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True to its state motto, dirigo, Maine is leading the nation in electronic waste management. Yesterday a law went into effect that requires TV and computer monitor manufacturers to take responsibility for the proper disposal of their products. TVs and monitors need to be recycled because they contain toxic lead and mercury. But only a few states have e-waste programs where those who profit from the products also pay the...

Canada’s economy is hot: The economy is on a roll, the stock market is soaring, jobs are plentiful, borrowing costs are low, consumer spending is strong and real estate is booming. That’s from a bizarre editorial in today’s Vancouver Sun; an editorial that goes on to argue that Canada’s—and especially BC’s—recent boom is a chimera. The piece rightly points out some troubling counter trends, such as strong GDP growth coupled...

Consider the similarities. Both Idaho and Washington are this year graced with budget surpluses: $214 million in Idaho and a whopping $1.4 billion in Washington. (Even in per capita terms, Washington’s surplus is roughly 50 percent larger than Idaho’s.) Both Idaho and Washington are also graced with stunning natural features and a populace that purports to love the outdoors. But both are also cursed by a crumbling infrastructure of woefully...

Some more good, or at least interesting, news for 2004:  teen birth rates in Cascadia hit an all-time low. There were just under 27 live births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19, according to final data for the year.  That’s probably not just the lowest rate in recent history, but the lowest since humans first inhabited this place. (Just to be clear: we spend a lot...

A federal judge has halted snowmobile grooming in the recovery area for the Selkirk caribou–the only reindeer to still visit the continental United States. [Coverage in the Olympian and the Coeur d’Alene-area Daily Bee.] The ruling is dead right: snowmobiles are one of the primary threats to the Selkirk herd, which need undisturbed winter habitat. Snowmobiles are still allowed, even under the new injunction, but the absence of groomed tracks...

A few days ago, I posted on Raincoast’s buyout of guide-outfitter hunting rights in coastal BC. The upshot is that I questioned whether the buyout was the wisest possible use of conservation dollars and postulated that conservation investments can benefit from rigorous accounting. As blog posts are wont to do, it circulated around the web where it attracted a variety of feedback—thoughtful rebuttals and inquiries, incoherent ranting, and a fairly...

From the wilderness of British Columbia comes an innovative conservation tactic about which I am strongly… ambivalent. Raincoast Conservation Foundation is acquiring the guide-outfitting hunting rights to five areas along the central BC coast, a remote area of vast wilderness that is home to the rare "spirit bear," among other species. The angle here is probably obvious: Raincoast bought the rights in order to put a stop to hunting. Raincoast...

BBC Newsreports that orcas are the most toxic-contaminated mammals in the Arctic. Fat samples recently taken from killer whales in a Norwegian fjord revealed startlingly high levels of pesticides, PCBs, and flame retardants. Whales in the Arctic may be somewhat more susceptible because toxics often concentrate in the polar regions, but the Norwegian whales are a reminder that the southern resident orcas of Cascadia are also sickened by high levels...

Some cheery news for Monday:  The Olympian, Washington’s capital city newspaper, reports that the state departments of ecology and health are proposing further steps to eliminate PBDEs, a toxic flame retardant, from commerce.  And I imagine that some state legislators are paying close attention to those recommendations as they gear up for the legislative session next January. Just to recap—PBDEs are flame retardants used in furniture foams and plastics, but...

Editor’s note: Guest contributor Hans Peter Meyer writes on community development issues from Courtenay, British Columbia. Saturday, November 19, is local government election day in British Columbia. It’s too late to nominate anyone, and it’s too late to really organize. By the time British Columbians read this, there won’t be much left to do but vote for whoever you think has the vision and the energy to put the pieces...