December 23, 2014: Where's the Green in the City's Residential Building Boom? (2 parts)

Part 1: Where's the Green in the City's Residential Building Boom?
In this first of a two part series on the area's residential building boom, we asked two simple questions. How much "green" is happening not only in market-rate construction but in the world of affordable, non-profit built housing? How deep is the green? Where do sustainability and social equity come into play?

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Part 2: Affordable Housing: Where Green Building Is Making Some Headway
In this second part of a two part series on "green" housing construction we zone in on the affordable housing market. Here "green" standards are mandatory for any non-profit developer. While the housing may not be as deep a green it includes a deeper understanding of the word "sustainability" and a strong dose of social equity.

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December 5, 2014: Warm the Heart and the Belly with Green Gifting & Culinary Expression

In this season special we offer gift and culinary ideas from farmers markets, those low-carbon bastions of holiday sharing. The range of foods and value-added products available is sure to warm the heart and the belly. Come along!

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November 6, 2014: Oil on the Tracks & Coastal Waters: Pacific NW Rises for Rail Safety & Planet's Future

If there was any question about how the public feels about “moving time bombs" - oil trains carrying volatile crude through Washington's coastal estuaries, aquifers, population centers and tribal lands - the answers became clear at a packed hearing before the state Department of Ecology last month. Ecology will present final recommendations on marine and rail oil safety to the Governor on December 1st. Martha Baskin has our report.

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October 23, 2014: Nation's Fossil Fuel Expansion Puts Pacific Northwest Dead Center in a Rush to Move it to Market

Record volumes of fossil fuels extracted from the continent's interior – crude oil, tar sands oil and coal – are looking to the Pacific Northwest to bring the fuels to market. West coast refineries are doubling up on infrastructure to handle rail and pipeline shipments. A Shell proposal to build a new rail spur brought both workers and 'keep it in the ground' activists to a recent public hearing. Martha Baskin has our story.

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October 16, 2014: African Food Leaders Cry Foul on Gates Foundation's Green Revolution

The Gates Foundation's Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, or AGRA, has drawn support as well as criticism for its investment in agriculture to reduce hunger on the continent. At a recent Seattle summit, African food rights advocates joined US counterparts to challenge AGRA policies they say are about opening markets for multinational gene giants like Monsanto, Syngenta and other biotech giants.

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October 8, 2014: In a Globalized Food System, Is Sustainable Seafood a Choice More Hospitals Should be Willing to Make?

Can hospitals, those bastions of healing, invest in foods that heal and get on board with the decades-old local food movement? In Seattle, several hospitals are trying to source seafood more sustainably. The mission isn't always easy, but it's a commitment that hopes to ensure that the world's oceans remain healthy and productive not just for this generation of patients but for all those yet to come. Martha Baskin has our story.

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September 11, 2014: First Nations & Allies Launch Alliance to Protect Coastal Waters from Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline

Proposals to triple the volume of tar sands production in Canada have sparked a new alliance of First Nations and Northwest tribes to stop it. Led by the Coast Salish Tseil-Waututh nation of British Columbia, the alliance urges environmental and faith allies to take "unprecedented, unified action" to protect and restore coastal waters and lands from fossil fuel expansion. Martha Baskin attended the opening ceremony of the historic launch.

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