Opinion and analysis

Recent opinion and analysis pieces written by UW-affiliated experts. See The Conversation for only the analysis pieces.

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• Opinion: The EPA and a threat to clean air and water | The New York Times1 day ago
  "Setting aside for a moment that the proposed Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule is clearly a threat to evidence-based decision making, I find the idea of spending valuable time and resources on justifying efforts to weaken our nation’s environmental protections to be foolish at best," writes Olivia Sanderfoot, a research fellow in environmental and forest sciences at the UW.
• Opinion: Seattle’s advanced learning program saved me — fix it, don’t nix it | The Seattle Times6 days ago
  "I acknowledge the many problems with the district’s current model of advanced learning. But dismantling the Highly Capable Cohort program is not the solution," writes Zoë Mertz, an English major at the UW.
• Opinion: I'm an American — but my family came to the US fraudulently | Public Radio International1 week ago
  "The rising tide of xenophobia during World War I intensified immigration restrictions in the US, not only focused on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, but also targeting southern and eastern Europeans, as well as Middle Easterners," writes Devin Naar, associate professor of history and of Jewish studies at the UW.
• Opinion: Trump's reversal in Syria was a play to keep his base intact | Public Radio International1 week ago
  "U.S. President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal of US troops from Syria in October drew widespread condemnation for abandoning Kurdish allies to a Turkish invasion. But it was concern for a different group of minorities — and the 2020 election — that helped to usher in a ceasefire," writes Randy Thompson, a senior fellow in religious literacy at the UW Jackson School of International Studies.
• Opinion: Elizabeth Warren's health care plan for 'Medicare for All' has a bigger problem than its cost | NBC News1 week ago
  "Beyond the political pitfalls, talking about universal health coverage plans won’t result in any immediate change, whereas Trump’s strategy can be adopted quickly and easily," writes Dr. Vin Gupta, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: Saving Delhi from the toxic smog: Regulations have failed but financial incentives could work | Forbes1 week ago
  "India’s capital, New Delhi, is shrouded in a toxic smog. Its Average Air Quality Index (reflecting PM 2.5) is above 400. For perspective, this index ranges from 0 to 500, with the worst quality, Hazardous, in the 300-500 range," write the UW's Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, and Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs.
• Opinion: US coal bankruptcies reveal the future of Alberta tar sands | Forbes2 weeks ago
  "The U.S. coal industry is in big trouble. This year alone, eight companies have filed for bankruptcy protection,  Murray Energy is the latest one," write the UW's Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, and Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs.
• Opinion: California fires, from the Getty Center to Kincade, unleash another danger: Air pollution | NBC News2 weeks ago
  "We need to stop talking about wildfires primarily in terms of acreage burned, houses destroyed and recovery dollars spent. Instead, we need to start focusing on its devastating and irreversible public health impacts," writes Dr. Vin Gupta, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the UW School of Medicine.
• With anti-Semitism on the rise again, there are steps everyone can take to counter it3 weeks ago
  Keeping track of all the attacks against American Jews these days is just about impossible unless it’s your full-time job," write Rachel Fyall, assistant professor of public policy and governance, Jamie Levine Daniel of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, and Jodi Benenson of the University of Nebraska Omaha.
• Opinion: Ban on flavored nicotine products is a public-health imperative | The Seattle Times3 weeks ago
  "Scientists have been concerned about inhalation of flavored chemicals for at least five years now, but the challenges of research in this area are enormous," write Beatriz Carlini, affiliate associate professor of health services at the UW, and Laura Hill of WSU.
• Opinion: 'Shallow' and 'deep' decarbonization: Amazon’s climate pledge | Forbes3 weeks ago
  "Shallow decarbonization is not a pejorative term. For one, it reveals that the company is taking climate issues seriously enough to stake out a public position on them. We suspect that most companies tend to start at the shallower end of the decarbonization continuum," write the UW's Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, and Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs.
• Opinion: Seattle’s treasured P-Patch community gardens face uncertain future | The Seattle Times4 weeks ago
  "To those with less access to yards and green space, such as renters and immigrant communities, community gardens are especially important," write Richard Conlin, an affiliate instructor of urban design and planning at the UW, Jim Diers of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, and Joyce Moty of GROW.
• Opinion: My patient almost died from a mistake I made — I apologized and it changed my life | HuffPost4 weeks ago
  "One cold, gray morning, when I was a fellow in gynecologic oncology, I walked into the hospital not yet knowing that I was about to come face-to-face with my own fallibility. And that the outcome, which had significant professional and personal implications, hinged on one seemingly small thing: an apology," writes Dr. Kate McLean, an obstetrician-gynecologist at UW Medicine.
• Opinion: Vaping response should be science-based, not prohibition | The Seattle Times4 weeks ago
  "As a scientist, clinician and parent, my instinct and duty are to protect the public, especially children, from harm. But outright bans could worsen our current crisis and have unintended negative consequences for adults and children alike," writes Susan Collins, who co-directs the Harm Reduction Research & Treatment Center at the UW School of Medicine.
• Analysis: Quantum dots that light up TVs could be used for brain research | The Conversation4 weeks ago
  "While many people love colorful photos of landscapes, flowers or rainbows, some biomedical researchers treasure vivid images on a much smaller scale – as tiny as one-thousandth the width of a human hair," writes Mengying Zhang, a UW doctoral student in molecular engineering and sciences.
