seattleDIRT

It was a home run, a grand slam, a dream come true or the biggest birthday present ever for the solar industry, depending on who you spoke with. But these are not normal times and the reality of the global economy collided with what should have been a day in the sun for solar companies. San Francisco Chronicle 10/09/2008

I recently had a talk with Sims and asked him if he was “casting about,” as many think. Not at all, he replied, and went into a long speech about his worldwide efforts at combating global warming, cutting-edge work in water quality in Thailand, and battling workplace depression by letting people work in satellite centers that cut down stressful commuting. Through his long public career, Sims has always been a fount of visionary ideas, but now he’s a true geyser. Crosscut 10/10/2008

If the US focused on curbing climate change as soon as a new president took office – or sooner – it could help pull the world from the financial brink, according to environmental policy experts. New Scientist 10/10/2008

If pessimism is growing among Canadian small business owners, it’s happening beyond the borders of Greater Victoria, according to local business leaders. Victoria Times Colonist 10/10/2008

More than eight in 10 Americans blame the economy for much of the stress in their lives, according to a national study released this week by the American Psychological Association. Crisis hot lines are hearing the anguish, while psychologists and other therapists say they are seeing personal woes tied to the faltering economy. Press Democrat 10/10/2008

Federal officials said Thursday that they want to double logging allowed on 2.6 million acres of forests in western Oregon, a move that would doom more old-growth trees but boost timber-related payments to 18 rural Oregon counties and create an estimated 1,200 new jobs. Oregonian 10/10/2008

Forest Park — the 5,000-acre gem a city planner once said is as important to Portland as the Hudson River is to New York City — turns 60 this year and is showing signs of age. The park faces pressure from residential development, increased use of the 75 miles of trails and a steady invasion of non-native weeds, primarily English ivy. Oregonian 10/10/2008

The economic downturn is hitting Bay Area foundations and social service providers hard. Charities are faced with cutting services at the same time people need more help. And, the grim economic news – including a global credit crunch, the slide in the Dow Jones industrial average, rising unemployment and a housing collapse – couldn’t come at a worse time. Most philanthropic donations are made toward the end of the year. San Francisco Chronicle 10/10/2008

The U.S. Census reports more people lacking health insurance than Oregon and Washington found when the states did their own surveys. A state demographer in Olympia is suspicious of the data for thinly settled counties because the sample sizes are very small. The Census says more than 18 percent of Oregonians lack health insurance. Oregon Public Broadcasting 10/09/2008

If you listen to America’s workers, one of the keys to digging ourselves out of the economic hole we’re in is employees’ ability to join a union. Polls show between 25 and 60 million Americans who are not now union members say they wish they had a union in their workplace. Oregonian 10/10/2008