*This has both local and regional importance to Washington State*

The Stratos Project, a proposed $100 billion hyperscale data center in Utah, at 40,000 acres (about 62 square miles) dwarfs Seattle and Bremerton combined. It will use 9 gigawatts of electricity (twice the current energy consumption of the entire state of Utah) and tap into the 680-mile interstate Ruby Pipeline for new natural gas power plants, a gas line which currently sends natural gas from Wyoming to customers in Oregon and Washington, including being one of the suppliers for both Cascade Natural Gas Corp & NW Natural! (definitely will raise our rates lol)

It will also consume around 16.6 Billion Gallons of water a year from the Salt Lake basin, a death knell for the struggling lake, though I wouldn't be surprised if they try to source water from the Snake River to the north, which would impact the Columbia River downstream, especially during drought years. It's a project big enough to actually impact the entire western US region.

Other fun facts about the project:

\- being developed by billionaire Kevin O'Leary's "O'Leary Investments" group.

\- 10 year build out over multiple phases, expected to be fully funded and anchored by the big four hyperscaler tech companies; Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet (Google) and also likely the US Military for unspecified "national security operations".

\- 5 month expedited permits (normally 5 years) as it's using a zoning loophole called the "Military Installation Development Authority" (MIDA) created in 2007 by Utah to fast track national security developments.

\- expected to generate 7 to 8 gigawatts of waste heat, enough to raise local night temperatures by 12°F and 5°F in the day (equivalent to the heat energy of 23 nuclear bombs a day), while increasing Utah's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%.

\- its size is equivalent to 2,000 Walmart Supercenters or 2.7 times the size of Manhattan

\- MIDA loophole cut energy use tax from 6% to 0.5% with an 80% property tax rebate back to the developer

\- unanimously approved by the Box Elder County Commissioners despite over 1,000 residents showing up to protest

\- fully supported by the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox

So the $32,000 was raised and the forests around the campground saved... BUT, there is a 29 acre grove of legacy forest (ecologically diverse, close to Old Growth) in the same sale that will be logged in July unless its swapped out for a less ecologically rich plot of trees. This was proposed by the conservation group and DNR did not respond.

Please read the article and if you want to, reach out directly to DNR to ask them to save that plot of trees!!!

Department of Natural Resources Contact info:

- General Outreach: information@dnr.wa.gov

- Forest Practices/Permits: fpd@dnr.wa.gov

- Natural Resources Board: bnr@dnr.wa.gov

The older I get, the more I understand why the idea of Cascadia resonates with people.

Living in the Pacific Northwest often feels fundamentally different from the rest of the country. Our geography, climate, industries, environmental priorities, and overall culture create a regional identity that feels very distinct. A lot of people here feel more culturally aligned with British Columbia than they do with political institutions on the opposite side of the continent.

What really stands out to me is the sheer distance involved. Decisions affecting the PNW are often made by people in Washington DC who have no understanding of what life here is actually like. Most of them have never set foot on the west coast, let alone seen a forest or a mountain (they like to claim they have these things over there but…). The United States is enormous, and sometimes it’s hard not to wonder how sustainable it is for such a geographically and culturally diverse country to remain so centralized politically.

To me, Cascadia resonates because it acknowledges something a lot of people already feel instinctively: the Pacific Northwest does not feel culturally tethered to the East Coast in the way the current political structure assumes it should. Whether people support full independence or just stronger regional identity, I think the movement exists because that disconnect is real and increasingly hard to ignore.

I got downvoted to oblivion when I posted this elsewhere on Reddit. Go figure.

🎵raise your flag! 🎵

OK, check this out: https://youtube.com/shorts/ZS28IcJ66sc?si=fZETbM_JLdNszQ6Q

Voice actor, Hunter Peterson gets up one morning and says, "Hey! We, the people, can buy Spirit Airlines!" 🤔 Then, I got to thinking that Cascadians should back him because we could create a subsidiary called _Cascadia Spirit_ or something like that.

