Editor's note: For the next several months, Sustainable Missoula will run a series of articles to build broader understanding of the 0/50/100 sustainability framework: zero waste, 50 percent sustainable trips, and 100 percent clean electricity for Missoula. This article is the second in a series on Zero Waste. Read the first one here. In 2008, I spent Christmas in the Arctic … [Read more...] about Sustainable Missoula: Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on Missoula’s path to zero waste

Every politician has a way of doing things. Take Sen. Jon Tester, for example. He appears before large groups of people in person with his missing fingers and folksy speak. Some like him and some don't. He vents frustration as well as anyone over D.C. politics, saying things like “I've got to tell you” and “listen, folks.” He usually tempers this with a dose of optimism. “We … [Read more...] about Notebook: Most Montana politicians no longer use town halls for town hall events

Last month, in a nod to Martin Luther King Day, I wrote a Missoula Current column about Dr. King’s remarkable “Letter from Birmingham Jail." As we celebrate Black History Month, here’s the rest of the story, the second in a trilogy. Fifty-six years ago, if you were looking for the heart of darkness that was racism in America, you’d stop searching in Birmingham, Alabama. … [Read more...] about Mary Moe: Birmingham’s children awakened America to the South’s racial terrorism

The namesake of the University of Montana’s McGill Hall would likely be shocked by recent reports of potential health risks associated with the building. Dr. Caroline McGill was Montana’s first pathologist and the state’s third female physician. She began practicing medicine in 1914, after completing her education at Johns Hopkins University the year before. She spent … [Read more...] about Harmon’s Histories: Asbestos scare would dismay McGill Hall’s namesake

Four years ago, Mountain Line embarked on a partnership with the city and county of Missoula, along with 11 local businesses and organizations, to create Mountain Line’s Zero-fare bus program. Our goal was to remove barriers to riding public transit and increase ridership, while also improving our operating efficiency. The project has surpassed even the most optimistic … [Read more...] about Sustainable Missoula: Zero-fare buses send ridership soaring, improve air quality for all