Seattle

50 most sustainable cities

SustainLane’s annual ranking of the sustainability of America’s 50 largest cities is out. Grist is happy to be located in No. 3 overall, No. 2 in knowledge base, No. 2 in energy and climate change, No. 2 in green economy, and No. 3 in city innovation. There’s no margin in being No. 1 — draws […]

Biofuels: not cost-effective or lucrative for climate change or business

According to this article in Mongabay, a study from a British think tank is calling for an end to subsidies for biofuels based on — not biodiversity loss and high food prices — cost effectiveness. The economics is startling — if developed countries spent the same amount of money on preventing deforestation and the destruction […]

Brings back memories

I was working downtown when all this went down — smelled a little tear gas, got escorted out of my building by a gauntlet of fully armored riot police. Looking back, I wish I’d had a better sense of the significance at the time.

The hybrid solar home, part 2

My thoughts have turned lately to the challenge of heating and powering residential homes in the Pacific Northwest with renewable energy. My goal was not to just find a way to reduce fossil fuel use, but to eliminate it. When I started this exercise I wasn’t at all sure it could be done (in an […]

How transportation wonks can make your city rank

Here's an interesting ranking. For each major U.S. city, the list-happy editors at Men's Health calculated the negative effects of driving. They aggregated scores on transit ridership, air pollution, fuel consumption, and driving miles. (Presumably, the data are for metropolitan areas, not city limits.) Northwest cities do exceptionally well: Seattle ranks number one, Portland ranks third, and Spokane is eighth.

Men's Health doesn't appear to include a methodology on the web, but I'll take a stab at the explanation. First, a minor point. Seattle and Portland benefit from a felicitous geographic situation: prevailing westerly winds tend to keep our air some of the cleanest in the country, so we do relatively well on air pollution scores. Second and more importantly, the list illustrates that urban areas control their own destinies. Smart policy matters, even if it's relatively small-caliber.

A big welcome to Grist’s new executive editor

As far as I know there’s been no official announcement about this, so I thought I’d spread the good news to you loyal blog readers. I’m completely geeked to report that as of this week, Grist has a new executive editor: Russ Walker, most recently seen heading election coverage for the online newsroom at the […]

Nice to forget about the day job for a while

You know you’re in Seattle when you get a “severe weather advisory” warning you that the temperature might get up into … the mid-80s. Maybe even above 90! Anyway, summer has finally come to Seattle. I’ve been out working in the yard all day, shoveling and spreading mulch, getting a head start on my flip-flop […]

What a ranking of cities can tell us — and what it can’t

There's a big carbon footprint report out yesterday from Brookings. It ranks cities [PDF] according to their per capita carbon emissions. Sort of, anyway.

Before I pick on it a little, I guess I should mention that Pacific Northwest cities do exceptionally well. Out of the 100 cities in the analysis, Portland ranks 3rd, Boise is 5th, and Seattle 6th. There's very little difference between them.

That's wonderful and all, but the analysis only covers about 50 percent of emissions. It excludes, for instance, commercial and industrial energy, maritime and aviation emissions, and some other significant pieces of the pie.

Friday music blogging: Fleet Foxes

The headline from The Stranger‘s feature story on Fleet Foxes tells the story: Fleet Foxes Are Not Hippies Don’t Let the Floppy Hats, Jesus Beards, and Five-Part Vocal Harmonies About Rivers, Trees, and Sunshine Throw You Ha. The first time I heard the band, they came up on shuffle and I thought it was the […]