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Economy + Jobs

The promise of a sustainable economy is a promise of family-wage jobs, a fair tax system, and a healthy environment. Investments in clean energy throughout the Northwest have paid off in a big way, fueling a thriving green-collar workforce in the region. From the big-picture thinking that launched British Columbia’s successful polluters-pay carbon tax shift to the detail-oriented scrutiny of outdated laws that hinder sustainable lifestyles, Sightline research has led the way in dreaming up and promoting the best solutions for a sustainable Northwest future.

Research & Analysis

Climate + EnergyEconomy + JobsTransportation + Transit

UPDATED: Fifteen Thoughts on the Coronavirus and Cities

UPDATE 4/17/20: Since publishing this I’ve been trying to keep up with the ongoing firehose of related stories and happenings in a big bad Twitter thread (click “show this thread” once it opens on Twitter): What did I get right? What did I get wrong? What did I miss? Threading …

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The Impacts of a Grays Harbor Oil Spill, in 13 Slides

Three large oil terminals proposed for Grays Harbor could undermine the region’s economy and local culture. That’s the takeaway from two recent economic analyses: first, a study on coastal recreation in Washington from the Surfrider Foundation and marine technology firm Point 97; then, Economic Impacts of Crude Oil Transportation on the Quinault Indian Nation and the Local Economy, published by economic consulting firm Resource Dimensions. These reports help clarify the real threat that oil transport poses to Grays Harbor. But since most people don’t have time to thumb through such detailed findings, Sightline commissioned the following graphics to sum up the key points.
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What Oil Trains Threaten in Grays Harbor

The oil industry’s plans to build new shipping terminals on the Washington coast could jeopardize a crown jewel of the …
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Where Do Pollution, Poverty, and Race Come Together?

If Washington finally stops giving fossil fuel polluters a free pass and starts making them pay for their pollution, the state will have some money to spend. Nothing makes friends like money to spend, so legislators will undoubtedly hear all about how schools, highway builders, and others would like to spend the money. Yet some people in Washington will have a particularly strong claim to that revenue. They’ve already paid a high price for pollution in terms of their health, access to opportunities, and overall quality of life. Members of these communities often have darker skin and lower incomes than other neighborhoods. More pollution, more people of color, and less money add up to a need for investments to help these communities thrive. But first we have to find them.
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Meet your researcher

Kathryn (Kate) Anderson

Senior Researcher

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Research Collections

Long Rotations Forestry
Wildfire Management
Climate-Smart Farming

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Meet the Team

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Marketing Manager

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Marketing Manager

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Marketing Manager

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Marketing Manager

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Meet the Team

Michael Andersen

Senior Housing Researcher and Transportation Lead.

Michael leads Sightline’s work transitioning Cascadia away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy sources.

Catie Gould

Senior Researcher

Laura is a fellow with Sightline Institute, focused on energy policy, particularly natural gas infrastructure and building decarbonization.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Farms and forests cover much of the Cascadia bioregion, and how we care for these lands is key to a sustainable future. Rural land owners, managers, and workers are devising ways to work with nature, regenerating and protecting healthy soils, rich biodiversity, and clear and bountiful water. All the while, they are supporting thriving rural economies and producing healthy foods and plentiful timber. 

Unfortunately, such approaches are not yet widespread. On our farmlands, we often rely on practices that tax both the land and workers. In places, these methods have eroded our soils and polluted our rivers. Agriculture could be a carbon sink, but instead it’s a major carbon emitter. In our forests, short timber harvest rotations and careless clear-cuts pollute and desiccate water sources, disrupt habitat, and imperil the most carbon-rich bioregion on earth. 

Sightline’s Farms & Forests program spotlights and supports the innovators who are restoring our working lands and rural economies. 

We identify the barriers that hold these innovators back, researching and promoting strategies, especially in public policy, that help Cascadia’s rural leaders scale up their solutions for the environmental and economic challenges of Cascadia’s working lands. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Meet the program lead

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Kathryn (Kate) Anderson, Senior Researcher. Follow her on Twitter: @CollaborKate.

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Select projects and resources 

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Managing wildfires 

Cascadia is trapped in a wildfire catch-22: the more we suppress fires, the worse they get; and the worse fires get, the more we suppress them. Sightline examines how the region could interrupt this cycle, from fire hardening homes and reintroducing beneficial fire to the land, to making hard decisions about where and how to build our communities. View our wildfires research. [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Long rotations logging 

“Long rotations,” or the practice of delaying logging and growing forests past a short life, can deliver not just greater timber yields, but also greater carbon storage and water and habitat benefits. But foresters face barriers, financial and otherwise, in trying to make the switch from the typical 40-year rotation to a longer 80-year harvest cycle. Read more, including ways to support the shift. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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