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Researching the region’s most pressing sustainability challenges

We provide citizens and decision-makers with the policy analysis and practical tools they need to advance an economy and way of life that are environmentally sound, economically vibrant, and socially just.

Our Work

All Sightline Institute research is available to you to cite, use, and share, per our free use policy.

Farms + Forests

Blazing a Trail: The Vital Role of Wildfire Hazard Maps

Sophisticated and high-resolution maps such as Oregon’s are essential tools for thriving in a fiery future.
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Democracy + Elections

Reporting on Ranked Choice Voting in Portland’s 2024 Elections

Resources for journalists and editors.
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Climate + Energy

Washington State Leads in Climate-Friendly Building Policies—For Now

How two ballot initiatives would affect Washington’s clean building efforts and how the state can maintain its lead.
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Democracy + Elections

Proportional representation in just three (brutally hard, agonizingly slow) steps!

Is there a better way to get there in the United States?
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Housing + Cities

Five Flaws That Would Destine WA’s TOD Bills to Backfire

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Democracy + Elections

‘Majority Rules’ Brings Election Reform to the Big Screen

The documentary digs into Alaska’s 2022 launch of open primaries and ranked choice voting—and how the changes shook up the status quo.
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Lessons for Washington State Leaders as Another US Oil Refinery Closes

In a state home to five oil refineries, a forthcoming, taxpayer-funded study can answer some central questions.
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One of Washington’s Anti-Climate Initiatives, 2066, Eked Out a Victory. Why?

And how leaders can still help families and businesses electrify for safer, cleaner buildings in line with the state’s climate values.
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Four Ways Gov.-elect Ferguson and Washington Lawmakers Can Build on the State’s Big Climate Win

After Washingtonians overwhelmingly voted to keep the Climate Commitment Act, their leaders have powerful opportunities ahead.
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Correcting the Record on Initiative 2066

What the Seattle Times editorial board got wrong about the Washington ballot measure.
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The Contradiction of a Split Vote on Washington’s Anti-Climate Ballot Initiatives

Initiatives 2066 and 2117 are closely linked, but polls and endorsements diverge.
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(Re)explaining Washington’s Climate Commitment Act

Understanding the cap-and-invest law that Washington Initiative 2117 would repeal.
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In Some Cities, Most Voters Put Someone They Want on City Council—But Not Portland

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Voters in Southwest Portland Neighborhoods Have More Influence on City Council Elections than Those East of 82nd Avenue

Voters in neighborhoods with more people of color are less likely to elect their preferred councilors.
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Portland: Why Risk Gerrymandering When You Could Go Proportional?

Un-gerrymandered districts would keep racial groups in the minority across the city.
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Want to Give Portlanders of Color a Voice on City Council? Districts Won’t Help

But proportional ranked choice voting would reliably give voters of color a voice in City Hall.
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Everything You Wanted to Know about Portland Charter Review but Were Afraid to Ask

The third ever Charter Commission is meeting right now to propose amendments to Portland’s city charter.
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Some Good News on State Voting Rights Bills

Most states are moving to make it easier to vote, but a few states are moving backwards.
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Four Ways Context Matters for Wildfire News Coverage

Reporters can help people see the forest, even when the trees are on fire.
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Blazing a Trail: The Vital Role of Wildfire Hazard Maps

Sophisticated and high-resolution maps such as Oregon’s are essential tools for thriving in a fiery future.
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What’s Misunderstood about Indigenous Cultural Fire Is Sovereignty

Lessons from the Karuk Tribe.
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Oregon’s Land Use Law Creates Wildfire-Adapted Communities

Bend residents have shown us how.
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The Best Wildfire Solution We’re Not Using

Three ways to curb the sprawl that traps us on a wildfire treadmill.
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We’re Stuck on a Wildfire Treadmill

And to escape, we need more fire, not less.
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Building Healthy Organizations and Sustainable Movements

Henry Honorof (Welcoming Neighbors Network), Jesse Kanson-Benanav (Abundant Housing Massachusetts), and Sarah Weber-Ogden (Sunrise Movement PDX) share their insights into how to set up organizations for longevity and success.
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Inclusionary Housing in Portland: A Dial, Not a Switch

Vivian Satterfield (Verde) and Cassie Graves (Portland Housing Bureau) discuss the impacts of lifting Oregon’s ban on inclusionary zoning in a YIMBYtown 2022 panel.  
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What Do Housing Providers Have to Say about Zoning Reform and City Policies?

