Search Results
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Will 2018 Finally Be the Year for a Carbon Pollution Price in Washington?
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Will Washington’s Oil Industry Ever Stop Expanding?
The Northwest is poised between promise and peril. The coming years could usher in a golden era of low-cost and low-carbon transportation centered on electric vehicles and new technology. Or the region could sink deeper into the mire of an ever-expanding oil industry. Either future is possible. But in recent months, the oil industry has seemed ascendant. Over vehement objections from indigenous communities, and in spite of the risk of...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 7/6/2018
Anna Zero tolerance? Did Mexican-American border policing actually unintentionally lead to an illegal immigration problem that didn’t exist when the border was more porous? And what does it have to do with border security failures during the Vietnam war? Malcolm Gladwell profiles General Leonard Chapman’s relentless, by-the-book border enforcement in a recent episode of his podcast, Revisionist History (where he digs into “things overlooked and misunderstood.”) The gist is: What...Read more » -
Three Steps to Better Climate Conversations
Esteemed climate communicator Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is back on the lecture circuit with a new talk, which I was lucky enough to catch at the University of Washington in mid-May. Dr. Hayhoe’s life and credentials make her uniquely suited to bridge divides and speak from the heart about climate science: She’s a Canadian expat in Texas, an atmospheric scientist and political scientist at Texas Tech, and an Evangelical Christian. She’s...Read more » -
Small Town Silicon Smelter Plan Tees Up Big Questions
Northwest communities have been fighting an onslaught of dirty energy proposals for nearly a decade, from coal terminals and oil pipelines to petrochemical refineries and natural gas facilities. Many of these projects marketed themselves as environmentally responsible, but they were all, in one way or another, expansions of the fossil fuel industry. They were dirty. But what to make of a big industrial project proposal—one that uses coal and creates...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 6/15/2018
Kelsey H. It’s important to keep tabs on the ways in which politics interact with trade in very deliberate ways. In this case, the interaction is directly tied to the journalism industry and democracy. While the printed newspaper is pretty much already dead, this move to make newspaper costs substantially increase by the Trump administration is going to hurt community journalism the hardest. Community journalism involves reporters on the ground...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 6/8/2018
Eric I’ve been hopscotching around the essays at Quillette this past week and thoroughly enjoying myself. The platform seems largely dedicated to dissent-style pieces taking aim at a perceived loss of intellectual diversity in American political discourse and to tweaking centrist conventional wisdom. (Check out, “Who’s Afraid of Tribalism?” for example.) Quilette’s bent is largely, though not entirely, toward a more conservative view of things, one that is often refracted...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 5/25/2018
Kristin Remote workers tend to be more satisfied with their jobs; feel less time pressure, exhaustion, and stress from meetings; and experience less work-life conflict. But they also have a lower sense of inclusion and get less feedback and social support. Here are three ways that workplaces can use technology to help minimize the disadvantages of working outside an office. Gen X’ers—America’s neglected middle children—are digitally savvy, collaborative leaders. But they are getting promoted significantly more slowly than millennials...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 4/6/2018
Kristin Ancient Stoic tips for the Modern workplace: don’t make things harder than they need to be, don’t blame others for your emotions, protect your peace of mind, and others. The workplace is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. The author of Dying for a Paycheck says: It’s worse than I thought. And obviously these workforce things that cause ill health do not fall equally on...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 3/30/2018
Kristin This was in Sightline’s daily news round-up, but worth reading over and over: America’s two-party system is the problem. Support for democracy is declining in two-party countries like the US (also called majoritarian countries, they are almost exclusively former British colonies), which are caught in bitter partisan battles and unable to address the pressing problems of inequality, lack of opportunity, social justice, and social safety nets. In contrast, parliamentary...Read more »