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Your Monday Afternoon Viewing
Streetfilms, an organization creating short videos about smart transportation infrastructure that improves our streets, has produce two new videos about Vancouver, BC. Both are worth a watch. The first takes a look at how the city improved safety on its bikeways, encouraging folks of all ages to get on a bike:Read more » -
Weekend Reading 10/26/12
Anna: Chris Mooney takes a stab at just why the presidential debate organizers failed to mention C-word (you know, that climate thing) even once in the 2012 season. Good ol’ Bernie Sanders on Romney’s energy policy (Spoiler: He calls it a relic from the 19th C.). And if, like me, you’ve had enough of vapid horse race election coverage, read Eric Alterman’s critique of the mainstream media’s “trivial pursuit” of...Read more » -
Carbon Tax
A carbon tax would levy a charge on the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels purchased for combustion in the state, as well as on the carbon content of electricity imported from other states. In Washington, a carbon tax of $30 per ton of CO2 would net an estimated $2.3 billion each year. The proceeds could be used to reduce taxes on families and businesses, or to provide funding for transportation,...Read more » -
Why Sightline Supports Marriage Equality
Editor’s Note 6/26/15: The world became brighter today when the US Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that same-sex marriage is a legal right across the United States. Sightline believes that marriage equality is a matter of human dignity. We are proud that the nation is making sustainability legal and moving towards a more just society. Would giving same-sex couples the right to marry boost the economy? Perhaps so. In his 2002...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 10/12/12
Alan: Among the dozen or so books I devoured this summer, the single best read was the second volume of the classic William Manchester biography of Winston Churchill. This book recounts Churchill’s decade in political exile during the 1930s. England, like the rest of Western Europe, was deep in pacifist denial about the Nazi threat. Churchill, a ruling-party back bencher in parliament, stubbornly, valiantly, and almost single-handedly waged a campaign...Read more » -
Why Big Coal’s Collapse Matters To The Northwest
A few weeks ago I wrote about the astonishing and unprecedented nosedive in domestic demand for coal. That collapse has been good news for the climate and human health. But it’s been terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news for Big Coal. Just how terrible? Simply put, the coal industry is in freefall. Mining companies are shuttering operations left and right. A quick Google scan turns up recent coal mine closures in Indiana, Virginia,...Read more » -
Car Sharing Olympics Reconsidered
What a difference a few months make! At the end of July, we gave Vancouver, BC the gold medal in our “Northwest Car Sharing Olympics.” Vancouver edged out Portland in our rankings, largely because Vancouver had three mature car sharing services with a variety of pricing and membership models. Portland also had three services; but its peer-to-peer car sharing service, Getaround, was just getting off the ground, with only about...Read more » -
Dude, Where Are My Cars: Port Mann Bridge
Unsurprisingly to regular readers of this blog, traffic on the Port Mann Bridge in Surrey, BC peaked in 2005, and then fell modestly but steadily through 2010… That said, there’s no telling what this means for the future. A new, 10-lane Port Mann Bridge—certified by the Guiness Book as the widest bridge in the world—is nearing completion, and three lanes of the bridge have already been opened to traffic. A...Read more » -
Recent Coal Export Trends: Q2 2012
Here’s data from the latest coal report from the US Energy Information Administration, taking us up through the second quarter of 2012: [Update 12/28/12: The green line labelled is in error on this chart. The San Diego Customs District exported virtually no coal products in Q2 2012.] In the Western Customs Region, depicted above, three Districts reported meaningful quantities of coal exports. Here’s the interesting stuff. The Seattle District figures represent...Read more » -
Six Tips for Selling Green Stormwater Solutions
Congratulations! You’ve come up with a great idea for an affordable, attractive, environmentally sound solution for the polluted runoff that’s fouling Northwest rivers, lakes, and inland seas. But before you dig up that first shovel full of weedy grass to install your roadside rain garden, take heed: You must get the public (or in the case of a private development, your client) on board first! Puget Sound area governments have...Read more »