Sightline Institute

10/22/2026

Apartments use less energy, land, and materials than houses. They concentrate in the walkable centers of cities and towns, so their residents drive less than house dwellers. They're also winning the race to electrify.

Most climate strategies are hamstrung by Washington and culture wars across the country. But zoning reform may be the exception.

10/20/2026

Across Northwest states, burning gas in homes emitted about 10.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, roughly what two million gasoline-powered cars spew in a year. https://www.sightline.org/2026/10/15/the-health-case-for-electric-appliances-keeps-growing/

10/19/2026

Vancouver, like most BC municipalities, currently uses an outdated election model called block voting. It rarely works as it should: Last municipal election, ABC councillors won 35% of the vote, yet somehow collected seven of ten council seats.

Our preliminary analysis of Vancouver election results suggests COPE and the Green Party will be over-represented on the city council going forward; with proportional representation, ABC, OneCity, TEAM, and Vancouver Liberals each likely would have won one seat more than they did under the city's outdated block voting model.

If there's one thing local candidates and elected officials can count on, though, it's that block voting fosters a "winner-take-all" environment in which parties and lawmakers focus on dividing their opposition, rather than coming together to solve problems.

10/16/2026

Sightline runs housing, democracy, and climate programs. What would you add? We’re hiring a principal director of program development to build our next research program (and then the one after that).

Principal Director, Program Development

10/16/2026

We’re hiring a messaging strategy manager!

Good policy doesn’t sell itself. This communications role will translate research on abundant homes, fair elections, and clean energy into messages that move people.

Manager, Messaging Strategy

10/15/2026

“It’s like having car exhaust in a home.”

Pollution from gas stoves can have serious health effects—but they continue to pollute the air inside Northwest homes, while gas furnaces and water heaters also release pollution outdoors.

The Health Case for Electric Appliances Keeps Growing

10/13/2026

This year’s fast moving, virtually irrepressible events are not the seasonal burns of decades past.

10/13/2026

Who lives in Cascadia?

16 million US residents, 6 million Canadians. 430,000 residents of Alaska. 710 Yukoners.

https://www.sightline.org/2026/10/08/twenty-one-million-cascadians-an-overview/

10/09/2026

“This municipal election, candidates in our biggest cities should be judged on whether they will finally remove the barriers that keep homes scarce and expensive,” says BC Policy Solutions senior economist and policy analyst Alex Hemingway in his latest article.

Find the link to read it in the comments below.

10/08/2026

Cascadia is home to about 21 million people, spread far and wide across the bioregion that stretches from the Rockies to the Pacific and from Alaska to California.

Twenty-one Million Cascadians: An Overview