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Collection: Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading 11/13/15

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Eric Uh oh. It looks like Tacoma residents are starting to militate against the enormous new methanol refinery that would be constructed on Commencement Bay. Local activists have begun circulating a petition in opposition to the plant while others have put together a short video to make their case. Is this the worst parenting advice … Read more

Weekend Reading 11/6/15

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Kristin So you want to become a rich, modern, productive country? Here’e the secret sauce: universal government programs for social support and financial security. To have any shot at a stable climate, we need to force fossil fuel companies to keep $10 trillion in the ground. Have we ever done something at that scale. Well, … Read more

Weekend Reading 10/30/15

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Alan An exposé in two parts on the history, manufacture, and environmental toll of the global color industry, with a focus on Cascadia’s Spokane River. There, a state-of-the-art paper recycling plant—clean and green in itself—proved a contaminator of the first order, because of the viciously toxic materials used in the colored inks in the paper … Read more

Weekend Reading 10/23/15

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Kristin Canada’s Liberal Party Victory is a big deal for democracy—the Liberal Party vowed to get rid of Canada’s undemocratic first-past-the-post voting system. If it does, the US and UK will look pretty lonely, clinging to an outdated voting system. But the UK’s shockingly undemocratic election results might be creating momentum for reform there, too. … Read more

Weekend Reading 10/16/15

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fire, smoke, air pollution, wildfire

Anna I thoroughly appreciated Daniel Person’s examination in the Seattle Weekly of the role Cliff Mass has taken on in the region’s conversation about climate science. Mass has gained acclaim and stature as a public figure, a translator of science for the masses. He seems to very much enjoy that platform. His giddiness about high traffic … Read more

Weekend Reading 10/9/15

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Kristin

An uplifting 4 minutes: Love Song to the Earth

The Clean Air Act lengthens lives.

MAYDAY.US poll results are in: not only do 92% of Ds and 94% of Rs agree that “Special interest money has too much influence in American political campaigns,” 85% of Ds and 82% of Rs also agree we need to fundamentally reform money in politics, and a whopping 94% of Rs and 92% of Ds agree we should move to small-dollar contributions matched by public funds!

Lessig has a new ad out, showing how political candidates are bought by big moneyed interests.

US Senators have agreed on a bipartisan (!!) bill to reduce incarceration!!

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Weekend Reading 10/2/15

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Alan

Photo by Lanefab, used with permission.
Photo by Lanefab, used with permission.

The bungalows revered by neighborhood preservationists and nostalgists as egalitarian and right-sized were the luxury displacement wave of a century ago. An important piece.

Keiko

Darrell Hillaire, one of the Lummi Nation elders and a longtime friend of Sightline, is raising money to produce a film about the impacts of climate pollution on Native cultures and traditions. The film will feature Northwest Native leaders sharing traditional stories about transforming mankind’s treatment of the planet and each other. Find out more and help make this film a reality.

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Weekend Reading 9/25/15

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Alan

“To use a telling phrase of the Rev. Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.” -Pope Francis

The first Pope from the global South, who named himself for St. Francis of Assisi, quotes Dr. King —who said the words in the time of the first Catholic president—to the first black president, in a ringing endorsement of climate action. Didn’t think I’d live to see the day.

Here’s a chart of the most popular type of home in every major American city. Seattle: can you say “missing middle“?

Alicia

Autumn has fallen upon us, and you know what that means…pumpkin everything! For those of us with more tenuous relationships with this festive flavor, I give you “An open letter to pumpkin flavored seasonal treats.” Enjoy.

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Weekend Reading 9/18/15

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Kristin

Why does the media care so much about Hillary’s emails but not at all about the fact that Bush’s tax proposals are a pack of lies? The path to plutocracy is paved with media stories about emails and outfits, instead of coverage of actual policy proposals and what they mean for the middle class (Jeb’s tax plan = really bad for middle class) and for the 0.1% (Jeb’s tax plan = really good for 0.1%).

To get the message out about Fixing Democracy First, Lessig needs to be in the debates. To get in the debates, he needs to poll well. To poll well, he needs to be in the polls. Tell the pollsters to include him.

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And then, wouldn’t it be cool of polls asked you to rank your choices? Like this.

10 Republicans are going to say—out loud, in public—that the US should maybe do something about climate change. HOORAY!

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Weekend Reading 9/11/15

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Kristin

Lessig raised $1 million and is running as a referendum presidential candidate to Fix Democracy First. His “Citizen Equality Act” mirrors Sightline’s democracy work! It aims to embody the idea that, in a democracy, every citizen is equal, using a three-pronged strategy: (1) every citizen has equal freedom to vote, (2) every citizen should get equal representation in Congress, achieved through multi-member districts and ranked choice voting (sound familiar?), (3) all citizens, whether poor or rich, get the same voice, achieved through matching funds for small-dollar contributions (kind of like this). By floating his referendum candidacy, Lessig is making these much-needed reforms a part of the national conversation.

Many Americans are afraid. Afraid because things are changing, and they seem to have fewer and fewer opportunities for a dignified life. But some, instead of blaming the economic drift on policies that continuously siphon all of our wealth to the top 0.01%, instead blame it on Mexican immigrants. And they are voting for Trump. “Voters beset by inequality and scarcity have reached past the sober promises of the center-left and the center-right to the specter of a transcendent solution, no matter how cruel.”

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