Welcome to Open Spaces
Open Spaces is a forum for voices that speak with knowledge and understanding of matters currently affecting all of us.
“When artists, entrepreneurs, and agents of social change cluster, they look for forums where they can interact and be challenged and provoked. In Cascadia, Open Spaces plays this role. It is where thoughtful people publish essays that push readers to think outside their comfort zones.”
— Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day
and current president of the Bullitt Foundation
No constitutional office of the United States is bestowed by the formal approval of fewer people than federal judge. How can it be that such government officials enjoy substantial power yet effectively answer neither to the people nor to Congress? Learn about Judicial Activism.
In 1973, at the urging of then-Governor McCall and state Senator Macpherson, both Republicans, the Oregon Legislature enacted the bi-partisan Senate Bill 100, establishing the nation’s first statewide land use planning program. But soon after the state began to implement the new program, bi-partisan support dissolved. The program became partisan and remains in peril.
Learn about the history of Oregon’s revolutionary land use planning policy and insights for the future from Richard Benner, one of the policy’s architects.
An insightful, passionate and entertaining examination of how voters make political decisions, and of what any party or politician needs to do to win their allegiance.
A moment of refuge in our environmental legacy as observed by Oregon’s ninth Poet Laureate.
Are we who live in today’s America too divided to ever again peacefully occupy the same space, much less come together to find real solutions?
Why are sea otters missing from the Oregon Coast? Learn about the history of otters in Oregon, how we got to this point, and about the Elakha Alliance’s restoration efforts to reestablish the ecological and cultural balance for future generations.
Top: Quiet Contemplation
A serene landscape at the National Shrine of St. Therese, north of Juneau, Alaska.
Left: Guardian of Peace
To see more of Harry’s work, visit his photography showcase.
International Climate Change
For updates, visit the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) website, where one can find Summaries for Policy Makers from recent and upcoming Synthesis Reports.
Photo: Visible Earth, NASA