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There may be many reasons to eat locally: supporting your local economy, ensuring food freshness, curbing sprawl, or reducing unnecessary energy use. One of the most pervasive arguments in favor of the local food movement has been to reduce or eliminate the environmental impacts of long-haul food shipments. But Carnegie-Mellon researchers Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews suggest that, at least from a greenhouse gas (GHG) perspective, food miles may not...

I wrote yesterday about the new study that found major declines in traffic congestion in 2008.  But to me, there’s an even more interesting point hiding in the data:  population size is the best single predictor of a city’s traffic congestion.  It’s a fact that often gets lost in discussions of a congestion, but it’s true nonetheless: all else being equal, the more people there are in a metro area,...

Update: A version of this post appeared in Crosscut on May 6, 2009. In a surprise move yesterday afternoon, Washington’s governor Gregoire signed into law a package of spending commitments for the federal stimulus dollars for transportation. Among the roughly $340 million in spending is about $71 million for freeway widening projects—and these are mystifying, to say the least. The $71 million will be used to add general purpose lanes along I-405...

Update 7/1/09: Sightline’s full report on 2008 gasoline consumption in the Northwest is now available. Forty-four years ago:  Arlo Guthrie was arrested for littering, Elvis and the Beatles met for the first and only time, Sonny & Cher scored their first hit single with “I Got You Babe,” and American car culture was still on the rise.  Cars were big, the cost of filling a gas tank had been falling...

How does your corner of Cascadia measure up against world leaders in economic security, energy efficiency, and walkable communities? Find out in Sightline’s just-released update of the Cascadia Scorecard, a regional report card that tracks seven trends vital to the Pacific Northwest’s future. This year, we find we’re making steady progress in human health and smart growth, but lagging in energy efficiency, economic security, and wildlife preservation. Also new: We’ve...

The Seattle blogosphere is in a lather over this recent entry at the Rainier Valley Post by Carolee Colter and John V. Fox, arguing against a bill that would encourage compact development along the new light rail line. Several readers have asked me what I think of the article, so I’ll go on the record here: it’s a terribly misinformed piece. Take a look, for example, at the first two paragraphs: The...

There’s been a bit of controversy of late about the the proposal to add lanes to the I-5 bridge that connects Portland with Vancouver, WA.  Some folks think a wider Columbia River Crossing is a great idea, since they think it’ll ease rush-hour congestion.  Others are opposed, arguing that a wider road would a) funnel more cars into Portland, b) fuel sprawl in suburban Clark County, and c) ultimately be...

My calendar tells me that my wife and I will welcome our first child into the world any day now. Yikes. (This is good news for readers too: I’ll be doing less blogging this month.) A couple of weeks ago, we toured our hospital’s birthing center where we learned that newborns aren’t allowed to leave without a car seat. That’s just commonsense. No argument from me. And yet I found...

Sightline’s greatest achievements over 15 years.

Brilliant. That’s the word kept crossing my mind as I read this clearly-written report (pdf link) about the Puget Sound Regional Council’s study on using road tolls to fight congestion.  The study found that a well-designed, comprehensive system of congestion-busting tolls could make a major dent in traffic backups in the Puget Sound.  It would also speed up transit, shorten commute times, and reduce gasoline consumption. But much to its...