Writing Portfolio

Reporting

Disaster Resilience Part of Sustainability, Too
Pacific Standard (April 10, 2012)
As the world deals with quakes, storms, waves and eruptions, builders realize that surviving and thriving after these threats are key components of sustainability.

Debate Surrounds Race to Export America’s Natural Gas
InsideClimate News (Feb. 21, 2012)
Some U.S. manufacturers, utilities and consumer advocates worry exporting gas will drive up electricity prices and deepen reliance on coal.

Washington’s Hanford Reservation and nuclear plant may lie on faults
High Country News (October 17, 2011)
A newly-discovered fault system in the Pacific Northwest may mean earthquake risks in Eastern Washington — including near sensitive nuclear facilities — are woefully underestimated.

Green Acres
Portland Monthly (October, 2011)
Portland’s dream of pioneering sustainable neighborhoods faces tough obstacles.

Get Off My Land!
The Portland Mercury (July 14, 2011)
North Mississippi Avenue neighbors battle plan to fill green space with apartments.

Showdown on the East Side
The Bear Deluxe Magazine (#32, Summer, 2011)
Gridlock replaces compromise for Oregon forests.

Preparing Hanford for a major earthquake
King5.com (May 26, 2011)
Shifting knowledge about the Yakima Fold and Thrust belt doesn’t just have direct implications for the Columbia Generating Station. As separate as the Columbia Generating Station and the Hanford Site may be from a management and oversight standpoint, the fact remains that the two are inextricably linked, if for no other reason but geography.

Seismic concerns under Hanford came long before Japan quake
King5.com (May 23, 2011)
Letters indicate that regulators had serious questions about seismic hazard models used by operators of the Columbia Generating Station, despite claims to safety at the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear reactor.

Tearing down the wall
King5.com (May 19, 2011)
Until recently, geologists and geophysicists believed that the young volcanoes of the Cascade Range separated everything to their west from everything to their east. In their new paper, Blakely and Sherrod tear down that wall.

Proud of the Cloud
King5.com (May 19, 2011)
All over the Tri-Cities are landmarks like Atomic Laundry and Proton Lane. Student athletes at Richland High School play for the Bombers. Their mascots are mushroom clouds. This sidebar explores “Plutonium Pride” in the Northwest.

Research shakes up seismic knowledge near Northwest nuclear plant
King5.com (May 19, 2011)
New evidence that the Yakima Fold and Thrust belt may be much more seismically active than long thought could reshape assumptions used in assessments of nuclear safety at Hanford and the Columbia Generating Station.

Carbon Cargo
Portland Monthly (April, 2011)
The Columbia River’s energy boom threatens Portland’s green image.

Green burials bring peace of mind to final rest
The Lund Report (March 2, 2011)
From burial preserves to biodegradable shrouds, activists and entrepreneurs try to avoid modern death practices’ eternal impacts.

An Atlas of Equity
High Country News (March 2, 2011)
Mapping project charts proximity to environmental amenities.

Are You Ready to Die?
The Portland Mercury (Feb. 3, 2011)
Scenes from the next big quake.

The State of the Union and the Environment
High Country News (Jan. 25, 2011)
We can’t expect governmental actions to assuage our environmental worries. Instead, we must take responsibility for our future.

The Age of Loudness
High Country News (Jan. 11, 2011)
Is silence needed for human and ecological health?

Extracting the West
High Country News (Jan. 4, 2011)
Environmental battles in the West have increasingly far-reaching impacts.

2010

A tale of two cities
High Country News (Dec. 16, 2010)
Is environmental justice subjective?

An ambitious smart grid project in the Pacific Northwest
Planet-Profit Reporter (Dec. 9, 2010)
Utilities and tech companies join forces to try a smarter policy for a smarter grid.

Pharmaceutical industry spends millions on doctors
The Columbian (Nov. 7, 2010)
Clark County (WA) doctors got $190,000 over 18 months.

Where should green planning efforts come from?
High Country News(Nov. 3, 2010)
Hundreds of urban planners, architects, developers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and policymakers danced around this question last week as they convened on Portland for the second annual Ecodistricts Summit.

Molding the future
Vancouver Business Journal (Oct. 29, 2010)
Vancouver-based Rex Plastics Inc. sees big future in biopolymers.

Is wood good?
Planet-Profit Report (Oct. 25, 2010)
States pursue small scale biomass as they await rule changes.

A tiny energy revolution
High Country News (Oct. 1, 2010)
Energy innovators plant roots in communities.

Taking action on hunger
High Country News (Sept. 17, 2010)
Food security in the West.

What a week for wind
High Country News (Aug. 6, 2010)
Living next to a wind farm is no breeze.

Northland
Lascher at Large (July 26, 2010)
Web publication of a 2002 collaboration with photographer Whitney Fox documenting changes facing the rural border community of Jackman, Maine.

The 3-D wave
Oregon Business (May, 2010)
Oregon has a long history with 3-D entertainment and technology. If the local industry can coalesce, some see a sharper future.

