Our purpose as an organization is to provide Cascadia’s community problem solvers with practical vision and innovative thinking, inspiring and empowering them to bring about a healthy, lasting prosperity.  The true significance of Sightline's work lies not in the specific advances we have encouraged, but in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of daily acts of progress that we help empower, and the ideas that we help plant. Here are some examples of how that works.

We work hard.

In the years since its founding in 1993, Sightline Institute has:

• Penned thousands of posts on our blog since 2004 and published Sightline Daily, our daily news service for the Northwest, every weekday morning.
• Created scores of other publications, including reports, fact sheets, op-eds, newsletters, maps, charts, graphs and counters.
• Done hundreds of speeches and briefings, consulting with Northwest leaders and participating regularly on panels and advisory boards.
• Published 18 books, distributing over 150,000 paper copies and tens of thousands in free downloads.
  
  
  

Our work gets used by leaders, media--folks like you.

All of this output of credible, pragmatic analysis generates a steady stream of attention to our research:

• Sightline's monthly talking points emails, Flashcards, are used and valued by communications across the Northwest and beyond.
  
• Our tally of high-quality media coverage over the years shows thousands placements in reputable media outlets, reaching a staggering media audience.
• In recent surveys 83 percent reported that they’ve used or shared Sightline’s information with others and over 90 percent believe Sightline is intelligent, trustworthy, and accessible.
• On any given day, 5,000 Cascadian citizens rely on Sightline to get informed, to be inspired, to be empowered.
  
  
  

This results in victories for Cascadia.

• Our latest blog series cataloging legal barriers to sustainable solutions has inspired policy, from right-to-dry legislation that would allow clotheslines everywhere, to changing the laws mandating white pages be provided to all households.
• In early 2011, Washington decided to phase out its sole coal-fired power plant in Centralia--the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the state. Sightline's research, graphics, and ideas were used extensively by opponents of coal.
  
• In 2010, Uniguard insurance unveiled a Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance product, the first in the state. Sightline has long championed PAYD, worked to secure funding for a pilot project, and recruited volunteers to test the product.
• Sightline has championed Low Impact-Development as a solution to the region's toxic stormwater woes. Our primer has been circulated among stormwater advocates and decision makers, and influenced the decisions of several LID projects in the Seattle area.
  
• In November 2009, Washingtonians resoundingly voted down a "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" that would have wreaked havoc on the state's economy. Sightline's writing and storytelling was embraced by the No on 1033 campaign.
• Sightline continues to be at the forefront of climate policy debates. Sightline researchers have consulted with national delegates on federal policy and have played a guiding role in the Western Climate Initiative.
  
• In February 2008, British Columbia announced the most comprehensive carbon tax shift seen anywhere in the world, following the recommendations of our 1998 book Tax Shift almost to the letter. In 2009, British Columbians reelected the governing Liberal Party, upholding the carbon tax.
• During the 2008 election, Sightline worked hard to develop messaging components and research for the campaign against Washington Initiative 985, which lost by a staggering 20-point margin. Sightline fellow Doug MacDonald was a tireless and effective spokesman for the No campaign.
  
• Our September 2007 report “Bulk Discounts for Polluters” documented the way that some of the biggest polluters in Washington State pay were getting bulk discounts. The report inspired the state legislature to fund a task force to fix this flaw. Sightline's Executive Director Alan Durning was appointed to this group in 2008.
  
• In November 2007, Oregon passed Measure 49, which rolled back the most ruinous provisions of the Bad Neighbor Law, Measure 37. Sightline’s maps, research, and debate framing contributed to this victory.
• In 2007, Sightline’s work on the climate impacts of building new urban highway lanes helped define Proposition 1, a ballot measure in metropolitan Seattle, as an issue of climate change, not just congestion.
• In early 2007, 1000 Friends of Oregon sent our report on Measure 37, the bad-neighbor law, to every Oregon legislator as a companion piece to a video of Oregonians’ stories about the impacts of the measure.
• Inspired by Sightline, in 2007, three talented developers created a hugely popular "walkscore" online tool where users can rate the walkability of their neighborhood.
• A 2007 Sightline post about the surprising climate impacts of keyboard-cleaning spray canisters spurred the City of Seattle to discontinue use of the canisters.
• Wal-Mart is using chapters of Stuff and Seven Wonders as a primer for their buyers on product life cycles.
• The Greater Vancouver Regional District and the City of Vancouver were inspired to pass resolutions encouraging the Insurance Corporation of BC to offer pay-as-you-drive insurance.
• Sightline helped defeat ruinous land-use ballot measures across the Northwest in 2006 and 2007; and helped defeat an earlier one in greater Portland in 2002.
• Our 2004 study of toxic flame retardants in the breast milk of Northwest women helped lead to several Northwest bans of  PBDEs, including Washington's 2007 ban, the strongest in the country.
  
• Our work on sprawl and smart growth helped inspire Seattle's center-city strategy, which will make the city’s downtown a vibrant, walkable zone modeled on Vancouver, BC (whose Eco-Density initiative we also helped inspire)

This is how our work together proceeds. Since 1993, Sightline has developed tools, research, and powerful narratives about solutions, offered them to Cascadians near and far, who have used them to change Cascadia for the better.