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Talk about “framing” these days, and many people will think about author and linguist George Lakoff, and the post-2004-election brouhaha about how to communicate, or “frame,” political ideas. But apparently, there’s much more obscure debate going on about another kind of framing—the kind of framing that goes into building a house. It’s a bit arcane, really.  But the crux of the debate is this:  should traditional wood-framing count as a...

Can the wireless web find you a loo? Not yet, as far as I can tell. In a complete, compact community, you ought to be able to find a restroom promptly, as I’ve said. That’s a requisite of strong communities as basic as—if less morally stirring than—say, the rule of law or the protection of dissent. So it’s discouraging to read yesterday’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer report that Seattle’s experimental high-end automatic...

The U.S. emits five times more CO2 per capita than the rest of the world’s average. Lately, I’ve been feeling frustrated about my share in this heavyweight status. I don’t live in an urban location (Poulsbo, Washington, about a one-hour drive and ferry ride from Seattle), and since the bus stop (and the actual town) is still about 7 miles from my house, this forces me to drive almost daily....

When we started our family experiment in car-lessness seven months ago, David Sucher at City Comforts blog commented All I ask is that they [us Durnings, that is] don’t pull punches. Don’t make their recounting of the experience a political tract about how much happier they are and how the world is so much better because they don’t have a car. In other words, tell the truth. Tell us the...

There’s some interesting stuff in the most recent issue of the energy newsletter The Northwest Current. Well, interesting if you’re an energy policy geek (like me). My faves: this article on the Clark County utility’s conservation programs; this one on low cost opportunities for efficiency in the industrial sector; and this one on how power planners are trying to solve the technical problems associated with adding o the electricity grid....

[Note: This is part of a series.] There was an odd little story in USA Today on Sunday, covering the raft of so-called “property rights” initiatives on the November ballot throughout the Western U.S. I say odd, because it almost completely misses the point. As the story notes, a lot of people are pretty exercised about a 2005 US Supreme Court decision in the case of Kelo vs. New London,...

When, oh when, will Eric end this Ahab-like fixation on the takings ballot measures? Don’t hold your breath. Yesterday, Washington’s Office of Financial Management released estimates of the financial impact of Initiative 933. It’s not pretty. Analysts are ballparking the costs to taxpayers at between $7.3 and $9 billion over the next six years. I won’t get into the technical details today—partly because I haven’t studied the analysis carefully yet....

(This post is part of a series.) I meant to get to this last Friday, but life had other plans. Still, if you haven’t seen it already, this New York Timesarticle from late last week is definitely worth a read. The article does a great job describing just how far ahead of the rest of the country California is in tackling climate change. The state’s recent CO2 law—mandating a 25...

A nice map in yesterday’s Post-Intelligencer shows that where you live really does affect your health. Life expectancy (which is generally considered the best single indicator of the health of a population) varies by up to 15 years among US counties, and shows some interesting (though not unexpected) regional trends. The northwest doesn’t do too badly—not as good as the upper midwest or northesast, but not as bad as the...

One of the most interesting transportation programs around these days is TravelSmart. It’s not interesting because of what it does but simply because it works. You see, in theory, TravelSmart should be a dismal failure. That it performs minor miracles is proof of the flaws of economic theory. And understanding those flaws sheds light on a fascinating paradox of car-less living. It also hints at a massive opportunity to help...