As mentioned before, the City of Spokane is creating a Pedestrian Master Plan to increase pedestrian safety and mobility, support a multimodal transportation system, and provide guidance on the best use of resources to implement pedestrian initiatives. Now, there are a few key opportunities to…
From Grist: Q: Dear Umbra, My sister recently posted a story about CFLs causing cancer to her Facebook feed. Is there anything to this latest attempt to vilify the little lamps? Brian Spokane, Wash. A: Dearest Brian, Those little lamps. They need defending again. I…
The "so-coal network," a campaign to get Facebook to unfriend coal. was a wake-up call to internet savvy environmentalists using it as an outreach tool like yours truly. It boils down to this: Technology isn't without its environmental impact. The web continues to grow so…
“I love that smell of the emissions,” - Sarah Palin at yesterday’s Rolling Thunder rally. I wish I could keep myself from posting about this sideshow, I mean slideshow, but her bike adventure is a loud, obnoxious cry for attention. But it's also a trial…
On Saturday, Jonathan Brunt reported the state was pulling the funding on the proposed whitewater park in the Spokane River, allowing a $530,000 grant to expire. Spokane park leaders appealed the decision and on June 23rd in Olympia, they will try to persuade the state…
Wait, what? You haven't heard My Morning Jacket is playing at Jones Radiator on Tuesday? If the title of this post sounds deceptive, I assure you it isn't. This much we know: Two of my favorite people, Bart Mihailovich and Nicole Hensley, have created an…
April was the busiest month ever for tornado activity while May hosted the deadliest single tornado on record. Many refuse to talk about the links between tornadoes and climate change. They should check out Bill McKibben's op-ed in the Washington Post. NOAA offers this: In…
In that swath of the American flatland that has been so brutalized of late, a 93-year-old woman gave me a warning. She had lost her house as a little girl, a homestead property of timber-sheltered memories that shattered in a twister’s strike and took to…
Call it good news for sustainability: For people to be attracted to city life - which is less energy intensive - they have to feel safe. It is a burden for some, even though it's a way to reduce your carbon burden. So the news…
At yesterday’s Planning Commission retreat, in addition to making an off-the-cuff comment that Ballard is the new Capitol Hill (see my explanation for that remark here), I got into a discussion with Crosscut’s Knute Berger about self-sufficiency. Berger—generally a density opponent—argued that backyard cottages in…
Sarah Goodyear at Grist has a shocking slideshow of the most unsafe cities for pedestrians in America. She writes: Streets in the U.S. are designed not for people, but for cars. And it shows. From 2000 through 2009, some 47,700 pedestrians were killed by drivers.…
Yesterday I posted about the innovative planning measures the City of Chicago is rolling out to combat climate change - except they're not touching their urban coal plants. In this time-lapse footage, Greenpeace activists paint “Quit Coal” on the 450 ft. tall smokestack at the…
In 2008, I took this photo of the benches along the Centennial Trail near Upriver Drive when the Spokane River flooded. At the time, there was an ordinance implemented to ban recreational activities in the river during this stage. Kayakers were upset. Why would the…
The bipartisan Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 is a positive step toward ensuring the safety and convenience of America’s streets — for everyone. Check this update from the National Complete Streets Coalition: A dozen members of the Senate today introduced the Safe and…
Chicago is taking strong steps to plan its infrastructure, thinking ahead for the next 50 years. They're trying everything from flood-proof streets to heat-tolerant trees. The city predicts in the next century, it will resemble Baton Rouge, Louisiana. No more planting the Illinois state tree,…
Warning: Don't try this. Seriously. I'm not advocating for creating your own bike lane. I was talking to a local bike geek last night, Stephen, a recent transplant to Spokane, about this topic. Except we discussed bike lanes getting removed in Williamsburg - only to…
"We’ve spent some time this past week, working with community members, talking to City Council members, and thinking a lot about Tubbs Hill. And we think we’ve discovered a clear, across-the-board, consensus as to what needs to happen. The problem, at this point, is how…
A phenomenal warning from Sarah Laskow at Grist: The average number of tornado fatalities in the U.S. each year is 55. Already this year, 481 people have died. Fifteen states, led by Texas, are looking to overturn the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public…
My friend Jeff found this video, bless his heart. The folks who recorded the footage were going down to the Spokane River and "While hiking, we accidentally caught an image of bigfoot walking through the woods. I didn't even notice until I got home and…
It's something experts had been saying for month but authorities had yet admit: All of Fukushima's working reactors saw drops in their water levels sufficient to melt their radioactive cores. This means each reactor has a pool of highly radioactive water in its base, possibly…
In case you didn't know, I'm a music nerd so when there's an environmental message, I always leap at the chance to play something fun. Here is Yo Gabba Gabba! featuring one of my favorites, Chromeo, on the importance of washing your hands - especially…
Bike To Work week wrapped up last Friday and what a week it was. I talked to a lot of people though who just kept coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't participate. They should meet Lucette Gilbert, who says she's in her…
These photos are horrifying, capturing the genocide against the American bison in the 1800's: A ghostlike figure stands on a mountain of skulls and walls of bones are stacked while a bumpkin stikes a proud pose. From the "All That Is Interesting" blog: As the…
Check out this great video where a flash mob shows a crowded mall why it's a good idea to recycle whenever you have the chance. Dig the surprising end.
I didn't get back home until pretty late Thursday night, hence the delay for the recap of Robert F. Kennedy Jr's talk in Spokane. Plus, it took a while to process my thoughts on the event because there was a pleasant buzz throughout the evening…
The DTE blog is committed to reporting and sharing environmental news and sustainability information from across the Inland Northwest.
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