Editor's Take: November 25, 2009
suntom, Flickr.
Portraits of Northwest Cities
Northwest cities are redefining and rediscovering their identities. Vancouver, BC, is redeveloping its Downtown Eastside, a high-poverty 'hood plagued with drugs and crime. The project includes condos, rental apartments, shopping, childcare -- and embodies the city's hope for urban revitalization. Portland is pegged as livable and lovely -- but not elitist -- thanks to its preservation of the middle class. Sightline Daily returns Monday. Happy Thanksgiving.
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Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
Obama going to Copenhagen climate summit
USA Today
11/25/2009
President Obama will go to Copenhagen next month, a White House official said Wednesday, to participate in a long-anticipated, high-stakes global climate summit.
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Vancouver redevelopment as social experiment
New York Times
11/24/2009
Downtown Eastside, a notorious high-poverty neighborhood in Vancouver, BC, known for its concentration of homeless people and drug and crime problems is getting a massive makeover that some view as a panacea for the city's social problems.
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California offers cap-and-trade plan
Los Angeles Times
11/24/2009
California Tuesday issued the nation's first blueprint for a broad-based cap-and-trade program to control global warming emissions. The pioneering effort would cap greenhouse gases emitted by more than 600 power plants, refineries, cement plants, and other big factories.
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Portland's not a global city -- luckily
Oregonian
11/24/2009
Here's an interesting take on why Portland remains a livable, attractive city. Forget about progressive land-use policies or green lifestyles. Turns out we're not globally important enough to have an elite that drives out the middle class and attracts a service class.
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Swift buses ready for fast lane
Everett Herald
11/25/2009
A new $29.6 million fast bus system, four years in the making, begins service Monday between Everett and Shoreline, just north of Seattle. It will be the first of its kind in Washington.
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Dignity Village: A place to call home
Oregon Public Broadcasting
11/25/2009
Oregon is conducting a unique social experiment called Dignity Village. It's a collection of about 45 yurts in the corner of a Portland leaf-mulching yard where a group of homeless people live and operate a semi-permanent campground.
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Parents beware: Hazardous toys still on shelves
Los Angeles Times
11/24/2009
Are the toys we're buying any safer than they were a couple of years ago, when millions of playthings were recalled because of high lead levels and other hazards?
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NW power grid project gets $89 million
Seattle Times
11/24/2009
A project to examine how high technology can improve the Pacific Northwest's electric power grid has received an $88.8 million grant from the US Department of Energy.
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Walking, biking good for you and the planet
Vancouver Sun
11/25/2009
Pedestrians and cyclists should be made king of the urban jungle, according to an international study showing the big benefits of "mass active travel."
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Views: Reform would boost Indian health care
Indian Country Today
11/24/2009
Say what you like about US health care reform, the fact is that Indian country is included in a big way this time around, says Mark Trahant.
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Editor's Take: November 24, 2009
strangejourney, flickr
Getting Real on Climate Change
The Obama administration is planning to announce a near-term target for carbon emission reductions before next months talks in Copenhagen—and it couldn’t come soon enough as concentrations greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reach record highs. But the Economist takes a look at some of the opportunities available in taking action now.
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Your editor today is Eric Hess | View All Today's News
US to set emissions target before climate talks
New York Times
11/23/2009
The United States will propose a near-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions before the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen next month, a senior administration official said Monday.
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Earth's greenhouse gases reach record highs
CBC BC
11/23/2009
Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached record highs in 2008, with carbon dioxide levels increasing faster than previously, the UN weather agency said Monday in Geneva. Levels of greenhouse gases, believed to be responsible for global warming, have been rising every year since detailed records started being kept in 1998, the World Meteorological Organization said.
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NW salmon plan is in sight
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/24/2009
"With a little bit of work," the government might be able to get approval for the plan to operate the federal hydroelectric system that provides most of the power for the Pacific Northwest, provides barge transportation of goods, and influences flows of water throughout a watershed that is larger than France.
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In need of a plan for BC's children in poverty
Vancouver Sun
11/23/2009
BC needs to follow the lead of six other provinces and adopt a clear plan for reducing child poverty if it hopes to shed its reputation as the worst performer in the country, says a report due out Tuesday.
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Conservation is key to dealing with CA's water woes
Los Angeles Times
11/24/2009
As climate change, environmental constraints and growth continue to tighten the valve on California's water supplies, the rest of the state is going to feel the pinch too. Not just during droughts but all the time. The reason is simple. Compared to building new reservoirs, recycling or seawater desalination, conservation is one of the cheapest, quickest and least environmentally damaging ways for the state to get more water.
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Western senators sponsor bill to attack pine beetles
San Francisco Chronicle
11/23/2009
More than 2.5 million acres of pine trees in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming have been killed by tiny beetles that burrow under the bark and lay their eggs, turning the green needles to the color of rust as they feed on the tree and restrict its ability to draw water.
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Data shows health reform would help Oregonians
Salem Statesman Journal
11/24/2009
National health care reform would help thousands of Oregonians, the Obama administration said Monday. Pending health care legislation would allow 715,000 residents who do not currently have insurance and 257,000 residents who have nongroup insurance to get affordable coverage through a health insurance exchange, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates.