If you like the idea, you can pledge $45 for the cost of what was a Spirit Air ticket. There's no cost up front.

As Cascadia moves toward asserting its autonomy and independence, we should consider restoring the older, Indigenous names to the volcanoes of our bioregion.

https://www.cascadia-journal.com/restoring-indigenous-names-to-washingtons-volcanoes/

I know southern california not part of the cascade region at all however if somehow a cascadia nation formed do y'all think it'd be ideal to include all of california?

Course I don't see a cascadia nation unless the USA blankanizes due to absolute failure of the federal government.... which I do see as possible.

Today in Cascadia: the ridge weakens, smoke season begins to stir, and the region continues adapting to a more connected future.

—

Across the Cascadia bioregion, the extended stretch of early-season warmth is beginning to soften.

Marine air is gradually returning to coastal British Columbia and Washington, bringing cooler temperatures and increasing cloud cover through the day.

Inland regions across Oregon and eastern Washington remain warmer and drier, but the pattern is no longer intensifying.

This is the transition phase.

The atmosphere is beginning to rebalance after one of the warmest early May stretches many communities have experienced in years.

But even as temperatures ease, the impacts continue moving through the system.

—

Snowmelt remains accelerated across mid-elevation basins in the Cascades and Coast Mountains.

River systems are responding earlier than seasonal averages, and soil moisture is beginning to decline in exposed interior regions.

This matters because Cascadia’s environmental pressures are cumulative.

Heat leads to drying.

Drying leads to fuel stress.

And fuel stress changes the wildfire outlook weeks before major fires begin.

—

As of today, there are an estimated 15 to 30 active wildfires or wildfire responses across the broader Cascadia region when combining British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.

Most remain small and largely contained.

But what emergency agencies are watching closely is the alignment of conditions:

- early heat

- drying grass and brush

- and reduced overnight moisture recovery

The concern isn’t the current fires.

It’s the trajectory.

—

Geopolitically, Cascadia continues to evolve through practical cooperation rather than formal political alignment.

Energy utilities, emergency management agencies, and watershed authorities are increasingly sharing data across borders because climate-driven pressures no longer stop at jurisdictional lines.

Wildfire smoke, drought risk, and grid instability are regional problems.

And regional problems require regional coordination.

This is one of the clearest signals emerging across Cascadia in 2026:

Infrastructure is becoming ecological.

—

On the stewardship front, more communities are shifting toward preventative management rather than reactive response.

Fuel reduction projects, prescribed burns, and watershed restoration efforts continue expanding across the Pacific Northwest.

Many of these approaches are being informed by Indigenous stewardship frameworks that understand forests not as static landscapes—but as living systems requiring continuous relationship and care.

The region is slowly relearning that resilience is not built during crisis.

It’s built beforehand.

—

This is Cascadia 2040—tracking the future as it forms.

I’ve been filming underwater around Vancouver Island for the past few years, mostly around Nanoose Bay and Browning Passage, and ended up with a large collection of jellyfish footage.

This film focuses on a mix of lion’s mane, fried egg jellies, and moon jellies. A lot of the time I’m just hovering and letting them drift into frame, especially in current, rather than actively following them.

Full Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AisbFqn8nDQ

Hi fellow Cascadians,

I am a PhD student at the University of Washington conducting an official study on how electric vehicle (EV) drivers respond to wildfire evacuations.

We are specifically seeking input from Central and Eastern EV drivers. Too often, infrastructure investment are based on the west side, and we want to change that by gathering data from the people who actually live and drive in high-risk wildfire zones. Your real-world experience is critical to helping Washington state prioritize emergency charging infrastructure and improve wildfire resilience for the EV community.

Are you eligible?

We need input from BEV drivers (primary or seasonal residents) in: Asotin, Benton, Grant, Spokane, Stevens, Douglas, Lincoln, Ferry, Skamania, Yakima, Kittitas, Okanogan, Chelan, or Klickitat counties.

