Alan Thein Durning

Well written and concise book on simple policy fixes to affordable housing in "Cascadia", the US pacific northwest and coastal BC. Alan Durning of the sightline institute does a great job of making zoning and land-use policy readable. It is interesting to me that Victoria and Vancouver are further ahead on a number of these policy initiatives than Seattle/Portland, but we have a long way to go to make housing affordable at all levels.

This book was assigned reading for one of my education classes, of all things. It had a huge impact on me and I reread it at least once, loaned it to a friend, and never got it back. I should probably track down another copy and see if it still resonates in my 40s the way it did in my 20s.

This book wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was still a worthwhile read. Although published in 1996, it still has a lot to offer. There are two "story-lines" that alternate throughout the book. The story of the author's and his family's personal experiences after moving to the Northwest Pacific, and the story and history of the Northwest Pacific itself. He looks at many different projects and ways that people were trying to move towards a more sustainable culture. The Northwest Pacific show more is still one of the environmental and sustainability leaders in the United States, and this book offers an explanation why.

Experiments in Reading show less

Brilliant. Oh hell, that's not a review. This brief natural history of several daily items, is probably not even outdated. A worthy read, over 20 years later. I'm sure, unfortunately, that the energy intensive life cycle of each consumer itme, has not changed much.