Editor's Take: March 10, 2008
Welcome to Sightline Daily!
Today, Tidepool and the Daily Score moved in together! Our new daily news website is a snapshot of the most important sustainability headlines affecting Cascadia,
combined with expert insight
that helps connect the dots and points to solutions. Our goal is to help
innovative thinkers--like you--understand and solve the environmental, social,
and economic challenges facing the Northwest.
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Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Kristin Kolb | View All Today's News
Mount Hood Runs into a Senator
Oregonian
03/10/2008
The wilderness expansion waits, stopped under Senate rules by a single member. Meet Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn.
Go to article.
McCain Sees Pork Where Biologists See Success
Washington Post
03/10/2008
If you've heard Sen. John McCain's stump speech, you've surely heard him talk about grizzly bears. The federal government, he declares with horror and astonishment, has spent $3 million to study grizzly bear DNA. "I don't know if it was a paternity issue or criminal," he jokes, "but it was a waste of money."
Go to article.
Portland's Next Green Challenge? Driving Less
Oregonian
03/10/2008
Portland and Perth are birds of a feather.
Peter Newman, an environmental scientist and professor from that bustling southwest Australian city, has studied the growth patterns of both urban areas.
He notes that both are on pioneering west coasts, off the beaten path. Each had strong natural resource industries but more recently has focused on growth management and building alternative modes of transportation -- especially passenger rail systems.
Go to article.
Overwhelmingly White, the Green Movement is Reaching for the Rainbow
Seattle Times
03/10/2008
Activist Van Jones' grand vision? Think New Deal and civil-rights movement combined with a clean-green industrial revolution. The nation needs to train masses of "green-collar" workers to conduct energy audits, weatherize and retrofit buildings, install solar panels and maintain hybrid vehicles, wind farms and bio-fuel factories. The icing? Wiring buildings and installing solar panels can't be outsourced.
Go to article.
Budget for Indian Country Decried
Missoulian
03/08/2008
Despite widespread disrepair of schools, jails and health care facilities in Indian Country, the Bush administration requested only a fraction of the funding needed to fix the problems, senators of both parties said Thursday.
Go to article.
Wash. Senate OKs Nation's Strictest Toy Safety Rules
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
03/08/2008
Despite last-minute intensive lobbying efforts by the toy industry, the Washington state Senate on Friday approved the strictest toy safety rules in the nation with a 40-9 vote. The legislation dramatically reduces the amount of lead, cadmium and plasticizing chemicals called phthalates allowed in children's products made and sold in the state. The chemicals can cause developmental problems, and are regulated by weak federal standards, if any at all.
Go to article.
Vancouver Jumps into Carbon Trading Business
Vancouver Sun
03/10/2008
Vancouver just may be beginning to stake out its claim as Carbon City with the formation of a carbon trading registry.
It's the bold idea of John Wiebe, president of the Vancouver-based Globe Foundation, an organization known internationally for running the world's biggest conference and trade show on sustainable business. Its registry -- which hopes to capture at least 20 per cent of the global market in voluntary carbon credits -- could make Vancouver a big player in the burgeoning carbon trading industry.
Go to article.
Arnold's GOP Allies Oppose California Climate Plan
Los Angeles Times
03/10/2008
Schwarzenegger's effort to help fight global warming may be undone by the state's own congressional Republicans.
Go to article.
Montana Barter Program Creates New Economy
Missoulian
03/10/2008
She wants to orchestrate a small economic upheaval, in which people list their goods and services in a directory, collect Flathead HOURS for those goods and services, then spend them with others in the directory.
It bolsters small-town economics, she said, and keeps the exchange local. It's the same sort of program now in existence across the nation - in some towns local currency accounts for as much as one-third of all the money circulating - and usually crops up during times of weak dollar values and increasing inflation, when individual purchasing power starts to slip.
Go to article.
Alaska's Governor Could Be VP Candidate
Anchorage Daily News
03/10/2008
There's an undeniable national buzz surrounding the first-term governor, seen by many Republicans both within Alaska and outside the state as a fresh, new face to represent the party's future. The vice presidency may be far-fetched, but the hype has only helped Palin's future political prospects -- and Alaska's reputation.
Go to article.
