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Weekend Reading 8/23/13
Eric On the occasion of his death, it’s worth recalling Elmore Leonard’s ten rules for writing. Speaking of posterity, Warren Buffet seems hellbent on going down in history as a villain with his purchase of a $500 million stake in a major tar sands oil company. (Buffett already has a serious problem with investing in the destructive carbon economy.) Alan Will wolves reach Belgium before they reach the Olympic Peninsula?...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 10/7/11
Eric I pounded my fist on the table in vigorous agreement with Dave Roberts on the problem with climate wonks in politics: Here are the outlines of a theory of politics I think many wonks share. It envisions a vast “American middle,” obscured by the din of partisans on both sides, filled with undecided, uncommitted, but fundamentally reasonable people who are just waiting to be spoken to in a “grown-up”...Read more » -
Weekend Reading, 9/30/11
Clark Over the last few months, I’ve been exchanging emails with a friend about a nerdy but important question: does individual action inspire or substitute for systemic change? That is, if we all get our friends to make small, daily decisions to make their own habits more sustainable, will that ultimately lead to the political changes that are needed to make the economy as a whole more sustainable? It’s a question...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 7/8/11
Eric dP: By far the coolest thing I read this week was Craig Welch’s front page coverage of the latest wolf pack documented in Washington, this time in the Teanaway region. Several years ago I was driving over Blewett Pass one night, not far away, when I had to skid to a stop to avoid hitting an animal crossing the highway. For a few seconds my headlights illuminated this big...Read more » -
Worth Reading
Among the keener pleasures of being a researcher at a think tank is that I get paid to read interesting stuff. It’s pretty sweet. So in the interest of sharing the love, here’s a sort of potpourri batch of the better stuff that I’ve come across in the last week or so. Bikes. In “Rage Against Your Machine” at Outside Magazine, Tom Vanderbilt explores the social and cultural dimensions of the “war”...Read more » -
Northwest Wildlife Icons and their Ecosystems Still at Risk
According to Sightline’s Cascadia Scorecard, several of the region’s wildlife icons are still at risk. Overall, gains for salmon, orcas, and wolves outweighed declines in caribou and sage-grouse, pushing the index to an all-time high. Still, more progress is needed.Read more » -
Wildlife Indicator Update
Hot off the presses, Sightline has an update to our Cascadia Scorecard wildlife indicator. After precipitous declines over the previous century, some of the iconic wildlife populations of the Pacific Northwest have notched tentative gains in recent years. The wildlife index measures five populations around the region that give us a glimpse into the state of our natural heritage. Included are: southern resident orcas, spring and summer chinook salmon of...Read more » -
Wildlife Abundance for Five Indicator Species
Despite recent gains by wolves and Chinook salmon, key wildlife populations are well below their historic abundance.Read more » -
Caribou Update
Here at Sightline, we’ve been tracking the ups and downs of the Selkirk Mountains caribou herd, a tiny population of the most endangered large mammal in North America. They would be outnumbered by the kids in two large kindergarten classes, or the baseball players suiting up for a major league game. The numbers are so low that each year biologists in planes or helicopters scan the mountains of Idaho, Washington,...Read more » -
Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Population
After efforts to reintroduce gray wolves in many states, populations are starting to make a comeback. They remain, however, far below their historical abundance.Read more »