Friday, March 28, 2014

March 28, 2014: Salish Sea Map Comes Online Ahead of Anticipated Jump in Tanker Traffic

The rapid rise of tar sands oil shipments from Canada to the Northwest coast is leading to increased worries about oil spills on coastal waters. Tanker traffic is expected to increase 600% from 60 tar sands oil tankers a year to over 400. With memories of Exxon Valdez, the Deepwater Horizon, and more recently Galveston, residents of the San Juan Islands northwest of Seattle launched a drift card study to simulate the route of a potential oil spill in the Salish Sea. Martha Baskin reports from the San Juan Islands.

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Friday, March 21, 2014

Leave Your Old Flame Behind: Wood Smoke Runs Afoul of Clean Air Act Raises Alarm for Clean Air Agency

It's the region's dirty little secret and it doesn't come from coal or crude oil but from tiny particulates released when wood is burned in old stoves. The particulates are pushing the region to run afoul of the Clean Air Act. Hot spots are Tacoma and parts of urbanized Pierce County. Solutions are underway from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. But time is running out for customers to follow the agency's advice and "leave your old flame behind."

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Thursday, March 6, 2014

March 6, 2014: In an Age of Climate Crisis, It Takes an (Eco)village

In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these burning questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillages – intentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living from LA to South India and Denmark to Senegal. Rural and urban, high tech and low tech, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up.

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