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Science / Environment

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Sex, death and 'Bodies'

Posted Wed, Nov 18, 6 a.m.

An exhibit of corpses is back for a second tour of Seattle, where it has been a huge hit. What are we really experiencing when we wander the gallery of the dead?

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Revisiting Bellingham's Fairhaven Highlands development

Posted Thu, Nov 12, 6 a.m.

Troubled Horizon Bank, at the center of a massive hilltop housing plan, now says it may not survive long enough to build the project. Even so, the bank is pursuing permits and conservationists aren't sure what will happen next.

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Memo to Mayor McGinn: Seattle needs to craft a 'greenprint'

Posted Mon, Nov 9, 6 a.m.

Other cities are getting their acts together, moving from grassroots upward, to create a regional green economy plan that builds on local strengths.

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How taking out dams splits environmental groups

Posted Tue, Nov 3, 6 a.m.

The issues are maddeningly complex and politically explosive. Here's a close look at the bedeviled Klamath River basin, where a seeming agreement is dividing the greens.

READ MORE 3 COMMENTS

A case of bike rage

Posted Tue, Nov 3, 6 a.m.

The dispute over an event at West Seattle's Lincoln Park unleashes a "cycle" of anger. Once again, parks make good battlefields.

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Calamity: Timeless lessons from the 1903 Heppner Flood

Posted Fri, Oct 16, 6 a.m.

The author of a new book on Oregon's little-remembered disaster finds some enduring truths while researching the tragedy.

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This camp is your camp

Posted Thu, Oct 15, 6 a.m.

Using a state pilot project, the Cascade Land Conservancy has made it possible to preserve historic Hidden Valley Camp for future generations. It's more than a win for holding back sprawl, it also saves an incubator of the Northwest's conservation ethic.

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Shiga's Garden: fittingly, a story of sunshine and cooperation

Posted Tue, Oct 13, 6 a.m.

Volunteers, artists, and an absentee landowner are together creating a P-Patch honoring the father of the University District Street Fair.

READ MORE 4 COMMENTS

Bracing lessons for Northwest fisheries ... from the Northeast

Posted Fri, Oct 2, 6 a.m.

Newfoundland went centuries believing it could never exhaust its abundance of cod. Until it did. A reflection from the waters of Vashon Island and Mistaken Point.

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Bigger lessons in the Green River floodplain

Posted Wed, Sep 30, 6 a.m.

'Flood control is an oxymoron,' one expert says. Maybe, instead of spending so much money trying to control our rivers, we should buy out property owners and let the water run free.

READ MORE 9 COMMENTS

Denali: The best park of 'America's Best Idea'

Posted Wed, Sep 30, 6 a.m.

A memorable stay at a wilderness lodge in Denali National Park shows a rare example of faithfully carrying out the Park Service's mission of conserving wildlife unimpaired. For now.

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Obama science goes schizophrenic on salmon restoration

Posted Wed, Sep 23, 6 a.m.

A Biological Opinion factors in the effect of climate change on California salmon runs and the orcas that depend on them. So why is the recent BiOp by NOAA on the Columbia and Snake so oblivious?

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Time to get a new thermostat

Posted Fri, Sep 18, 6 a.m.

Climate change is the new normal in the Northwest. Adapt or broil (and get wet).

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The bully of Puget Sound

Posted Fri, Sep 18, 6 a.m.

Seattle has a great international brand, but locally, the Emerald City image is tarnished. New leadership could give us a fresh start.

READ MORE 24 COMMENTS

Obama sticks with the Bush approach on Columbia River salmon

Posted Tue, Sep 15, 3:34 p.m.

Salmon advocates had expected a move toward study of breaching dams as a remedy for declining runs on the Snake and Columbia. Instead, they got a "split-the-baby" decision that may please neither side of this hot political issue.

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

Sea rise and climate change: let's do the science

Posted Thu, Sep 10, 6 a.m.

The sea is rising, and may go up about a foot in the next 100 years in Puget Sound. That's serious, but much less alarming than the usual figures cited.

READ MORE 22 COMMENTS

Doc, got anything to make me immortal?

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 6 a.m.

They're working on it, and the average life span just went up another 72 days. Here's a survey of some current scientific approaches to reversing aging.

READ MORE 7 COMMENTS

A nick-of-time court ruling stops the gravel project on Maury Island

Posted Mon, Aug 17, 6 a.m.

Judge Ricardo Martinez broadly rejected the Corps of Engineers' approval of the request, even offering some sweeping language about 'cumulative impact' of such projects. A victory for Puget Sound, or just an eddy against the bigger tide?

READ MORE 10 COMMENTS

Newport's rendezvous with NOAA

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 6:02 p.m.

Its stunning raid of Seattle-based NOAA ships culminates a story going back 40 years, and rewards some smart economic planning

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How I learned to love the bag fee

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 6 a.m.

When you look into the oceans of problems plastic bags create, the case for Seattle's well-crafted grocery-bag fee becomes overwhelming. And the opponents' arguments are underwhelming.

READ MORE 19 COMMENTS

Other media

Water found on the moon It sounds like the premise for a bad summer movie, but NASA scientists say it's no joke: The LCROSS satellite mission has discovered large amounts of water, in the form of ice possibly accumulated over billions of years.

George Will: Inconvenient truths about Al Gore's version of global warming The alarmist models are coming under question as the earth begins to cool.

Saving endangered plants by helping them move to another region Botanists debate the wisdom of the transplantation strategy.

Removing an Oregon dam would be costly to some wetlands The Rogue River dam controversy shows how the environmental costs and benefits cut many ways.

No climate accord expected at Copenhagen summit Negotiators concede it will take another year to reach a binding agreement.

Blog posts

Can a neo-Nazi be an environmentalist?

Posted Mon, Nov 2, 2:51 p.m.

A shooting in BC answers the question

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Salish Sea it is!

Posted Fri, Oct 30, 3:34 p.m.

Get set for a new name on Northwest maps.

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B.C. approves "Salish Sea" proposal

Posted Fri, Oct 23, 10:10 a.m.

That is, if Washington and the U.S. follow suit. The name would enhance but not supplant existing names for inland waters on either side of the border.

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Ode to a wood stove

Posted Thu, Oct 15, 6 a.m.

It's fall, which means time to turn up the heat. For our writer, who appreciates every step from felling a tree to stacking a cord, there's nothing like heating a home with a fire.

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Hey, it's a whale-meat shish kabob

Posted Wed, Sep 16, 6 a.m.

What one vessel caught in Alaska this summer, and other tales of how eco-unfriendly cruise ships are.

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Smooth sailing for the Salish Sea?

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 3 p.m.

In an unusual act of international cooperation, the proposal to name the inland waters of the Pacific Northwest is being handled by both countries at once.

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Historic landmark vs. the EPA

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 4:30 p.m.

Recent Northwest examples of the government failing to follow its own rules on protecting heritage.

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A respite from water rationing in Bellingham

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 5:26 p.m.

Cooler weather and voluntary conservation saved the day, but the underlying problems with Lake Whatcom remain

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The dumbest Smart Car

Posted Sun, Aug 9, 1:10 p.m.

They may be good for the environment, but they aren't exactly seaworthy

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Urban Cascadia goes to China

Posted Fri, Jul 31, noon

A Vancouver, BC architect will represent the USA at the Shanghai expo.

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