Series in Democracy + Elections

• Hot Seat: The Fight Against Big Chem’s Toxics in Our Homes

  Investigating the 12-second flammability rule and its true consequences for our health and safety.

• Thin Green Line Activism

  The Thin Green Line grows stronger.

• Oil Train Explosions and Derailments

  Sightline investigates fiery oil train derailments that are all-too-common and incredibly destructive.

• What Do Oil Train Explosions Cost?

  The financial risks of radically under-insured and severely dangerous oil train derailments.

• Fracked Fuel & Petrochemical Projects in the Pacific Northwest

  Methanol, LNG, propane-by-rail, and xylene  schemes—cousins to coal and oil export projects—get a close review of their costs and risks to the Northwest’s water and air.

• Archaic Election Methods Hurt Democracy

  The United States and Canada are two of the only advanced democracies in the world that still use outdated first-past-the-post voting systems.

• The Right to Vote

  The United States is the only advanced democracy in the world that doesn’t honor and protect citizens’ right to vote.

• Money in Politics

  Elections are flooded with money from big donors, drowning out the voices of ordinary citizens.

• Non-Cascadia Climate Action

  Following global progress to put a meaningful price on climate-warming carbon pollution.

• Cascadia Climate Action

  What Cascadia is doing to make polluters pay.

• Carbon Pricing: An Introduction

  Selections from our carbon pricing research to get you up to speed.

• Active Series

• A Crackdown on Coal Dust

  What coal dust means for human health in Northwest communities.

• Junk Mail Crusade

  Alan Durning documents his years-long battle against mailbox pollution.

• Don't Let Coal Gerrymander Your Elections

  How partisan wrangling over the election process could have Big Coal implications for residents of Whatcom County.

• Honest Elections Seattle

  How a citizens' initiative in Seattle could lead the way for taking back our democracy from Big Money interests.

• The Risk of Northwest Oil Spills

  What an oil spill from the region's ballooning oil shipping industry would mean for Northwest waterways.

• Love for Land-Value Taxes

  How a tax mechanism from the 1800s could help Seattle take back the future of its urban core.

• Family-Friendly Cities

  If kids are the "indicator species" of healthy cities, then planning our towns with families in mind—from housing to street safety and more—would serve all urban residents well.

• Teen Pregnancy: Going... Going...

  How to continue the decrease in US teen birth rates.

• Look Who's Taking Oil & Coal Money

  Outing purported "green" professionals for their contradictory work pushing Northwest coal and oil exports.

• Coal Export Trend Reports

  Analysis of the US Department of Energy's national and regional quarterly coal export data.

• Metro Matters

  Why King County must invest in its transit system.

• Winning Abundant Housing

• Housing Every Oregonian

  This series articulates a specific, actionable agenda for abundant housing that respects the land Oregonians depend on, all the millions of people who live in Oregon, and the millions more who will someday want to.

• Learning to Live with Wildfires

• The Costs of Parking Mandates

• Long Rotations Forestry

  Extending timber harvest rotations is on the table as a triple bottom line solution—actually a sextuple bottom line solution. But is it really a good idea, and is it even possible? If so, how do we do it?

• YIMBYtown 2022

• Ranked Choice Voting

• Fairer Elections in Portland

• Transitioning From Puget Sound Oil Refineries

• Things I Hope Never Come Back After the Pandemic

• Coronavirus and Cascadia

• What Democracy Looks Like

  Mapping a path to political reform and reclaiming our institutions of governance.

• Freeing our Cities from Fracked Gas

• Community stabilization

• The Case for Removing the Snake River Dams

• Gerrymandering

• Growing Safe Streets

• Proportional Representation in Washington

  Most prosperous democracies around the world elect representatives with the ProRep system—it’s democracy 2.0

• Self-Driving Cars: A Fad or the Future?

  Sightline fellow Daniel Malarkey explores the potential for autonomous vehicles to change the future of transportation.

• Congestion Pricing

  A look at how Oregon and Washington could ease traffic woes by implementing congestion pricing.

• Washington Government Accountability Act

  Learn more about Washington's 2016 opportunity to return power to everyday people in state politics.

• Oil Rail Car Safety Standards

  Hazardous and volatile oil rail cars put the public at risk.

• Green-Collar Jobs

  Investments in clean energy and green jobs are 3-in-1 solutions. They turn big challenges---energy, climate change, and the economy---into big opportunities for families and businesses in our communities. This blog series delves into what green-collar jobs are and seeks out programs in the Northwest working to create more.

• BP, Tim Eyman, and I-1053

  How Washington's 2010 initiative 1053 was not only undemocratic and unconstitutional, but downright unfair.

• Initiative 1098 and Income Taxes

  Sightline set the record straight on a 2010 Washington ballot measure that sought to levy an income tax on the very wealthy to fund schools and health care, as well as reduce taxes for property owners and small businesses.

• R-52: Cool Schools Washington

  EHB 2561, a bill to retrofit school buildings and put energy savings toward education, passed the legislature and is now on its way to the people for a vote.

• The Parable of the Electric Bike

  Imagine an electric bike. Zipping through the city. Surging up hills without gasping for breath. Appealing! So, why haven't they caught on?

• Game Changers

  Alan Durning writes about flawed institutions of governance. It's not about inadequate or wrong-headed laws or policies; it's about the rules of the game, the lawmaking procedures.

