In vino veritas. “In wine is truth.” Our Latin pretty much stops cold there. But one familiar story that always catches our attention and turns us sideways: The relationship between climate change and wine growth in Washington. Our state is second to California in premium-wine…
We’re in for some serious weather in the Inland Northwest this week. A foot of snow and maybe even 10 below? Bring it on. Actually, please don’t. Be safe. In case you missed it in the S-R, public agencies have been getting the word out…
“The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us.” --- Mahatma Gandhi
Outside a laboratory, a toy wagon is used to carry radioactive material at Hanford Atomic Energy plant in 1955. Photo by Nat Farbman, from the amazing LIFE/Google archive.
This is sort of funny but par for the course. As Spokane County proceeds with a proposed $145 million wastewater treatment plant, commissioners had an idea for funding problems: The City of Spokane Valley, whose residents would actually represent three-fourths of the facility's customers, could…
Does “wildlife refuge” invoke the sound of gunshots? Well, officials at the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Cheney have authorized hunting for the first time since it was established in 1937. Apparently, the area has reached its carrying capacity for large elk herds which are…
Photo Courtesy Of The Prairie Protection Association. That's always a bad sign. The Spokesman-Review reports “Spokane County Commissioners are plowing ahead with a plan to widen Bigelow Gulch Road despite a federal lawsuit that could block or delay federal funding for the project.” Federal funds…
The wild year that was 2008 is coming to its uncertain conclusion, and now is the time media publications let loose a flood of year-end lists. (Presumably so some journalists can take vacations.) Time Magazine has one such list: 10 Green Stories. While we don’t…
The eagle has landed. Lake Coeur d’Alene is experiencing an influx of bald eagles, hungry for spawning kokanee salmon. The Spokesman-Review reports “a weekly winter survey found 127 eagles in the bay on Monday, up from 88 last week and 59 the week after Thanksgiving.”
Photo courtesy of Greater Spokane. STA budget dilemma might include raising fares. The Spokane Transit Authority has a problem: While ridership has increased, revenue is falling since more than 70 percent of their funding comes from sales taxes. According to the S-R, the $79 million…
Perhaps readers were unsure of what we were talking about in yesterday's edition of Another Green Monday with the “new New Deal.” In his weekly address at Change.gov, President-elect Obama promised the first part of his plan would “launch a massive effort to make public…
EWU Rec Center awarded LEED gold certification In what seems like forever ago (2005), Down To Earth voted in a special election as students at Eastern Washington University to approve student funding for a state of the art recreation center. Little did we know back…
Thinking ahead, Conservation Northwest has named it’s top priorities for 2009, hoping to connect and protect old growth and other wild areas across the state. Without further adieu: ---We will introduce and pass a management plan including wilderness designation for the Colville National Forest in…
What happens when a group of misfit local bloggers get together? They produce the ultimate pocketbook and tie a ribbon through it for display on a tin Christmas tree. (Almost like “Festivus.”) They screen the cheesy time-capsule “Hackers.” Freed from their secure digital veil, they…
DTE received an email from the University of Idaho regarding a group of scientists at the school who studied young fish transportation programs as a means to bypass dams during migration. They learned salmon and steelhead trout along the Columbia and Snake rivers, had lower…
This is what Andrew Sullivan refers to as a "mental health break." Goo goo g'joob.
Rachael Paschal Osborn, The Sierra Club’s Spokane River Project Coordinator, has issued a direct letter asking County Commissioners to not enter a multi-million dollar contract with CH2M Hill to design, build, and operate a wastewater treatment plant that can’t meet discharge limits. Drafted with assistance…
Always shaking things up at the DTE camp. Our latest little fun project: Contributing to a "Spokane Blog Bible", featuring twelve local blogs that has URLs, site descriptions, and medieval graphics in a hand-held guide. Published by Dreyer Press, the pocketbook’s introduction states “your neighbors…
Pow. Anderson Cooper is back. As a follow up to last year’s “Planet in Peril,” an investigative report on global environmental issues, you should get ready for more action because on December 11th, at 9pm EST, “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” will premiere on CNN…
Former Oregon governor on the list for Secretary of Interior. "Removing the four Lower Snake River dams is, at least for the Snake River salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, the single most beneficial action we can take. If we can move beyond the…
Alan Durning has a lot on his mind. The executive director of one of DTE’s favorite sites, Sightline, talks about new climate policies and re-evaluating the economic crisis as an opportunity for green-collar jobs and alternative energy. Video excerpts include: ---"It’s a time of extraordinary…
Local ski area aren't impressing The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition. Last week we wrote about 49 Degrees North and Mt. Spokane ski areas endorsing the National Ski Area Association’s (NSSA) Sustainable Slopes initiative, “a framework for improving the environmental performance of the ski industry." Then…
Courtesy of Inland Rail That image looks familiar. Like someplace we know very well. But it’s off: It could be Riverside Avenue in downtown Spokane with an electric light rail system. Maybe even in five years. Last month, the Washington State University’s Social and Economic…
Always with an instinct for the outsider, and trying to break out of the consistently genetic pattern of his family, check out Robert Kennedy’s first major campaign speech, on the Gross National Product (listen to audio stream HERE), delivered at the conservative University of Kansas,…
(Site note: We’re on the road for the holiday. One half is headed to Butte, Montana, and the other half to Indianola, Washington. We’ll return posting Friday morning. In the meantime, look for the DTE Turkey on these pages. Happy Thanksgiving!) "There is a sufficiency…
The DTE blog is committed to reporting and sharing environmental news and sustainability information from across the Inland Northwest.
