Search Results
-
There’s Plenty of Room at Hotel California
Pretend you’re the governor of Oregon or Washington, or the head of a key committee in the state legislature in Salem or Olympia. Let’s say you’re convinced: Climate change is real, it’s a huge risk, and we need a fast, smooth transition beyond carbon fuels. Putting a price on carbon is the single best way to nudge the whole economy in that direction. What do you do? Designing an entire...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 5/23/14
Serena To the girl who can never recall even her close friends’ respective birthdays (sorry, guys!), this is absolutely unfathomable: remembering, as an extreme sport. The 9/11 Memorial Museum opened last week: here’s one unflinching reflection on the institution, from a man especially close to the event’s tragedy. A Boston doctor treats lots of poor teenagers, many struggling with weight and nutrition problems. His prescription? Bicycles. And he even gets...Read more » -
17 Things to Know About California’s Carbon Cap
While Cascadian climate hawks have been fighting rearguard actions against proposed pipelines and coal trains, California has been rolling out an ambitious carbon cap. Such a cap is the principal alternative to a carbon tax—such as British Columbia’s carbon tax shift—as a method for putting a price on carbon in Oregon and Washington. It’s an option Oregon will consider next year in its impending revenue-reform debate. In Washington, the Golden...Read more » -
Arch Coal’s Export Disappointment
It’s spring on Wall Street, the time when publicly traded companies announce their first quarter results. Just a few years back, coal companies loved the ritual: a bubble in international coal prices had industry execs crowing, their spirits bouyed by the bright prospects for coal exports. But the coal industry reports today are much bleaker. International coal prices are in the dumps, profits are thin, companies are scaling back…and all...Read more » -
Seattle’s New Ride-For-Hire Universe
The Seattle City Council unanimously voted Monday to limit the number of drivers that Lyft, UberX, Sidecar and other similar companies can have on the road to 150 at a time, but it left the door open for the council to revisit or lift that cap after one year. In a compromise that no one loved, council members said the plan allows the popular smartphone-based upstarts to operate legally in...Read more » -
Oil Trains: What You Should Be Reading
With the recent blow-up in North Dakota, it seems everyone is (finally) paying attention to the risks of oil train explosions. I’m planning more analysis of the issue later, but for now here’s a roundup of some of the better pieces to read on the subject. Hands down, the best reporting on the risk of oil-by-rail is coming from Canada’s flagship newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Grant Robertson’s first-hand investigation...Read more » -
TransLink’s Gasoline Problem
Last Friday’s excellent Vancouver Sun story put a much needed spotlight on traffic trends on the Golden Ears Bridge—which are running so far behind projections that Translink now forecasts that the agency will lose between $35 and $45 million each year on the bridge for at least the next several years. But the story is really just the tip of iceberg in a much larger story about Greater Vancouver’s transportation finance woes....Read more » -
Beyond the Wallet Condom
My teenage nephew came to visit last summer, and I asked him if there was anything he needed from the drug store. “Uh, condoms?” he said. It was easier to ask liberal Aunt Val than Grandma, who is raising him. We hopped in the car. At the local Walgreens, we found the display and we lingered, picking packages up and putting them back. “Wow, there’s a lot of choices,” he...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 6/28/13
Eric If there’s a better illustration of the short-sightedness of unsustainable economic development, I don’t know what it is. Crosscut’s Floyd McKay has an insightful look at the troubled Oregonian newspaper, which recently announced that is laying off many of the region’s best reporters. Harper’s magazine revives a 1933 piece by Robert Littell, What the Young Man Should Know. It’s a gem. Serena Clearly, the entire Ballard community knows that...Read more » -
Obama’s Climate Failure
When it comes to climate policy, I’m with country music star Toby Keith: we need a little less talk and a lot more action. So I didn’t listen to Obama’s big climate address yesterday because I already know that the President is a brilliant orator. I’m sure it was a great speech. Unfortunately, the speech didn’t say what many think it said. And it most definitely does not deserve the praise heaped upon it (here, here, here, here, and here among others) by what seems like practically every environmental group. Sweeping rhetoric isn’t going to convince me the Obama administration is serious about tackling climate change. We need to see a coherent plan, and what we got instead was... sweeping rhetoric.
When it comes to climate policy, I’m with country music star Toby Keith: we need a little less talk and a lot more action. So I didn’t listen to Obama’s big climate address yesterday because I already know that the President is a brilliant orator. I’m sure it was a great speech. Unfortunately, the speech didn’t say what many think it said. And it most definitely does not deserve the...Read more »
