Editor's Take: September 17, 2008
Colectivo Aliados 2.0, Flickr
The Economy of Sustainability
While migrant farmers labor across Cascadia, KUOW reports that funding
in Washington helps immigrants run their own farms. In BC life
isn't as sunny for migrant
workers who were sent back to Mexico for trying to unionize. Overall, housing
and the economy
are tough issues of the day. In other news - please support our Fall
Fund Drive. Sightline depends on your generosity to provide resources and
inspire change.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Christina Claassen | View All Today's News
America's Next Generation of Food Growers
KUOW
09/16/2008
Many longtime farm families are getting out of agriculture. In their place are immigrants who dream of owning and farming their own land. We meet a husband and wife from Mexico. After years of seasonal farm work and minimum pay, they took a leap and started their own farm in Blaine, Washington.
Go to article.
BC Migrant Workers Booted for Unionizing
CBC BC
09/16/2008
Union officials are outraged after a group of migrant farmworkers who were harvesting vegetables in Abbotsford were sent back to Mexico after filing papers to unionize.
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada alleges Floralia Plant Growers in Abbotsford put 14 migrant workers on a plane back home the day after the owners found out about their plans to join the union.
Go to article.
Ecotrust Looks To Economics To Save Environment
Oregon Public Broadcasting
09/16/2008
Spencer Beebe, is an economist and forester who founded Ecotrust in the early 1990s. The goal of the organization was to use economic forces, rather than lawsuits and lobbying, to achieve environmental goals. The environmental and economic marriage is already underway.
Go to article.
High Prices, Joblessness Drive Oregonians to Seek Aid
Oregonian
09/17/2008
High food and energy prices and rising unemployment have pushed thousands of Oregon families to ask for state help paying their bills, putting food on the table and getting health care.
The growing need means the state Department of Human Services faces a $71.6 million budget deficit.
Go to article.
Views: Housing Crisis - Renting to Own
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
09/17/2008
The economy can't be healed until there's a treatment plan for the housing illness.
The Democratic nominee for vice president, Joe Biden, said on CNBC Tuesday that bankruptcy laws need to be changed to keep people in their homes. We're not sure about that approach, but we do think there ought to be a concerted effort to limit foreclosures.
Go to article.
BC's Premier Gives Bike Routes Some Money
Vancouver Sun
09/17/2008
Premier Gordon Campbell pledged $31 million Tuesday toward building bicycle routes around the province.
The announcement brings total spending on bicycling infrastructure by the province to $114 million over seven years.
Go to article.
EPA Lets Electronic Waste Flow Freely
Washington Post
09/17/2008
The Environmental Protection Agency has done little to curb the export of discarded electronic products containing hazardous waste, much of which ends up in poorly regulated countries and harms the environment and public health, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report being released today.
Go to article.
Clatsop Voters: No LNG Pipelines in Park Lands
Astoria Daily Astorian
09/16/2008
Initial ballot counts show voters want to prohibit natural gas pipelines from crossing park land in Clatsop County.
Go to article.
Views: Take a Look at Oregon's Land-Use Planning
Oregonian
09/17/2008
To understand why Oregon's land-use planning system has worked well -- and a recent analysis performed by Oregon State University showed that it has -- you have to return to first principles.
Go to article.
North Pole Ever Closer to Having No Ice
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
09/16/2008
The area of Arctic Ocean covered by the ice has shrunk one-third below what's been normal over the past three decades. It's the first year that both the Northwest Passage over the top of North America and Russia's Northeast Passage are free of ice, environmentalists pointed out this week.
Go to article.
