Cascadia today: OR needs more heat pumps + opposing a BC gold mine + queer Seattle writers to read this summer

Good morning, and happy belated summer solstice! Enjoy the the sunny evenings – it's important for Cascadians to stock up on vitamin D before the Big Dark of winter!

If you're looking for some good news from the Pacific Northwest and haven't read it yet, please check out my latest feature article, about a collaboration between Auburn poet laureate Mateo Quispe and the Muckleshoot tribe to create little libraries of Indigenous poetry and place them in Muckleshoot community spaces and across Auburn, south of Seattle. The bookcases were inspired by Coast Salish canoe designs and the libraries are "an invitation to slow down," Quispe said.

Coast Salish Indigenous canoes inspire little poetry bookcases in Auburn & Muckleshoot land

Mateo Quispe, who’s the poet laureate of Auburn – a suburban city south of Seattle – wishes they’d had more access to Indigenous poetry growing up. Quispe spent most of their life in Auburn, and is Red River Métis and Little Shell Chippewa (unenrolled) as well as Two-Spirit Peruvian-

Cascadia JournalAndrew Engelson

Heat pump expansion necessary for OR as climate warms

Temperatures are expected to climb into the 90s in Portland this week, and another heat dome is expected across Cascadia. As extreme heat becomes more frequent in the Pacific Northwest, public health advocates are calling on Oregon to revive home improvement assistance grants to help residents install heat pumps, Oregon Capital Chronicle reports. Not only do these units offer cooling in summer, they also reduce energy use and help the region meet climate goals. I wrote for Investigate West several years ago that Cascadia will need to spend billions to convert residential units to climate-friendly electric heat pumps. In related news, CBC reported that the 2021 heat dome that led to more than 600 deaths in British Columbia also permanently changed some ecosystems for the worse.

Spokane charging fewer domestic violence cases

RANGE Media has a great, detailed and disturbing report about how prosecutors in the Spokane area are declining to prosecute an increasing number of domestic violence cases – and that limits on caseloads for public defenders in the state might be part of the decline. I'm skeptical of that claim.

I've written about this issue of increasing numbers of those charged with crimes unable to find a public defenders, especially in Oregon. And one thing to note: prosecutors have immense discretion on who to charge, and I'd be curious to know what sorts of drug use, shoplifting, and other minor misdemeanors Spokane is prosecuting. Seattle also chose to prosecute fewer DV cases as it ramped up prosecution of minor drug offenses. To counties that want to ramp up prosecutions for crimes of poverty (which evidence shows isn't a good use of public funds) THEN HIRE MORE PUBLIC DEFENDERS.

WA governor proposes school cell phone ban

Washington State Standard reports that Washington governor Bob Ferguson, with the backing of the state's superintendent of public instruction, will be pushing legislation to ban cell phone use by students in public K-12 schools. Great. Good idea. Pass it. Then move on to the more critical concerns: increasing tax revenue so Washington can adequately fund public schools, housing, and the social safety net.

Seattle all in with permanent supportive housing

The Urbanist reports on the opening of a new permanent supportive housing building in Seattle run by DESC. This "housing-first" model offers a suite of services to help people escape the cycle of homelessness, and despite attacks by the feds on funding for this model, it's shown proven results. At the opening, Seattle mayor Katie Wilson noted the program's success: "We know that 95% of residents at DESC remain housed after one year. 95%: that is one of the highest success rates anywhere in the nation.”

Opposing a gold mine near Tofino, BC

The Narwhal looks at growing opposition to a proposed gold mine near Tonifo and Clayoquot Sound on western Vancouver Island. Imperial Metals is proposing to expand mining in a former mine in the watershed of Tranquil creek (also known as Hiłsyaqƛis). The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and the city of Tofino, which brings $430 million in tourism to British Columbia, are opposed. BC and Canada's feds have attempted to "fast track" extractive projects including mines, oil pipelines, and LNG terminals and avoid detailed consultation with First Nations. That needs to stop.

A queer Cascadia summer reading list

The Stranger has a summer reading guide to some excellent queer literature, including some by Cascadia writers, including We Had No Rules by Seattle writer Corinne Manning and Ballast by Seattle poet Quenton Baker. You can read Manning's story "Ninety Days" at my former project, Cascadia Magazine.

Thanks for reading, and as always: keep loving and keep fighting. --Andy