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After the floods: A geological history of the NW
High Country News
11/23/2009
The view from State Route 281, a few miles south of Quincy, Wash., doesn't seem like one of the world's more dramatic landscapes. Not to me, anyway. This is country to be endured (better yet, slept through) on the way to other, more captivating environments. The topography here is mostly flat, and whatever isn't paved is russet or beige or an irrigated green.
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Green redemption
The Economist
11/24/2009
Depending on how you view it, climate change is either the biggest problem mankind faces or its greatest financial opportunity. For example, McKinsey has become known as a climate-change consultant, thanks to its greenhouse gas "cost abatement curve" showing the relative opportunity costs of different abatement activities.
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Study finds 17,650 creatures living in 'eternal watery darkness'
Oregonian
11/24/2009
Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried thousands of deep sea species that have never known sunlight -- creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 3 miles below the ocean waves.
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Editor's Take: November 23, 2009
Luca Zappa, flickr
Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
With organic bakeries, the Rock Cod Cafe and nary a fast food restaurant in sight, the seaside village of Cowichan Bay in British Columbia has become the continent's first "Slow City." In other news, a new study finds that frozen salmon is better for the planet than fresh, and a local food safety lawyer offers tips for safe eating.
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Your editor today is Jennifer Langston | View All Today's News
Life in the slow city
Living on Earth
11/22/2009
With no fast food restaurants or big box stores, the bicycle and pedestrian friendly Cowichan Bay in British Columbia has become North America's first Slow City. An offshoot of the Slow Food movement, it's a quiet resistance to drive-thru homogenization.
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Frozen salmon better for the planet
Oregonian
11/22/2009
Frozen salmon is better for the planet than fresh, because it takes so much less energy to make it to your dinner plate than catching fish and flying them to markets around the world. The findings of a study by Portland-based EcoTrust may fly against conventional assumptions that fresh is always better.
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Food-safety lawyer's wish: Lay me off
Seattle Times
11/23/2009
You might say that E. coli has been very, very good to William Marler. If there's an outbreak of food-borne illness anywhere in the country - spinach, cookie dough, hamburgers, you name it - chances are Marler will be filing lawsuits on behalf of those who were sickened. But now he's lobbying to be put out of business.
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Fatal attraction in acidifying oceans
BBC News
11/22/2009
Ocean acidification could cause fish to become "fatally attracted" to their predators, according to scientists. A team studying the effects of acidification - caused by dissolved carbon dioxide - on ocean reefs found that it leaves fish unable to smell danger.
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Sewer pollution spills into waterways
New York Times
11/23/2009
More than 9,400 of the nation's 25,000 sewage systems have reported dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere. As cities have grown rapidly across the nation, many have neglected infrastructure projects and paved over green spaces that once absorbed rainwater.
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Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
Seattle Times
11/23/2009
Since the 1997 Kyoto international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated - beyond some of the grimmest warnings made back then.
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KC Metro won't cut bus service after all
Seattle Times
11/23/2009
Metropolitan King County Council members say they've figured out how to maintain existing bus service for two more years - instead of cutting service 9 percent as earlier proposed.
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The changing SF skyline
San Francisco Chronicle
11/22/2009
For more than 20 years, San Francisco planners have nudged the city's burgeoning financial center towards these principles: don't drive cars, make street-level life more appealing, and let the skyline rip with ultra-tall high-rises. Now they've tweaked that thinking with intriguing specifics, including a "crown" of 1000-foot-tall towers.
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Recovery invisible to OR's small towns
Salem Statesman Journal
11/22/2009
Oregon's economy has hit bottom, and a slow recovery is under way, state lawmakers learned from forecasters. But the folks in Willamina, Dallas and countless rural towns across the state - which in some cases are one mill closure away from 80 percent unemployment - aren't celebrating.
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Do it for the polar bears!
Washington Post
11/22/2009
For marketers, climate guilt isn't the easiest thing to sell. Part of the audience thinks climate change is fake, fuzzy or too far in the future to care about. And another segment of the audience believe in climate change so fervently that they're too paralyzed or resigned to respond to new messages. So can you change all these minds with an ad?
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Editor's Take: November 20, 2009
Steve Rhodes, Flickr.
Showing the Way to Universal Care
The most succinct, appealing argument for health-care reform I've seen comes from Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times at the end of his recent column. Reform supporters point to the success of universal care in San Francisco as yet another model for the US overhaul. And if you're looking for a climate-news immersion, check out The Nation’s "Zero Hour for Climate Action."
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
San Francisco's health care a model
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
11/20/2009
San Francisco did not wait for Washington's health care overhaul. Most uninsured adults here are already reaping the benefits of a government-run health care program -- seeing doctors, filling prescriptions, and getting surgeries they could not otherwise afford.