In this YIMBYtown 2022 session, Julia Metz (Catholic Charities of Oregon), Paul Del Vecchio (Ethos Development), and Preston Korst (Habitat for Humanity Portland Metro) discuss how zoning and other reforms affect how much and how fast they can build new housing.
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Parking Reform: From Theory to Practice 

The principles of parking reform are straightforward, but the politics can be another story. Four changemakers from both in and outside of government share their stories of how they won victories for using city space more efficiently.
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Political Leadership for Abundant Housing

St. Paul councilmember Mitra Jalali, Former Oregon House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, Washington state representative Jessica Bateman, and moderator Conor Dougherty (New York Times) discuss housing advocacy at local and state levels and how focusing on real people and their stories can unite coalitions around a common cause.
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Thumb on the Scale: Our Housing Systems and How to Fix Them

Jerusalem Demsas (The Atlantic), Jenny Schuetz (Brookings Metro), Allan Lazo (Fair Housing Council of Oregon), and moderator Vivian Satterfield discuss the need to rethink our exclusionary housing systems and the community engagement process in order to reshape these systems and their outcomes.
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Video: Housing Solutions Are Climate Solutions

In 90 seconds, how zoning for more home choices in our cities helps affordability and cuts climate pollution.
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Poll: Washington Voters Out Ahead Of Local Leaders On Zoning Reforms

Statewide survey shows broad voter receptivity—across partisan, demographic, and geographic lines—to zoning changes to allow more homes like duplexes and small apartment buildings.
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Video: Zoning for All Kinds of Affordable Homes

Cities need all kinds of affordability, both subsidized housing and naturally affordable, modest-sized, market-rate homes.
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Recipes for Successful Abundant Housing Communications

In this panel discussion, three expert communicators share how they’ve crafted compelling narratives, engaged coalitions, and garnered press attention for housing affordability and climate policy.
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How to Tear Down the Invisible Walls in Your City’s Zoning Code

10 tips for zoning reformers from a town that legalized housing.
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Americans Want to Vote As Trump Does (By Mail), Not As He Says

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Sightline news picks

Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

Cut through the noise and get the news you can use. Sightline editors—real people—hand-pick headlines from 150+ outlets to keep you on top of the stories shaping our region’s communities, economy, and environment. Reader favorite; formerly known as Sightline Daily. 

Sightline weekly

Saturday mornings.

Only have a few minutes each week? Our weekly wrap-up delivers the latest Sightline research and solutions, plus top headlines to keep movers and shakers in the know. 

Sightline month in review

End of the month.

Get a month’s worth of solutions research and key headlines, plus a personal note from a Sightline team member connecting the dots and putting our work into the larger news context. 

Issue insights from Sightline experts

Hear directly from our team of experts. They take you on a deeper dive into Sightline’s solutions, translating their latest analysis and sharing behind-the-scenes context for the research—as well as what to watch for next. Delivered about monthly.

Housing + Cities

Parking, zoning, sprawl, pollution, property rights, commutes, rents, and home prices—they all intersect where a legacy of exclusionary rules and regulations restrict homebuilding and fuel our housing shortage. Hear from Dan Bertolet, Catie Gould, Michael Andersen, and others exploring solutions for low-carbon, affordable, accessible cities and towns.  

Climate + Energy

From electrification to decarbonization, carbon pricing to grid upgrades, Emily Moore and team decode the policy solutions to power a greener, more equitable, and robust economy for the region’s future.  

Democracy + Elections

Protecting voter choice and voice with clear-eyed, independent analysis and models of success—Alan Durning, Jay Lee, Shannon Grimes, Al Vanderklipp, and others send you the latest elections solutions and opportunities, from Alaska to Oregon and inland to Montana and Idaho. 

Farms + Forests

Where sustainability meets stewardship of our natural resources and food systems. Get dispatches from actual farms and forests—and the policy discussions that determine their health and climate impacts. 

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