subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link
subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link
subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link
subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link
subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link
subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link
subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link
subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link

Our Mission

The Cascadia Carbon Institute (CCI) provides technical advising and due diligence services to very- and ultra-high net worth individuals and families. CCI also educates policymakers, agriculturalists, members of the energy industry, and the public about matters related to sustainability, agriculture, energy, and global climate change.

Sustainability. True sustainability is more than just grafting the word onto an exisiting product or practice. Some of the earliest progress toward sustainability came in the area of sustainable agriculture.

Energy. The most logical new source of energy is our region's excellent agriculture industry, but getting there isn't so simple. Early in the modern era of development of Northwest bioenergy we released a key white paper, Issues and Options for Northwest Energy: Canola for Biodiesel, available for free download.

Agriculture. Farmers farm carbon and nitrogen. They use solar energy and various crops and animals to shape these elements (and a handful of others) into forms that are useful to humans as food, fiber, and fuel.

Education. There are national and international movements in progress to increase access to sustainability education at all levels. CCI is working with Washington State University toward this goal at WSU's Pullman campus.

Energy Independence?

Let's be clear about this: our current energy consumption is much too great to allow energy independence to become a reality without significant reductions in energy use. It will take many changes in the way we work, play, and travel before true energy independence will be within reach. That said, there is much we can do to produce more energy right here in our region. Farms and farmers will be a key part of the solution.

Recent fuel price spikes and world events have raised awareness of our reliance on energy sources from outside our region. We're used to having plenty of renewable hydropower, and more and more of our electricity comes from wind power, but gasoline, diesel, and natural gas all come from sources outside of our bio-geographical area. There's great potential to use agriculture to convert solar energy into fuel, but the transition to an energy agriculture will take careful management and good understanding of what can be done and what should be avoided.

The Northwest is virtually unique in the world for our hydropower development. In many ways, our access to hydropower is a byproduct of our agricultural development. Grand Coulee Dam was conceived as a way to provide irrigation water for Washington State, for example. The dams on the Snake River were built to transport agricultural products from as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho, to markets downstream. Hydropower has had obvious environmental impacts, but Washington-grown biofuels can actually prevent some serious environmental impacts from happening.

Energy Independence: Everyone's Priority Our region -- and ourselves individually -- must move toward energy independence. As Washington's 2006 Energy Freedom Act says: “…dependence on energy supplied from outside the state and volatile global energy markets makes its economy and citizens vulnerable to unpredictable and high energy prices….”

Join Cascadia Carbon Your membership in Cascadia Carbon will help us continue or work to analyze issues and educate policymakers and the public. We depend on members for most of our financial support. Please join us!

It Won't Happen Without Agriculture The Northwest has about 12,000,000 acres of cropland, with an average farm size of 400 acres (an acre is a little larger than the playing surface of a football field, a little larger than half the size of a soccer field). The Northwest boasts one of the most diverse agricultural industries in the country, with over 35 major crops. In addition to an impressive ability to produce crops, the Northwest's farmland has huge potential to sequester carbon.

Types of Bioenergy We can think of bioenergy products as embodied solar energy. Plants turn solar energy into energy-rich compounds that can be used directly or processed to make energy products. Ethanol is made from carbohydrates; biodiesel is made from fats. Bio-methane, made by anaerobic digestion, and solid fuels like good old fashioned firewood are other important examples of bioenergy.

Bioenergy and Global Climate Change One cause of global climage change is the production of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is produced when any fuel is burned, but when fossil fuels are burned, the resulting carbon dioxide causes a net increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Biofuels do not produce fossil carbon dioxide -- instead, they recycle carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Education Sustainablility is an enormously important topic, and issues of sustainability are present in every aspect of our lives. Yet topics related to sustainability are only just becoming incorporated into formal education in the United States. Cascadia Carbon is actively working to make progress in this area.

Blog | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | ©2007 Cascadia Carbon