You might be saying, “oh great, another list from Down To Earth." And that’s what I thought when it was emailed to me too - but there’s a lot of interesting information to look at here. After all, you can't be too careful with the…
According to the National Complete Streets Coalition, a new report, Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2010: A story of growing strength, rates the strength of written policies. “It documents the tremendous growth in adoption of policies across the US, with the number of policies came close…
Good news: Down to Earth has a new Facebook page! Now that Facebook has evolved there are some new features/interactivity options that we want to explore as social media offers effective tools for change. The new page is called Down to Earth Northwest and all…
One of the best books of 2010: Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. I wasn't alone. It earned rave reviews and reached a mass audience. Even Oprah even brought it to her book club. I only mention this because the protagonist is concerned with a challenging topic that…
I really hope you had the opportunity to check out our radio show yesterday. In case you missed it, Down To Earth radio was joined via phone by filmmaker Jim Norton and author Steven Hawley for a wide-ranging discussion about the protection and management of…
Spokane Urban Forestry Director, Angel Spell, is inviting you to the Spokane NeighborWoods Launch and they're celebrating with a tree planting, DJ, dancing, wine tasting, taco-eating, cupcake gorging, and other caloric excesses. Bring the whole family; they'll have dirt to dig and prizes for the…
Check out The Future Of Food conference tomorrow that will bring together many of the world’s leading experts on food, including The Prince of Wales, a lifelong environmentalist and organic farmer, Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation,” and Wendell Berry, winner of The National…
“There is an obvious increase in tornado frequency between 1950-1999. This could be due to increased detection. Also this could be due to changing climatic conditions.” Joe Romm at Climate Progress makes the connection between extreme weather and climate change. That is what happens when…
I don't know where this came from but it's hilarious and, well, kind of sad. Civic gadfly George McGrath attends every City Council meeting Monday evening and in this particular case, more bike lanes are "poppycock, doubletalk...". Enjoy:
On Tuesday at 12:30 on KYRS, Bart Mihailovich and I will interview Jim Norton and Steve Hawley. Norton is responsible for a new PBS documentary Salmon: Running the Gauntlet and Hawley, journalist and author of the recently published Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding…
A century ago, it was the most efficient way to travel the streets of Spokane. Walking around Manito or West Central, you can see the tracks embedded in brick where the pavement is open, the final remaining physical evidence of an electric trolley car system.…
Just do it, the ad taunts. But you can't. You have the running shoes. You have the legs. But it's not fun. Bloomsday is hard work. (And it's getting greener.) Luckily, there's Nike's 45:33 to get you through the race. Yes, Nike. You can say…
Last week I posted about the weekly goldfish races at the Harmon Tap Room in Tacoma and the prompt cancellation after the establishment received complaints from PETA. Every Tuesday night the bar would feature races in which cheap feeder fish from a pet store were…
Confession: I love Beyonce. All the way back to Destiny's Child. So it is with some excitement I share this video as part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to get you dancing as a form of exercise. Nietzche put it best: Dancing in all…
Don't get too close is what the warning signs tell you - you'll get cooked. The water is 240 degrees of pressurized heat, after all. But that didn’t stop some 30 tourists from taking a way-too-close look at Yellowstone’s famous Old Faithful Geyser. The AP…
The folks at Spokane Bikes - the group formerly known as Bike To Work Spokane - are compiling a master list for next month, to make May the official Bike Month. It all begins Sunday with the Commute Challenge and then the Elk Drug Droput…
As Joe Romm noted the other day, Ezra Klein has an interesting column in WaPo making the case that, in terms of policy, Obama "is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s." Putting aside the emergency measures responding to the economic crisis, Obama's signature initiatives…
In second grade, Cole was assigned a project to be an environmental activist. He researched environmental causes around him and found that McDonald’s was buying paper that destroyed endangered forests in his home state. .
Next week is Native Plant Appreciation Week and there are numerous events in our area. Even our own Spokane Native Plant Society is getting in on the action with a makoever of Lindaman’s restaurant in the historic St.John’s neighborhood. After the jump, check local events…
Van Jones gave a passionate keynote address to 10,000 youth climate activists at the Power Shift conference in Washington DC to “shift the power” and lead the clean power revolution. He argued that both parties need to be held accountable for their failures, and that…
Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Check out this scary film showing scientists venturing inside the plant's cement sarcophagus, which keeps its nuclear material contained - for the moment.
This is a German ad from the Consumerist and it reads “Be careful when transporting fragile goods.” Pretty nasty stuff. But the question remains do you wear a helmet? On my bike commute downtown, I see too many NOT wearing a helmet even though it's…
Summer Parkways is back but it's different this year. They will be be expanding it to include three different neighborhoods, including their first night-time event: Wednesday, June 22, 6-9 PM- Comstock/Manito Neighborhood (map) Sunday, July 24, 10AM-2PM- North Hill Neighborhood (map) Sunday, August 14, 10…
Last week, the City Council voted 5-1 to approve a $175,000 settlement over the City Of Spokane not cleaning up PCB's--a cancer-causing pollutant. The carcinogen finds a way into the fatty tissue of fish and levels are so high in the Spokane River, the Spokane…
Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer and Newman drive from New York to Michigan to deposit recycled cans and bottles since it is 10 cents there instead of five cents everywhere else? They should've just gone to Coeur d'Alene. David Cole from the Coeur…