Portland EcoDistricts target Lloyd Center
Portland Sentinel (April 16, 2010)
Communities have a week left to weigh in on plans for “EcoDistricts” throughout Portland, and Northeast Portland’s Lloyd District could become the first of five test neighborhoods for the project.

Extreme measures
Lascher at Large (March 22, 2010)
Geomicrobiologists look to harsh environments for organisms “disobeying” traditional chemistry teaching.

LAX to PDX: The back way
Lascher at Large (Feb. 24, 2010)
Chronicling a freeway-less journey from Los Angeles to Portland, OR in words, images and maps.

Metrolink workshop won’t be held in country
Ventura County Star (Jan. 3, 2010)
Board members meeting at the Jan. 23 workshop will explore ways to close a $4.4 million budget deficit, including a proposal that could save $1 million dollars by cutting weekend travel discounts.

2009

R we there yet?
Lascher at Large (Dec. 23, 2009)
It’s becoming clear that the age of the automobile is coming to an end, or, at the very least, changing. Los Angeles, like other cities, loses billions of dollars each year just because of people stuck on the region’s tangled roadways. Scholars, politicians, activists and numerous overlapping government agencies each offer often-competing solutions for how to get the region moving. All the while, the solution might begin not with expensive upheavals and construction of vast new transit networks, but instead with better cooperation, education and mobilization of the surprisingly robust transit network that already exists in the metropolis.

Metrolink obtains safer engines, cars
Ventura County Star (Dec. 17, 2009)
New locomotives and rail cars purchased by Metrolink are expected on Southern California lines by Summer, 2010 and will be equipped with “crash energy management” technology designed to better absorb the impact of rail collisions.

Metrolink stalls fare hike and cutbacks in service
Ventura County Star (Dec. 11, 2009)
Faced with a $4.5 million shortfall, officials from the five-county commuter rail service known as Metrolink postponed a decision on a 3 percent fare increase and other cost-cutting measures until a January workshop.

State water reform praised at L.A. forum
Ventura County Star (Nov. 12, 2009)
Government officials, environmental advocates and civic leaders speaking at “Surfacing the Solutions,” a forum on water policy in Downtown Los Angeles, pooled their support for a landmark comprehensive water package passed by the California legislature.

Streamlined rail travel envisioned
Ventura County Star (Nov. 8, 2009)
Participants at the annual Train Riders’ Association of California conference were asked to put their support behind a plan for 13 different government bodies overseeing rail travel in Southern California to work together to streamline train travel.

More road jobs possible in county, panel says
Ventura County Star (Nov. 7, 2009)
Ventura County Transportation Commission members took steps at its Nov. 2009 meeting to shuffle some of its spending priorities in a bid to secure more stimulus funds for roads and rail improvements as lower-than-expected construction costs leave stimulus funds available for additional projects, officials said.

Blurring the lines
Lascher at Large (Nov. 4, 2009)
Virtual Human research at USC’s Institute for Creative Technology promises real world impacts, including understanding natural language, nonverbal backchannel communication, medical training, trauma counseling and military readiness.

Will going green be the next way we go bust?
Lascher at Large (Jun. 14, 2009)
Whether or not green is the new black, more and more Americans are reaching for ecologically-shaded opportunities as they try to spin their fortunes out of the red. With enthusiasm echoing the early days of the dot-com boom and the heady days of sub prime loans and home flipping, would-be entrepreneurs are starting to gamble that the solution to their economic puzzles is spelled e-n-v-i-r-o-n-m-e-n-t. But are they kidding themselves?

2008

Mine opponents suspect official bias
Ventura County Reporter (June 26, 2008)
A broad coalition of Ojai residents, environmentalists, business owners, public officials and educators launched a blistering attack June 17 on county planners overseeing permits for mining operations.

Of trees and trains
Ventura County Reporter (May 8, 2008)
Safety hazards collide with environmental concerns.

Tensions Ease in Pierpont
Ventura County Reporter (April 17, 2008)
Council votes to adopt a new strategy for the beach management plan.

Matilija’s slippery slope
Ventura County Reporter (April 10, 2008)
Agencies scolded for inaction on 2006 landslide.

Bridges Unfunded
Ventura County Reporter (March 13, 2008)
Nearly a quarter of all bridges in Ventura County are either obsolete or structurally deficient, inspection data reported to the federal government in last year reveals.

Sand Concerns Pile Up
Ventura County Reporter (Feb. 28, 2008)
Beachfront residents cry foul over new management plan.

Between a rock mine and a hard place:
Ventura County Reporter (Feb. 1, 2008)
Appeal denied in truck violation case.

2007

Los Padres logging plan appealed
Ventura County Reporter (Dec. 13, 2007)
Forest advocacy organization worried Day Fire plan could set precedent.

Candidates wrap up debate marathon
Ventura County Reporter (Oct. 18, 2007)
No support for liquefied natural gas proposal among contenders for Ventura’s city council.

The Changing face of Art City
Ventura County Reporter (Oct. 4, 2007)
Ventura officials force a 20-year-old artist sanctuary to give itself a makeover.

Gloves come off in new LNG dispute
Ventura County Reporter (Sept. 20, 2007)
First public hearings on Clearwater Port to follow rally, boat trip.

