If you're coughing a lot, the good news is it might not be the flu. The American Lung Association has given King County a big, fat F in The State of the Air report for ozone pollution and a C for particle pollution. (Hey, we're passing particle pollution!) The report analyzed data from 2005-2007. Here we thought we were ahead of the eco-friendly ball. We hope the next survey gives us extra credit for all of the retrofitting and emissions reducing projects we've been paying for working on. But take a deep breath and put your nervous energy to good use; at least we didn't earn top pollutant honors like other cities, including Los Angeles and Bakersfield, and good ol' Pittsburgh, PA.
more ›

We just ran across the Seattle Times comparison of Gregoire's and Rossi's positions on the environment, largely cribbed from our exhaustive Seattlest coverage of the same topic. Republican Dino Rossi says maybe human activity is to blame for climate change, so operating on the theory than an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, "He...wants to spend $15 billion to expand highways and reduce traffic congestion, which he argues would reduce emissions." Seriously. He also thinks you should fix your leaky water hose by buying a much larger one and leaving it running all the time. more ›

It figures that on the same day the Dow sank below 10,000--its worst decline since...uh...last week--we'd also read that gas scooters and motorcycles are worse polluters than cars and SUVs. Thanks, Alan Durning! Sure, they're gas-sippers, but since you can't fit emissions equipment on the tiny little suckers, they're essentially like driving around a high-mpg leaf-blower. The EPA says driving some motorcycles 10 miles is as bad emissions-wise as driving a car 850 miles. We're going back to bed. more ›