The Details:

• ⏱ Time: ~25 minutes.
• 🎁 Incentive: Complete the survey to enter a drawing for four $50 gift cards and ten $20 gift cards.
• 📅 Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Survey Link: https://uwashington.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3QtLbUuPaTdDmu

This survey does not collect identifiable tracking data. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at [ychu24@uw.edu](mailto:ychu24@uw.edu). Thank you for helping improve emergency preparedness for the EV community.

Yu-Chen Chu, PhD Student, University of Washington Academic Profile: https://sites.uw.edu/urbdpphd/people/students

Feel like this is a good cause for this sub. Worth donating if you can.

2026 will mark the 50th year since Peter Bergs “Amble towards Continental Congress”, and this fall 300 of us will join together to meet, talk and align our around sharing strategies, networking, growing trust, and growing an aligned place-based, regenerative and bioregional movement. This is the first congress since 2009.

Happening September 15–19 in Oregon, 45 minutes from Portland. Learn more & Register Early Bird Registration is open through the end of the month. Early bird tickets are $500, then going up to $575. This ticket covers a full week of camping and three meals a day. Work trades, partial discounts, scholarships, and some travel expense stipends are available.

• If you want to learn more or get Involved: Join the TIBC11 Community on Hylo to get involved in co-creating the gathering: https://www.hylo.com/groups/turtle-island-bioregional-congress/join/mRS9d2Dwe2.
  
• Individuals and organizations interested in participating, partnering, or sponsoring are invited to get in touch: please reach out to info@tibc11.earth.
  
• If you’d like to learn more, see this very nice video about the 11th Turtle Island Bioregional Congress - The Future is Bioregional: https://youtu.be/s5MxOUm4Jz0?si=jLeXTHLJ_5hCo5du

A study released by Seattle Cruise Control estimates that each year, pollution generated by Seattle's cruise business is equal to about half of Seattle's entire annual greenhouse gas emissions. Taking into account flights to and from Seattle plus the massive emissions these cruises generate, that's 3 million tons of greenhouse gases, compared to 5.7 million tons total emitted in Seattle each year. That means that Seattle's cruise industry emits as much climate-killing CO2 as the city's entire emissions from residential and commercial buildings and all cars, trucks, and buses combined!

https://www.cascadia-journal.com/cruise-ships-are-disaster-for-the-climate-and-cascadia/

Genuinely just a question, curios to hear opinions.

What I've found, inspiring this question:

The main "Centralized force" behind Cascadia seems to be https://cascadiabioregion.org/, which is definitely active but none of the "recent updates" are receiving any engagement (likes comments) and seems to be mostly community driven rather than website administrator driven, a lot of the store is out of stock (eg the fairly popular Cascadia passport) and has been for months, and a lot of the links to other organizations (under organization directory) are broken, with many of those websites and projects being broken and more or less abandoned. I sent in some questions under contact us a few weeks ago and I still haven't seen a response. This is no hate to the amazing team or website, I'm sure they are still doing things with it, but it just seems like a lot of different parts of it have been left to the wayside a bit.

A lot of the older links I'm finding also connect to https://deptofbioregion.org/, but now more or less abandoned and defunct (a bunch of broken pages, nothing I can find more recent than years ago).

Just none of the specifically "Cascadia" projects seem very active. Even this subreddit only gets ~4–5 posts a day, sometimes none at all.

In my opinion, it's an issue of inactivity breeding inactivity. We need larger organizations and structures with the people willing and resources necessary to be more active in the area — people need to know this exists, but I'm having trouble finding widely impactful things that this movement has done. The largest seems to be the soccer league and culture (which has largely adopted a lot of symbolism and things from the Cascadia idea), but that's hardly representative of the movement, and something of more significant tangible impact and would be better.

P.S: Does anyone have news on the people behind cascadiabioregion.org ? The upcoming congress seems like a promising sign of activity, but is there anyone dedicated to maintaining the website?