Sightline Institute

The quest for a sustainable region is blocked by broken or dysfunctional institutions of self-governance. From making polluters pay for their carbon pollution to updating Cascadia’s transportation infrastructure, from fixing our education systems to protecting our natural heritage, we cannot move forward without deep changes to the rules governing campaign finance, voter rights, and elections—changes that return power to everyday people, rather than concentrate it in the hands of wealthy individuals or corporations.

Sightline’s research aims to map a path to political reform—a path that is, if arduous, nonetheless viable, a path that even hard-headed political realists will recognize as passable.

How we build our communities is key to a sustainable future. Dense, walkable neighborhoods, people-centered planning, and multimodal transit networks mean that Cascadians can spend less time commuting in their cars and contributing to carbon pollution. It means that we preserve our natural places rather than sprawl into them. And it means that our communities are vibrant, diverse centers of culture for all kinds of people and families, across income levels.

But cities and towns across the Northwest are experiencing some of North America’s fastest growth, bringing with it an unprecedented housing crunch and challenging our ability to grow sufficiently and equitably into the future. Sightline research delves into the key roadblocks to progress on this issue and recommends smart solutions for a thriving, growing Cascadia.

The Pacific Northwest stands squarely between the most voracious energy markets in the world and huge fossil fuel deposits in the interior of North America—Powder River Basin coal, Bakken shale oil, Alberta tar sands, and remote natural gas fields. Big energy companies plan to unearth these vast reserves of carbon-intense fuels and put them up for sale in Asia.

If they are successful, these energy firms will unleash the carbon equivalent of roughly five Keystone XL Pipelines. But to get their products to market, energy companies first have to build new terminals and pipelines to move all that fuel. They need destinations for the scores of oil and coal trains that they plan to run across the Northwest, and they need right-of-ways to lay new pipelines.

In short, they need our permission.

So it is by geographic accident that the Northwest, perhaps the greenest corner of North America, will play an outsize role in determining the planet’s climate future. Will we double-down on coal and oil use, thereby jeopardizing our chance at a stable climate? Or will we act as a thin green line, insisting that we must do better—that our economy and our children demand a cleaner future?

What you say is just as important as how you say it. Sightline director of strategic communications Anna Fahey combs through piles of public opinion research, transcripts from speeches, and academic studies to distill best practices in messaging for leaders in the Northwest and beyond. She tackles topics ranging from climate change to the role of government, and she explains what it means to use values-based messaging and effective storytelling to help move your audience in the ways that count.

The way we design our cities and towns, as well as the modes of transport we use to move through them, can either help or hinder residents’ ability to reduce their carbon footprints. Whether that means unleashing innovative affordable housing solutions, prioritizing spaces for people over spaces for cars and parking, or shifting our transportation thinking away from boondoggle megaprojects, we can shape our communities to fulfill a more sustainable future.

Climate change threatens Cascadia with droughts, fires, and pests, imperiling the region’s farms and forests. And globally, greenhouse gas emissions continue to accelerate. It is time to think about how we will adapt. One certainty is that we will rely on working lands, and their stewards, as we wade into this uncharted territory.

At the same time, decades of pesticide overuse, unchecked erosion, and intensive monocropping have harmed Cascadia’s soils. Clearcutting and aerial pesticide spraying continue in the region’s forests, imperiling the most carbon-rich ecoregion on earth. And Cascadia’s rural communities must cope with job scarcity and the new reality that traditional agriculture and forestry work provide unstable livelihoods.

Our Farms & Forests program aims to tackle these overlapping challenges by promoting land management practices that help rebuild our soils, ecosystems, and rural economies. Regenerative farming practices feed the life within the soil, creating a more resilient food system better prepared to withstand changing weather patterns. Reforestation, long-rotation management, and selective harvesting will safeguard Cascadia’s forests—its living lungs. These practices could also remove climate-altering carbon from the atmosphere. Sightline’s Farms and Forests program explores these opportunities in search of effective strategies for revitalizing and fortifying the region’s working lands as we face the climate crisis.