Please contact Mieko Van Kirk if you're interested in a speaker from Sightline.

Past speaking topics include:

• The Time Has Come: Economic Meltdown, Climate Crisis, and the Green-collar Revolution (Or “A Clean Green Economic Recovery”) - Will the economic collapse be the end of green? Or, as Thomas Friedman suggests, could green be the end of this financial calamity? Sightline's executive director Alan Durning addresses the economic meltdown and the potential for recovery, opportunities for addressing climate change with smart, fair, effective policy and the possibilities for green collar jobs that provide pathways out of poverty.
  

• Photo: Karie Hamilton

• Cascadia Scorecard: Measuring what matters: Every three minutes, the Northwest adds another person to its population; every 35 minutes, the region’s cities sprawl across another acre of open space; every day, the life expectancy of a northwesterner born that day increases by three hours. Over decades, such trends transform the region more dramatically than the short-lived events of headline news. The Cascadia Scorecard, Sightline's regional gauge of progress, examines the Northwest’s record on these slow-changing but critical areas, and highlights places that serve as real-world models of what the Northwest can achieve.
• Sustainability: How do we get there from here? There’s an old saw about a farmer who, when asked directions by a traveler, replied “If I was going there, I wouldn’t start from here.” Any cold-eyed northwesterner might be tempted to respond similarly about how to get to sustainability from our culture of strip malls, jumbo vehicles, and me-too consumerism. The good news is, many strategies do match up to the challenge. We detail a few of the most powerful ideas for our region, including pay-as-you-drive car insurance, tax shifting, and key transportation and livability solutions.
• Tax reform to help the economy and environment: Tax shifting is a European approach to tax reform that reduces taxes on “goods,” such as paychecks, and replaces the revenue with taxes on “bads, such as toxic waste. If used correctly, it can strengthen the economy and the environment and reshape a tax system that manages to send the wrong signals to almost everyone, yielding a Northwest that is both poorer and less livable.

 Past speaking engagements include:

• Smart Growth for Sustainable Communities, Sustainable Connections, September, 2009:  Researcher Roger Valdez presented the challenges and opportunities of measuring the benefits of density and smart growth.
• Simon Frasier University, Sustainability Assessment for Cities, Summer, 2009: Alan Durning was a guest expert conducting a Q & A about our Cascadia Scorecard and developing metrics to measure sustainability.
• Sustainable Path Foundation 2009 Seminar Series, May, 2009: Alan Durning spoke at Town Hall Seattle about a the opportunities for a  “clean green economic recovery.” 
• Western Progressive Leadership Network Conference, December, 2008: Alan Durning and Aiko Schaefer of Washington State Budget & Policy Center present at a workshop titled "Climate, Color and Community: how responding to climate change could be a breakthrough opportunity for justice, the economy and nature."
• Washinton Women’s Foundation Discovery Days, November, 2008: Alan Durning spoke about environmental challenges and opportunities presented in the current economic, and political climate.
  
• Planning for Climate Change, University of British Columbia, April, 2008: Researcher Eric de Place participated in a series of roundtable discussions on planning and climate change.  
• Idaho Environmental Education Summit & Idaho Environmental Forum, March, 2006: Alan Durning helped the Boise business and education communities discuss what it would take for Idaho to be sustainable.
  
• The Pacific Northwest’s Energy Assets and Economic Sustainability, March, 2005: Alan Durning joined US Representative Earl Blumenauer and representatives from Renewables Northwest, PacifiCorp, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and Bonnevile Power Administration explore where the Northwest's energy system is headed next and how our choices–or our inactions–will shape the outcomes. Sponsored by the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies. 
• The Great Viaduct Debate, August, 2004: Research director Clark Williams-Derry and Sightline board member Gordon Price discussed the so-called "sixth alternative" for Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct project: replacing the viaduct with a vibrant waterfront instead of another freeway. 
• City Club of Portland, July, 2004: Alan Durning discussed the Cascadia Scorecard and regional solutions to help move the trends in the right direction. 
• Portland Forum, Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, March, 2004: Sightline research director Clark Williams-Derry discussed Oregon's "score."