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Learning from the Least Housed
A case for agile, self-build, and bottom-up options to unlock housing choice… by many means necessary.
Who Will Pay for Cascadia’s Transmission Lines?
The multibillion-dollar question that Senator Maria Cantwell, Governor Jay Inslee, and other Northwest leaders can help answer.
Four Ways to Improve Portland’s Housing Affordability Mandate
Small changes could fully fund the program and produce many more affordable homes in desirable areas. -
From Vermont to Oklahoma, Legislatures Challenge Parking Mandates
Proposals to reduce overbuilt parking lots are popping up across the United States. -
Without Gas, What Business Models Could Gas Utilities Pursue?
Several examples exist, and Cascadian policymakers can encourage shifts while setting guardrails to protect customers.
Idaho, Montana, and Washington Could Save $30 Million by Moving Local Elections to National Election Day
A preliminary estimate of potential cost savings from municipal election consolidation.
Parking Mandates Are Vanishing Across Oregon
Six months into the pioneering state policy, regulatory costs are falling and projects are springing to life. -
What Can Portland Learn from America’s Oldest Proportional Election System?
City Councilor Burhan Azeem shares his experiences from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Boise Poised for First Step Towards More Abundant, Affordable Housing
The new zoning code legalizes more types of housing but creates new barriers to abundance.
It’s Time for Cascadia to Start Pruning the Gas System and Electrifying Whole Neighborhoods
Early efforts in California, Colorado, and New York offer lessons to get started. -
Getting Beyond the Detached House in Vancouver, BC
How a flexible “Plex” design could add lower-cost homes, green space, and walkable, vibrant neighborhoods—fast—across housing-strapped cities.
Oregon’s Untapped Gold Mine: The Homes that Don’t Yet Exist
To reduce housing shortages, small doses of cash could get many projects built. A bill introduced in Oregon this year suggests a clever place to find it.
The Best Wildfire Solution We’re Not Using
Three ways to curb the sprawl that traps us on a wildfire treadmill. -
Washington’s Refinery Communities Just Got a Transition Boost
A quarter-million-dollar budget proviso will fund a study to map opportunities beyond oil.
A Fairer Election System in Alaska Helped More Independents Win Office
Open primaries and ranked choice voting likely led to greater political diversity in the Alaska legislature, while their effect on age, gender, and race was less apparent.
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Today’s top sustainability headlines for the Pacific Northwest, curated by Sightline Institute.
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Humanity has ‘opened gates to hell’ by letting climate crisis worsen
The Guardian
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First Nation promised $200M for Columbia River salmon reintroduction
Corvallis Gazette-Times
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CA installs 10,000 EV fast chargers, but needs to quadruple that
Grist
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Reach of wildfire smoke is going global and undoing progress on clean air
New York Times
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Racing to save salmon habitat in drought-stricken BC
The Narwhal
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The threats facing WA’s cougars
Investigate West
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‘We’re treated like machines’
The Narwhal
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Canada, a giant oil producer, urges others to end fossil fuel subsidies
Washington Post
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‘It was thought that it couldn’t burn’
Northwest Public Broadcasting
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Could selling sewage save the Salish Sea?
Crosscut
Our Mission
Sightline Institute’s mission is to make the Northwest a global model of sustainability— strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment.
We envision in the Pacific Northwest an economy and way of life that are environmentally sound, economically vibrant, and socially just. We believe that if northwesterners succeed at reconciling themselves with the natural heritage of this place—the greenest part of history’s richest civilization—we can set an example for the world.