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WA state to phase out net-pen Atlantic salmon farms
On Friday the Washington state senate voted to phase out net-pen farming of Atlantic salmon in the state’s marine waters by 2025. The bill came in reaction to the accidental release of more than 200,000 non-native salmon into the Salish Sea last summer. Meanwhile, in British Columbia, more than 100 salmon farms are active, and The Tyee reports that marine biologists have confirmed that a disease dangerous to native salmon is common in net pens. The Georgia Straight posted a video produced by biologist Alexandra Morton on piscine riovirus (PRV) and its dangers.
Oregon fails to pass cap & trade bill, WA to vote on carbon tax in fall
Before the end of its short session, the Oregon legislature failed to pass a “cap and invest” program to tax greenhouse gases and fund clean energy projects. Washington also failed to pass a carbon tax this year, and a coalition of environmental groups has announced they’re filing to put a carbon tax initiative to the voters on the ballot this fall. Vox has a detailed look how western states are moving forward on measures to fight climate change.
City of Vancouver says $3,700 for an apartment is “affordable”
According to the Georgia Straight, the city of Vancouver recently announced new guidelines in its for-profit affordable rental program, and it lists a 3-bedroom West end apartment at $3,700 a month as “affordable.” Meanwhile, Justin McElroy at CBC writes about how baby boomer homeowners in Vancouver have little sympathy for millenials priced out of the market.
Seattle’s Black Lives Matter movement has its MeToo moment
At the South Seattle Emerald, Marcus Green observes how abusive behavior by some leadership in the Seattle chapter of Black Lives Matter has caused some women, queer, and trans activists to create a new organization, Black Lives Matter Seattle King County. “A lot of us are just tired, really,” says BLMSKC co-founder Ebony Miranda about the behavior.
Indigenous dance lives on in BC despite historical persecution
CBC reports on the First Nations Dance Festival at Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology, where dancers from the Gitxsan Nation reach deep into their cultural heritage to perform dances that were prohibited in Canada until 1951. “Something that I think we take for granted in our songs and dances is that they were illegal, and you would be imprisoned, and all of your regalia was confiscated.”
Portland author Omar El Akkad on writing the unrooted
Portland author Omar El Akkad, recipient of the 2018 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for American War, writes an essay for PNBA on being a writer with few roots in place. Though his father was born in Egypt, El Akkad came of age in Qatar, a place of “unrooted” migrants both wealthy and poor. “In my mind, American War is not a book about America. It’s a novel about what happens when people are violently uprooted, stripped of place and stripped of agency.”
That’s all today’s news, arts and culture from the Great Northwest. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: salmon farm by Sam Beebe, CC BY-SA 2.0