Search Results
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Five Key Facts about Collapsing Coal Exports
I spend so much time immersed in the minutiae of coal markets that I forget that most people—the normal ones, I mean—pay almost no attention to trends in the global coal industry. There’s no shame in that, obviously. Still, based on conversations I had with friends and family over the holidays, it’s clear that lots of people have some serious misconceptions about coal exports. The folks with whom I chatted were gobsmacked to find out that global coal...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 1/8/16
Alan William A. Galston and Elaine C. Kamarck, both Brookings scholars and veterans of the (Bill) Clinton administration, have an intriguing critique of American capitalism in the fall edition of Democracy. Their accusation is short-termism—a fixation on near-term results at the expense of the future. Their argument, furthermore, is refreshingly practical. It puts the blame squarely on laws, regulations, and other institutional factors that have, together, cut private sector investment...Read more » -
Top 10 of 2015
Wow, what a big year for Sightline! We helped pass a historic democracy reform initiative in Seattle, dove into urban policy issues to create more affordable housing, and continued our fight towards making polluters pay in Cascadia and beyond. Plus, the Thin Green Line grew stronger than ever this year, thanks to Sightline exposing the torrent of terrible financial news for the coal industry, our continuous leading research on oil...Read more » -
What Paris Means for Cascadia
One-hundred-ninety-five nations reached an agreement in Paris this month. Interestingly, the landmark international accord draws a big fat highlight (and maybe a circle and some stars in the margin) across the work that activists and leaders are doing in the Pacific Northwest: not just the work to keep fossil fuels in the ground and make polluters pay for their pollution, but also our work to reduce the influence of money...Read more » -
Tesoro’s New Oil Train Cars: Too Few and Still Too Dangerous
One of the biggest players in oil by rail is trying to build more capacity in Washington State. Tesoro, an oil company with a checkered past, already receives loaded crude oil trains at its Anacortes refinery. Now the firm aims to build North America’s largest oil train unloading facility on the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. In an attempt to tamp down the local community’s concern about...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 12/11/15: Charity Edition
‘Tis the giving season! This week, we at Sightline share our favorite charities in Cascadia and beyond. We hope this helps inspire your end-of-year giving. Enjoy! Alan To me, perhaps the single most egregious failing of the United States (among several) is that ten times as many people with schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illness are locked in prison as are in psychiatric hospitals and other residential recovery facilities. My favorite...Read more » -
Cascadians in Paris
Right now, leaders from around the world are meeting in Paris to discuss the future of the earth’s climate. Other writers have covered what is at stake in Paris, including: An explainer by Brad Plumer at Vox A Q&A by Nell Greenfieldboyce at NPR An excellent four-minute video from Grist about the 22 years of treaties leading up to Paris This article gives you a sampling of the many Cascadian...Read more » -
8 Great Things about the Alberta Climate Plan
Author’s note: Unless otherwise indicated, all dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars. Back in May, voters in Canada’s most conservative province got fed up with 44 consecutive years of conservative rule and elected the New Democratic Party (NDP) (NDP is to the left of the Liberal Party that won the federal election in October). The new leadership wasted no time in forming a Climate Leadership Panel to engage people and businesses across the province (p. 14)...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 12/4/15
Alan This news story about a baby killed by a car collision in Bellevue, Washington, filled me with rage and sadness. We’re getting better in Cascadia about prioritizing human safety over traffic speed, but still, our laws and streetscapes are so disordered and misaligned that things like this happen often—hundreds of times a year—and mostly, people just shrug. As if it’s just sad, as if there’s nothing anyone can do,...Read more » -
7 Beverages Found in Refillable Containers in Cascadia
We’ve all probably heard an idyllic story or two about the milkman who used to deliver farm fresh milk to household doorsteps at sunrise and cart away the empty bottles to wash and reuse. Why doesn’t he or she come around anymore? Refillable beverage containers were a common phenomenon until the mid-20th century—in 1947, 100 percent of soft drinks came in refillable glass bottles. By the 1990s, such bottles had...Read more »