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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.
The Northwest Needs More Midsize Solar
While distributed solar can’t solve the region’s transmission woes alone, Idaho and Washington would be smart to follow Oregon’s lead in boosting it for a cleaner future.
Montana’s Big Bipartisan Housing Deal
Amid the US’s second-worst price spikes and shortage of homes, a broad coalition unified to find solutions. -
Parking Reform Legalized Most of the New Homes in Buffalo and Seattle
Studies from two very different cities showed the same result.
Anchorage Adopts Model ADU Reforms
Alaska’s largest city just deregulated bonus homes in a big way, a step to right-sizing its housing options to locals’ changing needs. -
Ranked Choice Voting Would Help Oregonians Vote for their True Favorite
HB 2004 in Oregon’s House of Representatives could bring voters more voice and more choice.
What Washington, DC, Can Learn from the Other Washington about Climate Policy
Six lessons from the Evergreen State for America's national leaders.
Habitat for Humanity Goes All In for Multifamily Housing
But it needs relaxed parking mandates, widescale zoning reform, and public funding to make the most of the opportunity. -
Poll: Washington Voters Out Ahead Of Local Leaders On Zoning Reforms
Statewide survey shows broad voter receptivity—across partisan, demographic, and geographic lines—to zoning changes to allow more homes like duplexes and small apartment buildings.
UPDATED: 50 Housing Bills and How They Fared in Olympia
Washington state leaders considered dozens of bills across the critical policy pillars of supply, stability, and subsidy.
Hey, Olympia! If You Let Them, Cities Could Double Turnout in Local Elections
The case for freeing Washington cities to run elections on Election Day.
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SIGHTLINE DAILY
Today’s top sustainability headlines for the Pacific Northwest, curated by Sightline Institute.
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It’s time for Cascadia to start pruning the gas system
Sightline Institute
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Western WA fire conditions intensify as dry weather continues
The Seattle Times
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Getting beyond the detached house in Vancouver, BC
Sightline Institute
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New Font typeset for Salish Indigenous languages
Canada's National Observer
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OR regulators reject key elements of decarbonization plan
Portland Business Journal
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National Park Board appoints first Native American member
The Skanner
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US hits new atmospheric carbon record
Huffington Post
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Climate change makes for complex insurance in Canada
CBC
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Montana youth prepare for climate trial against the state
Montana Free Press
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Five ways US oil refineries can reduce emissions
RMI
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.