• The Dirt on Coal

• Stormwater Solutions: Curbing Toxic Runoff

  Toxic stormwater is a daunting challenge. But the good news is we already know the solution.

• Sustainababy: Born to be Green

  Anna Fahey looks at pregnancy and motherhood through the lens of sustainability policy.

• I-1033: Eyman's Permanent Recession

  Layoffs, pay reductions, and significant cutbacks to important services left us all feeling the pinch of the recession. Tim Eyman's 2009 Initiative 1033 in Washington sought to set these financial hardships in stone.

• Cap and Trade and the "Gaming" Question

  How well-designed carbon pricing systems defy would-be market manipulators.

• Cascadia Scorecard

  The Cascadia Scorecard is Sightline's annual state-of-the region report. This series includes the latest updates to the project.

• Northwest Coal & Oil Exports

  The facts on coal exports, oil trains, and the real costs of these schemes for our region and climate.

• Inside the Western Climate Initiative

  Whats good, bad, and missing from the Western Climate Initiative's 2008 draft proposal?

• Measure 63 in Oregon

  A look at a 2008 Oregon ballot measure that sought to change key land use laws.

• Economic Turnaround

  By investing in efficiency and conservation measures, clean energy, smart climate policy, and green-collar jobs, we can find hope in our economic crisis.

• Climate Fairness

  Climate change does not affect everyone equally. This Sightline blog series explores ways to help ensure climate change is addressed fairly.

• Bicycle Neglect

  Which Cascadian cities are doing best at developing bike networks? And how they can do better?

• This Land: Measure 37's Impact on Oregon

  The latest news and analysis on Oregon's "bad-neighbor" law, plus a look at Measure 49, an effort to rewrite Measure 37 to make it more true to what Oregonians want.

• Word on the Street

  Sightline's communications strategy team looks at the latest polling data and political messaging for best practices, worst practices, and lessons for Northwest policy champions.

• The Year of Living Car-lessly Experiment

  After the demise of their family Volvo, Sightline director Alan Durning and his family decided to try living car-free for one year.

• Best of Sightline's blog

  The best of the best, the cream of the crop. Our (and your) all-time favorite articles—collected together in one series, so you don't have to hunt them down.

• Seattle's Great Viaduct Debate

  Sightline research director Clark Williams-Derry analyzes how to replace (or not) Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct.

• Twenty Times Better than the Pill

  Contraceptive options and affordability are key to addressing a number of public health and economic concerns.

• Cashing In Our Carbon

  How and why Oregon and Washington should follow British Columbia's lead and start cashing in on carbon pollution.

• Putting a Price on Carbon

  How putting a price on carbon pollution could benefit communities across the Northwest.

• Coal Exports: Caveat Investor

  Why the Northwest coal export proposals are proving an increasingly shaky investment for their backers.

• Crimp Your Ride

  How ride-for-hire (or so-called "rideshare") and taxi regulations may change how you get around.

• Burning Rubber(s)

  Better contraceptive options for men are long overdue.

• The Northwest's Pipeline on Rails

  A comprehensive look at the nearly one dozen plans that have emerged since 2012 to ship crude oil by train to Northwest refineries and port terminals.

• The Wrong Side of the Tracks

  How coal and oil trains will disrupt vehicle and rail traffic across Northwest communities.

• Parking? Lots!

  How obscure parking rules have misshaped our communities and opportunities for better options.

• Big Oil's Accidental Tax Loophole

  Giving away millions to the state’s oil industry every year is hard to understand.

• Sightline@20

  Sightline celebrates its 20th anniversary.

• Flashcards

  Sightline Flashcards are quick reference tools for effective communications strategies. They're messaging memos distilled from experts and savvy communicators—to help you do your job and save you time.

• Legalizing Inexpensive Housing

  How updating a few musty housing laws can promote the smart, affordable housing options we need across fast-growing Northwest towns and cities.

• Betting the Farm

  Northwest farmers are getting on in age. The search is on for the next generation of food-growers, as the demographics of farm ownership may be starting to change.

• Cascadian Demographics

  Race, ethnicity, and the changing face of the Pacific Northwest.

• My Year of Nothing New

  Follow Anna Fahey's New Year's resolution to buy nothing new in 2012—saving cash and cutting carbon at the same time.

• Talking Weather and Climate

  In this blog series, Communications Strategist Anna Fahey examines how scientists, public figures, and journalists are linking weather and climate.

• Making Sustainability Legal

  Some of the smartest, most innovative solutions for a sustainable Northwest are, at present, simply illegal. This Sightline series puts the spotlight on cases where we can make sustainability legal by changing existing regulations and developing pragmatic money-saving proposals.

• Northwest Ocean Acidification

  This series explores the local costs of ocean acidification –the process by which water absorbs too much carbon pollution, becoming more corrosive.

• The Reluctant Cyclist

  Follow Eric Hess's first rides, initial thoughts on commuting, and an introduction to bike culture in this Sightline series.

• Weekend Reading

  Each Friday, Sightline staff compile their top reading picks from the week.

• Dude, Where Are My Cars?

  Throughout the Northwest, transportation planners predict traffic volumes will grow and grow. But over the past decade, actual traffic trends have bucked predictions.