Outage scorches downtown businesses
Ventura County Reporter (Sept. 6, 2007)
Shopkeepers and restaurateurs lose holiday dollars.

Here comes the flood
Ventura County Reporter (June 28, 2007)
Grand jury reports inadequacies in county disaster preparation.

Bowling for Ventura
Ventura County Reporter (Aug. 30, 2007)
“Five Hot Blondes” tart up a Midtown institution, but will it be enough to stop the wrecking ball?

Zaca blaze overshadows forest plan
Ventura County Reporter (Aug. 16, 2007)
Group speaks out as flames approach county.

Mining hearing ends on anticlimactic note
Ventura County Reporter (June 7, 2007)
Decision that could bring gravel trucks to mountainous Route 33 delayed.

Fire scorched forest reopens
Ventura County Reporter (May 17, 2007)
Fallen trees and rock slides keep some trails and roads closed in Sespe Wilderness.

Counties spar over permit for gravel mine
Pacific Coast Business Times (Jan 26, 2007)
Residents of Ventura County’s Ojai Valley hope to stop a proposed rock mine — and related traffic — at a 133-acre site in neighboring Santa Barbara County.

2006

Surging demand fuels area biodiesel firms
Pacific Coast Business Times (Nov. 17, 2006)
Tri-County fuel refiners and distributors attempt to develop biodiesel production and fueling networks, but a new report says supplies of the fuel are growing even faster than rapidly increasing demand.

Stalled lease deal may come back for rebid
Pacific Coast Business Times (Sept. 15, 2006)
An 11th hour decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to cancel the sale of more than 10,000 acres of mineral rights in the Los Padres National Forest may have spoiled the hopes of an Ojai gas prospector, but also strengthened the position of rural land owners in the forest.

Edison outages hurt area businesses
Pacific Coast Business Times (April 14, 2006)
Business owners across the South Coast are charged up after a series of power outages cost them thousands of dollars in lost sales and profits.

More than $1.8M spent in LNG lobbying blitz:
Pacific Coast Business Times (Feb. 21, 2006)
The public relations battle over a liquefied natural gas facility in California has crossed two oceans.

Policy Analysis and Scholarly Writing

Obscured Vision
(May 11, 2009)
In 2004 George W. Bush’s presidential administration proposed the “Vision for Space Exploration,” an ambitious plan to return Americans to the moon before sending an expedition to Mars. How did journalists cover this decision and the context in which it occurred?

Dealing with the Green New Deal
(April 16, 2009)
From late 2008 to early 2009, environmental journalists, business reporters, science writers and political correspondents alike faced a daunting challenge over how to cover the evolution of a movement that another year earlier may have seemed an issue on the fringe of the fringe. Despite excitement for a “Green New Deal,” not all journalists went far enough to examine how significantly these plans would contribute to improving the environment.

Contextualizing Waxman’s Reversal on the Subway to the Sea
(March 5, 2009)
Before Congressman Henry Waxman became one of Washington’s highest powered environmental advocates, the Los Angeles Democrat spent two decades staunchly opposing federal support for a cross-town subway in the metropolis. Were journalists able to properly place his 2004 turnabout and the re-emergence of plans for the line?

Conscilience reviewed
(Nov. 11, 2008)
Informal reflections upon reading E.O. Wilson’s Conscilience while developing a specialization in environmental and science writing.

Competition and the specialized journalist’s autonomy
(Aug. 25, 2008)
A discussion of specialized journalist’s independence amid a rapidly changing media landscape.

Taking Science out of the Margins
(Aug. 18, 2008)
For journalism to succeed in the 21st century, professional journalists must shake off the idea that events and personalities exist in a vacuum. The profession must cover environmental issues specifically, and science generally, with the same seriousness, passion, curiosity and standards generally afforded to coverage of political campaigns, government institutions, economic exchanges, social dynamics and international relations.

An Unstable Discussion — the complexities of climate change impacts on human security
(May 7, 2009)
Like most discussions of the intersection of climate change science and its implications for society, the relationship between political security and climate change is complicated. This paper focuses on an evolving understanding of the way climatological factors alternately affect, contribute to and degrade the stability of specific societies.

Environment and Conflict – a murky picture
(April 27, 2009)
Examining the impact to the natural environment from the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, difficulties in assessing these impacts, and challenges for determining culpability for these impacts.

“Pay as you throw” and municipal solid waste reductions
(Dec. 4, 2008)
The typical Americaan produces 4.6 pounds of waste each day. Tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases emissions result from transportation of this waste to landfills, by processing waste, and from transporting and using goods before they are disposed of. Armed with this information, urban sustainability advocates interested in limiting cities’ contribution to climate change may be interested in encouraging so-called “Pay-as-you-throw” waste management policies.

Slugging toward sustainability
(Nov. 6, 2008)
Can cities adopt informally-developed traffic management strategies without limiting their ability to lower carbon emissions? Do they need to, or are community-based efforts and changes to social behaviors enough to sustain carbon reductions? This paper explores the topic of casual carpooling, also known as slugging or flexible carpooling, and whether or not the practice can perceptibly alter emissions levels in cities.