Daily Score Blog

Funding local libraries in Washington and Oregon has always been a struggle--and even more so in tough economic times. The Multnomah County Library system relies mostly on levies and bonds and Seattle funds its libraries from the City’s general fund.

While Multnomah County won’t face another election for some time Seattle’s prospects are looking dim this budget season.

One point library advocates can make is that libraries reduce green house gas emissions and save tax dollars. In Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet, Eric Sorensen points out that one typical library prevents 250 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year just from the paper it doesn’t use. Sorenson also found that the King County Library system saved taxpayers $5 for $1 spent on libraries from realized savings from not buying new books, compact discs and magazines.

Read more about the other six wonders here.

UPDATE 04/17/2009 The Seattle Public Library is likely to take some major cuts to service this year. The plan to save money includes closing the libraries for a week.

The headlines read something like this: Obama Backs Off 100 Percent Auctioning. One element of the story is sure to follow: Environmentalists aren't going to be happy! The question of 100 percent auctioning at the beginning of a national cap and trade system is one thing. But what I can't abide is the pervasive notion that "environmentalists" are the only ones who should care. The fact is, the decision to auction permits or give them away for free affects every single citizen in the country.

The White House science adviser should know better. Here he is paraphrased in the Washington Post (emphasis mine):

The Obama administration might agree to postpone auctioning off 100 percent of emissions allowances under a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas pollution, White House science adviser John P. Holdren said today, a move that would please electricity providers and manufacturers but could anger environmentalists.

Ah, yes, the "angry environmentalist."  It's such a tired, old stereotype -- but apparently an easy one even for the Post to blithely reinforce. But, leaving aside all the baggage that comes with the very term "environmentalist," the thing is that in strictly environmental terms, the cap works the same way whether or not permits are free or auctioned.  If environmentalists are angry, it's for the same reason everyone should be:  free permits are an unnecessary giveaway to big business, at the expense of ordinary families.

Washington state Representative Hans Dunshee has proposed a $3 billion issue to finance a massive overhaul of school buildings in Washington State.  According to press reports, the legislation -- ambitiously called the "Washington Works Act" -- would create 90,000 jobs in Washington by employing people to implement capital projects to make “safety, health, and energy efficient improvements to public facilities in all public K-12 school districts, community and technical colleges, state universities, regional universities, [and] The Evergreen State College.”

Proponents of the legislation hail it as a green version of the Works Progress Administration, the massive New Deal job-creation effort.   Others, like the State Treasurer, have come out against the legislation, saying it would damage the states credit rating by massively increasing the states debt load.

I’m not going to step into the controversy over the bill’s specifics; I just don’t know enough to have an informed opinion. Still, there are two underlying ideas in the bill that are worth a very sympathetic hearing.

Every year about this time, I open my mailbox to find the course catalogue from the North Cascades Institute. And every year, a little piece of me dies when I begin reading about the things that, in all likelihood, I won't be doing. I won't be watching the night sky in the high desert. I won't be learning about local food by touring Skagit Valley farms. And I won't  be reading Jack Kerouac at a mountaintop fire lookout.

Argh. It's only April and already it feels like another year gone.

But this year, I'm not quite as dismayed. That's because I'll be co-teaching a class there this autumn. It's called "Will Write for Change: Communication Tools and Techniques for Activists" and it's being held the weekend of October 2-4 at the NCI learning center on Diablo Lake, nestled in the heart of the mountains. (Even better, I'll be teaching with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bill Dietrich -- which sort of feels like asking me to batting practice with Ichiro -- as well as a batch of other very talented folks.)

There's really nowhere I rather be spending my time than in the North Cascades, as that region is broadly defined. And I think maybe that's why every year the NCI course catalogue depresses me a little: it's a memento mori.  Life is passing; my remaining summers are finite; and whatever else I'm doing, I can be sure that I'm not spending enough time in the North Cascades.

Lucky for me, NCI has a new-ish blog called Chattermarks (which I think is a brilliant name). I'm glad they started a blog because now instead of waiting for one big annual reminder of my mortality, I can find frequent updates about how my life is passing. The dogwood twigs are budding. Diablo Lake is still icing over. And there are mountain lion tracks in the snow around the learning center. Sigh.

Whatever. At least I've got my laptop and wifi. And if folks are interested in signing up for the class, you can do it online right here. I even promise not to whine about how I wish I were in the North Cascades.