Out of the Forest, Into the Streets

  • The Wonder of Nearby Nature

    We often think of wild nature and magnificent animal life as things that can only be seen by travelling far away to remote places. However, nature abounds all around us. I was reminded of this reality yesterday, when I was on the beach of Lummi Island with a group of students. One of the spotted

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  • Have We Rounded a Corner in the Fight Against Climate Change?

    There is so much bad news about the state of Earth’s climate that sometimes it’s important to focus on the good. And, while the news of record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather from around the world certainly is devastating, it’s also true there are real encouraging trends. Not many years ago, almost no country with a

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  • UK Polluter Drax Comes to the Pacific Northwest

    As someone who’s been following international climate politics for years, I’ve long been familiar with UK company Drax, which at one time operated the largest coal plant in Western Europe. Over the last couple decades, Drax has tried to brand itself as a “renewable energy” company while phasing out its use of coal and replacing

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  • How Grassroots Organizing Drove a Climate and Biodiversity Victory Over Palm Oil

    Back in the ’00s, a huge and relatively new threat to biodiversity and the global climate began catching the attention of activists. The palm oil industry was expanding plantations as never before–particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia–to meet rising demand for both food oils and biofuels in countries around the world. This juggernaut seemed unstoppable, and

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  • Species Profile: Lodgepole Pine

    This post is part of an ongoing series where I’ll periodically highlight a particular plant, animal, or other living thing, with an emphasis on its unique adaptations and prospects for its survival. Usually, these will be species with whom I have personal experience. The lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is almost unique among Northwest conifers in

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  • 6 Lessons for Climate Activists in Turbulent Times

    Not many eras in modern U.S. history have been as turbulent for activists as the last 18 months. Grassroots organizers have had to contend with a lingering pandemic, increasingly unstable geopolitics and signs that Earth’s ecological systems are finally paying us back for decades of abuse. For the climate movement in particular, it’s been a

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  • Biden’s LNG Decision and the Effectiveness of Protest

    Photo credit: Fabrice Florin There’s a pervasive idea in our society that protests are largely pointless. Standing around with a sign doesn’t accomplish anything, the thinking goes–it’s a useless way of venting anger, a naive attempt to participate in the democratic process, or a pointless gesture in a world where the rich and powerful control

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  • On the Value of Writing Personalized Comments

    Photo: Forest slated to be logged as part of the Breaking Bud Timber Sale. Credit: Universal Wildlands One of the biggest challenges of a grassroots campaign that involves submitting public comments to a decision-making agency has to do with quantity vs. quality. In general, it’s much easier to get large numbers of people to submit

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  • Releasing The New Edition of Movement Makers

    It’s with much excitement that I’m here to announce today’s release of the second edition of Movement Makers: How Young Activists Upended the Politics of Climate Change. Doing a second edition of a book is always a big decision. However, at a time when new developments in climate politics–not to mention the grassroots movement to

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  • 5 Effective Ways to Take Action on Climate Change

    The internet abounds with tips for how to do something about the climate crisis. From eating less meat to changing your lightbulbs, there’s no shortage of positive steps you can take–or at least, that’s the message being broadcast by countless blogs, articles, and social media accounts about sustainability. There’s just one problem: most of the

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