keeps us from what could be a healthy national conversation about the future of the country...

A little frustration of reading our blog—or so we’ve heard from readers—is that it’s hard to keep up. No surprise there: In 2007, we posted around 290 pieces on the blog, more than one per weekday. It’s hard even for us to read ’em all. So in the spirit of recycling, here are links to reader favorites from this year, as well as some of our picks for categories we...

This never fails to fascinate me.   The chart shows how much fuel is consumed over 15,000 miles by cars of different fuel efficiencies. The curve matters a lot. It means that from the perspective of fuel conservation, it’s not terribly important to trade in your Honda Civic to buy a Prius. But it’s hugely important to trade in your Dodge Durango for a Toyota Tacoma. I’ll use some rough numbers...

Americans have a history of joining together in times of crisis. At our most trying moments, the terminology of war has been the rallying cry. So, it’s understandable that when he’s talking about global warming, John Edwards often implores Americans to be patriotic about something other than war. And when Al Gore accepted his Nobel Prize this week he said, “We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and...

Can anyone out there help me out? Fact checking our upcoming book, I was looking for some data on the total power consumed by lighting in the US. But at risk of looking like a dim bulb, I have to confess—I couldn’t figure it out!! The Green Home Guide says that lighting uses 5 to 10 percent of household electricity. That lines up pretty closely with figures from the US...

Blame me. It’s my fault the Northwest does not treat bicycling with respect. How? Bear with me, and I’ll explain. Cascadia is, as Washington State legislator Dick Nelson used to say, a “motorhead democracy”—a place where licensed drivers substantially outnumber registered voters and where car-head dominates transportation thought and debate. No matter how much good Bicycle Respect would do for our health, communities, economy, and natural heritage, it won’t fly...