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Oregon tree farmers invest in the majestic redwood
Ashland Daily Tidings
11/19/2009
Oregon tree farmers are planting at least 20,000 coastal redwood trees a year in Lane and Douglas counties. They're driven less the awe the big trees inspire in many people, than by the best return on their investment in 30 or 40 years, when the trees are harvested.
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Biologists rush to save fish after landslide
Seattle Times
11/20/2009
A gigantic landslide that buried a highway, uprooted homes and rerouted a river in Washington state's Cascade Range left hundreds of smaller victims: fish. Fisheries biologists from 10 government agencies and private groups are working shifts to try to save the salmon and trout.
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'Under-insured' growing as fast as uninsured
KPLU
11/19/2009
The trend of people no longer being able to afford health insurance has been getting worse, Washington officials say. A new state study predicts the number of people here without insurance will hit 1 million by the end of 2011.
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US companies making carbon cuts
San Francisco Chronicle
11/19/2009
A survey of 90 big US companies found that most were addressing climate change, either by cutting energy use, measuring greenhouse gas emissions, adopting policies to cut emissions, or pushing for federal legislation to do the same.
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Forests fight climate change on two fronts
Oregon Public Broadcasting
11/19/2009
And at a hearing on Capitol Hill, forest officials and lawmakers discussed ways that federal forestland could help combat climate change on at least two fronts.
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Views: US health-reform foes on wrong side of history
Seattle Times
11/19/2009
Why is it broadly accepted that elderly Americans should have universal health care, while it's immensely controversial to seek universal coverage for children? What's the difference, asks Nicholas Kristof, except that health care for children is far cheaper?
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Wage confusion delays weatherization program
Olympian
11/19/2009
Washington's home-weatherization efforts have fallen at least two months behind goals set under the federal stimulus aid, the result of a mix-up over conflicting wage requirements under federal and state laws.
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Oregon wolves again star in video -- with pups
Oregonian
11/20/2009
They walk in single file -- black- and gray-coated wolves gliding through a snowy open forest in eastern Oregon. The remarkable video, captured last week by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is further evidence that wolves are re-establishing themselves here.
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RV park tenants face eviction from affordable housing
Oregonian
11/19/2009
A pastoral campground on the banks of the Columbia River has for decades provided about 60 low-income residents with a clean, cheap, and safe place to live in an Oregon county with a dearth of decent affordable housing. But regulators say it's operating illegally and the long-term tenants must go.
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Editor's Take: November 19, 2009
austrini, Flickr.
Cash for Caulkers
If environment's your passion, pick up a New York Times today for its special "Business of Green" section delving into renewable power, the US Chamber of Commerce climate debate and more. Also check out the NYT's "cash for caulkers" piece that digs into the need for widespread home energy efficiency upgrades, highlighting some of the challenges, which we've tried to answer at Sightline.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
'Cash for Caulkers' home weatherization program
New York Times
11/18/2009
The economy still needs help. So White House officials are looking at creating a new version of cash for clunkers -- this time for home weatherization. Call it "cash for caulkers."
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Oregon entrepreneurs see profits in carbon market
Oregon Public Broadcasting
11/18/2009
Many hope the Copenhagen summit will set up a global carbon trading market, along the lines of what's now being established in California. In Oregon, some entrepreneurs see a public good -- and private gain -- in these markets.
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California rejects energy-hungry TVs
Los Angeles Times
11/18/2009
California moved to crack down on the sale of energy-gobbling big-screen television sets that now account for about 10 percent of a typical household's monthly power bill.
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Seas absorbing less carbon
New York Times
11/18/2009
The Earth's oceans, which have absorbed carbon dioxide from fuel emissions since the dawn of the industrial era, have recently grown less efficient at sopping it up, new research suggests.
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BC First Nation approves private property rights
CBC BC
11/18/2009
A northwestern BC First Nation has approved a revolutionary land reform deal, making it the first in Canada to approve private property rights.
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Infuriated mom: Why can't I protect my body?
Seattle Post Globe
11/18/2009
Kim Radtke of Seattle was pregnant with her now nearly three-week-old son when tests detected in her blood 11 chemicals, including mercury.
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A bridge over rising waters
Oregonian
11/19/2009
December is the big season for Willamette River cruises on the Portland Spirit, but that's also the big season for heavy rains. The ship's owners worry that the deluge will be so sudden and so great -- courtesy of global warming -- that the river will rise too high for the Spirit to pass under bridges.
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Idaho Power's cloud seeding efforts
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/19/2009
Idaho Power Co. is investing up to $1 million to seed the clouds above Idaho's mountains in hopes of increasing the snowpack that holds the water that will drive the hydroelectric turbines to produce the cheapest power the company can get.
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Defending science: the disease of denialism
Seattle Times
11/18/2009
Fear is as infectious as any virus, and gives many Americans a warped view of the dangers posed by vaccines, genetically engineered crops and other beneficial technologies, New Yorker writer Michael Specter said in Seattle Tuesday.
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Push on to turn BC pet cemetery into park
CBC BC
11/18/2009
The only pet cemetery in Vancouver could eventually disappear under a developer's bulldozer, but some pet lovers are trying to have the property turned into a park.
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