Sightline in the News

Northwest guzzling least amount of gas since '66

04/21/2008
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"The biggest single impetus is higher prices," said Clark Williams-Derry, research director of Sightline. "When prices rise, people start to make different kinds of choices. ... We're traveling a little less. We're making shorter trips and fewer trips."

Northwest hits brakes on per-capita use of gasoline

04/21/2008
The Oregonian

Northwest residents are individually buying 10 percent less gas than they did nine years ago, now consuming about a gallon a week less than the national average.

NW drivers cutting back big time on gas consumption

04/21/2008
King 5

On the day that Washington state's attorney general is set to announce the findings of a year-long investigation into high gas prices, a Seattle-based think tank says people in the Northwest are leading the nation in cutting back on gas consumption.

Spokane gas cheapest in the state

04/21/2008
Spokesman-Review

State investigators found no evidence of price-fixing or illegal collusion in Washington, although gas prices have risen 230 percent since 2003.

Green With Envy

04/21/2008
Williamette Week Online

“At one point we were the greenest corner of the country and perhaps one of the trendsetters of the world. And now, I don’t want to say we’re falling behind, but we’re no longer uniquely the ones to watch,” says Clark Williams-Derry. . .

Walk the Walk

04/21/2008
New York Times

Last summer, a trio of Seattle software developers started walkscore.com, which calculates the number of potential destinations within walking distance of any given address and then produces a rating.

Growing cruise ship industry impacting air, water quality

03/31/2008
King 5

"The Port of Seattle tends to count only the benefits of the cruise ship industry and not count the costs. It's a bit like counting your paycheck, but the not the charges your racking up on the credit card," said researcher Eric de Place, Sightline Institute.

Cyclists, skinny tires, streetcar rails — not a good mix

12/06/2007
Seattle Times

New streetcar tracks on Seattle's Westlake Avenue have turned into a trap for bicyclists. The tires on a standard road bike are narrower than the 1 ¾-inch groove that holds a streetcar wheel. If a bicycle veers into that gap, it can easily get stuck, pitching the rider onto the street.

Nickels to employees: Take bus

12/05/2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed giving all city employees free bus passes by 2009 to encourage use of transit as a means for reducing the air pollution that causes global warming.

Does building new roads help or hurt global warming?

12/05/2007
International Herald Tribune

Seeking a place in the vanguard of the battle against global warming, France last month unveiled a package of ambitious pledges that included a particularly bold proposition: An end to new highway construction.

Licensing Bicycles

11/22/2007
CBC

One of the more sensational stories to come out of the mean streets of Toronto recently was not a driver committing an act of road rage, but a cyclist losing it and attacking a driver who cut him off.

Climate change: Lead or step aside

11/21/2007
Seattle Times

The United States can best influence how the world addresses global warming by leading the way instead of sniping from the sidelines. Constructive participation in meetings next month in Bali, Indonesia, must set the tone.

Visions of a sounder, safer future

11/19/2007
Seattle Times

Can today's Americans make wise choices for the futures of their communities? Accept some current pain for gains down the road? Think long-term? Too often, the answer seems "no." Although in a string of recent referendum votes across the country, glimpses of refreshing far-sightedness shone through.

Era of big highway building is over

11/08/2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The loud gasp you heard Tuesday evening was the Big Highway lobby taking its last breath. For 50 years, in this region and across the country, big digs and paving rigs were the preferred answer to transportation needs. For the first time, a huge project was rejected here because of concerns over global warming.

Transportation forever linked with climate change

11/07/2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The debate over Puget Sound's Proposition 1, the roads and transit measure rejected by voters on Tuesday, was tumultuous. It split the business community, divided political leaders of the same party, and surprisingly, it pitted environmental groups against one another.