crosscut.com : Science / Environment

How art reflects nature: an interview with David Guterson

Crosscut — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:00:01 PDT

The stories of 52-year-old Bainbridge Island author David Guterson have much to owe Washington state, which serves as a powerful setting for everything he writes.

A new owl plan with the same old goal: more logging

Crosscut — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

The new Northern Spotted Owl recovery plan could be worse, but the Bush administration hasn't given up on cutting a billion board feet a year in Northwest forests.

A better environment for a UW College of the Environment

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:00:01 PDT

Don't make a megalith, advises a prominent expert in forestry. Instead, think of a virtual environment with porous walls and many disciplines. The result could put the University of Washington in the lead for solving the world's environmental problems.

My day with the ranchers

Crosscut — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

An urbanite spends two days with ranchers in Montana and comes to see that she has much in common with them: ground.

Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:28:01 PDT

Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.

Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.

The geekiest arsonist

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:00:01 PDT

Software engineer Jennifer Kolar is to be sentenced this week in federal court for her role in Earth Liberation Front arsons, including one at the University of Washington. Her time in prison will be reduced because she turned state's witness, but that doesn't mitigate the fact she is now regarded as a snitch by peers and could be labeled a terrorist by the government.

Helpful policy tips for Dino Rossi

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:23:01 PDT

So far, not a lot of policy is coming out of the Dino Rossi campaign, but it may be very interesting when it does. That's because the Republicans are getting pretty desperate for bold new ideas to turn around their national tailspin. I'll give some examples below.

Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition

Crosscut — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:09:01 PDT

Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...

Gauging the biofuels backlash

Crosscut — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:00:01 PDT

Some would have you believe that making fuels from crops and other biomatter is responsible for food shortages. Probably not, but there are legitimate questions about the net gain — is there one? — of producing and using biofuel versus conventional petroleum.

RFK Jr.'s plot to destroy the planet

Crosscut — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:00:01 PDT

Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently paid a visit to Washington and sang its praises, but I'm not sure why he'd be welcome these days.

Sausage Links, gas cards for bad guys edition

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:20:01 PDT

Alright everybody. Let's head to Tacoma. If we hurry, we can help Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers catch sexual predators, gangsters, domestic violence abusers, and violent criminals. Why? Because they're giving away $250 gas cards and up to $1,000 in exchange for information that would lead to arrests. Here's the list of criminals. Start hunting. After all, what better incentive is there to dodge outrageous gas prices than to catch perverts? Don't answer that.

Sausage Links, blame-game edition

Crosscut — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:05:01 PDT

David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Last stand for the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Crosscut — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:00:01 PDT

As the process to replace or remove Seattle's elevated waterfront freeway grinds on, a last-ditch pitch is being made to keep it standing.

Sausage Links, top-two headache edition

Crosscut — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:23:01 PDT

David Postman had a busy morning. First, The Seattle Times chief political writer reported the proper way to describe the ~~death with dignity~~ "assisted suicide" initiative. Then he dropped a political firebomb, reporting the state's political parties haven't yet given up trying to ax the "top-two" primary, with both Republicans and Democrats claiming the entire '08 election won't count. I thought that headache was over. Turns out it's just getting started. ...

Sausage Links, "freedom to get drunk and blow stuff up" edition

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:23:01 PDT

Chris Mulick at the Tri-City Herald has today's top story, reporting this morning that Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 and the Service Employees International Union-backed Initiative 1029 would — if passed by voters in November — increase the state's budget deficit by an estimated $300 million.

Salmon on the Columbia: See you in court

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:01 PDT

The federal agencies are back for a fifth round in federal court, still cooking up very strained arguments for minimal efforts to save the fish. Two things might change the impasse: a new case for saving dams due to climate change, and the bestirring of Congress. Here's a survey of the high-stakes issues.

Teach both sides of the flat Earth!

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

It's really quite simple: A lot of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Conservation groups buy pieces of Montana — a lot of pieces

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land are buying 500 square miles of western Montana from Plum Creek, the timber real estate investment trust, for $510 million. It involves a federal financing mechanism, to the consternation of conservatives, and compromise, to the displeasure of some environmentalists. But it is preventing development of forest habitat.

The 100-year gamble to save our quality of life

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.

The dangers of imperfect storm predictions

Crosscut — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:24:01 PDT

In the wake of the investigation into the 2006 "Hanukkah Eve" rain storm that hit Seattle and drowned a Madison Valley woman in her flooded basement office, I questioned the terminology of "100-year storms." In doing a quick survey of media stories, I found that central Puget Sound had experienced a minimum of six "100-year storms" in 20 years. I concluded that the term was misleading. Now, with the terrible flooding in the Midwest this year, it's becoming clear that the terminology is hurting some flood victims.