• Opinion: The Amazon isn’t the only forest that’s burning — can consumer pressure stop the destruction? | The Washington Post4 weeks ago
  "As fires devastate the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, much of the world has been outraged, arguing the loss will accelerate climate change. Meanwhile, similarly vast forest fires in Indonesia and Malaysia receive far less attention," write Christianna Parr, a doctoral candidate in political science, Nives Dolšak, a professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, a professor of political science, all at the UW.
• Opinion: A new blood sugar metric for people with diabetes | Stat News1 month ago
  "Time in range, a new metric for people with diabetes, would have made no sense to those living with this disease 75 years ago because they rarely, if ever, knew what their blood sugar level was at a particular moment," writes Dr. Lorena Alarcon-Casas Wright, assistant professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: Urgent action needed to stop preventable deaths of children around the world | The Hill1 month ago
  "Deaths of children under the age of five have been nearly halved since 2000. Yet we still lost 5.3 million children under the age of five last year," writes Dr. Cyril Engmann, clinical professor of global health and of pediatrics at the UW. "Put another way, 5.3 million children dying each year is equivalent to an airplane carrying 300 children crashing every 30 minutes, every day last year."
• Opinion: Reckoning with the history of Arkansas' Elaine Massacre | Time1 month ago
  "One hundred years ago, in the 'Red Summer' of 1919, rampaging whites killed hundreds and perhaps thousands of African Americans in pogroms and race riots," writes Michael Honey, professor of history at UW Tacoma.
• Opinion: Supreme Court's new abortion case shows Roe v. Wade's end will come slowly — but it'll come | NBC News1 month ago
  "A woman’s nominal right to choose to have an abortion is worth nothing if Republican-led state legislatures and governors — with the blessing of the Supreme Court — can ensure that there are no or almost no clinics or doctors available to provide the procedure," writes Scott Lemieux, lecturer of political science at the UW.
• Opinion: ICE rebranded the Tacoma detention center — it's still inhumane | Crosscut1 month ago
  "After more than a decade of operation without justification, ICE and GEO have finally been exposed for the human cruelty at the heart of their mission. More and more, people in Tacoma, in Washington, and in the U.S. are asking: Do we need immigrant detention?" write Megan Ybarra, UW associate professor of geography, and Maru Mora Villalpando of La Resistencia. "The answer is no."
• Opinion: Can standardized tests predict adult success? What the research says | Education Week1 month ago
  "The use of standardized tests as a measure of student success and progress in school goes back decades, with federal policies and programs that mandated yearly assessments as part of state accountability systems significantly accelerating this trend in the past 20 years. But the tide has turned sharply in recent years," write Dan Goldhaber, director of the center for Education Data & Research at the UW, and Umut Özek of American Institutes for Research.
• Opinion: A higher purpose for fan fiction? Yes! It’s helping teach young and marginalized people to write, says UW professor | The Seattle Times1 month ago
  "Fan fiction is a private universe — a secret garden — that has become a welcoming community, particularly for those from marginalized groups," writes Cecilia Aragon, professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW.
• Trump’s accused of acting like leaders in Russia, Ukraine, and other weak democracies | The Washington Post1 month ago
  If the allegations against President Trump are true, "then Trump has been doing something that’s unusual in established democracies — but widespread in countries where the rule of law is weak, such as the post-Soviet region: using what political scientists call “administrative resources” — governmental power, or in this case, the powers of the presidency — to win elections," writes Scott Radnitz, associate professor of international studies at the UW.
• Opinion: Too much money, too little fun: Youth sports is out of reach for too many kids in King County | Crosscut1 month ago
  "Young people in the region, especially those who do not speak English at home and those who are low-income, aren’t getting enough exercise," writes Julie McCleery, research associate at the UW Center for Leadership in Athletics.
• Opinion: Keeping climate on the agenda when everybody is talking impeachment | Forbes1 month ago
  "September 2019 was going to be a good month for climate politics," write the UW's Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, and Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs. "And then, Ukraine happened."
• Opinion: Don't end private health insurance, 2020 Democrats — people want more choice, not less | USA Today2 months ago
  "Among the many patients of mine who suffer from chronic illness, nearly all tell me they value choice above all else in their health care decisions," writes Dr. Vin Gupta, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: 80-hour weeks, bad pay, exhaustion — here's why UW medical residents are walking out | Crosscut2 months ago
  "Today, your University of Washington doctors are going to stand their ground by taking a 15-minute unity break," write Drs. Kisha Clune and Brandon Peplinski, both resident physicians at UW Medicine.
• Opinion: Amazon's climate pledge: Greenwashing or a game-changer? | Forbes2 months ago
  "Amazon has been taking steps to become more climate responsible. Its recent initiatives include a commitment to use renewable energy for its data centers and a packaging reduction initiative. This Pledge could be viewed as continuing, even accelerating, its climate commitments," write the UW's Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, and Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs.
• Analysis: China turned the Uighurs' internet haven into a means of control | Fast Company2 months ago
  "When I first began my research in the (Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous) region, smartphone use was not that tightly controlled by the police. But by 2018 it had became common knowledge among my Uighur interviewees that if they did not carry their phone with them or failed to produce it they could be detained," writes Darren Byler, a UW lecturer in anthropology. [This article original appeared in The Conversation]

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