Seattle Met

In this piece from late 2020, Stefan Milne explores the incredible potential of kelp as “a tool to fight ocean acidification, feed the world, and restore Native food sovereignty.”

One study estimated a “marine garden” the size of Washington state could provide enough protein to feed earth’s population, all while cleaning pollutants.

He dove into seaweeds’ dizzying range of applications: Foods. Fertilizer. Anti-wrinkle creams. Biochemicals, like the carrageenan that thickens ice creams and shampoos. A promising biofuel or bioplastic.

“At 42, López-Alt now has the actual dad status to justify the doofy jokes he inserts into his recipes. When Alicia was born, he left food writing to be a full-time parent. Last year he left pretty much every social media platform except Instagram, where he currently clocks more than 450,000 followers. His career has taken a number of turns—restaurants, a print magazine, early-internet journalism, even a stint in architecture. He might describe himself as a stay-at-home dad, but nearly five million views on a video of him preparing a late-night cheeseburger suggest he can’t entirely opt out of his own personal brand.”

“A southern resident’s violent capture off Whidbey Island was the original sin of a now-defunct local industry. Decades later, a Lummi-led effort to bring her home is on the verge of an improbable breakthrough.”

“Despite the range of out-there theories he hears about D.B. Cooper, Kaye considers it very different from, say, looking for Bigfoot, where ‘you’ll never make any progress because it’s not there.’ Cooper, on the other hand, ‘is actually there, he’s actually a person, he actually did it.’ Twelve years from first dipping a toe in the mystery, Tom Kaye admits he’s still wading in.”

“A decade ago, Seattle police officer Ian Birk shot and killed a well-known Native woodcarver in the community — because he carried a pocketknife. Today, his older brother Rick Williams reflects on his unjust death.”

This is life in one center of the US outbreak.

James Ross Gardner explores the Pacific Northwest’s evolving relationship with the octopus and how they’ve gone from dangerous “devil-fish” bent on drowning unsuspecting sea goers to intensely curious, suction-cupped wonders. With nine brains — one in their head and one in each of their eight arms — octopuses are thought to be the most intelligent invertebrates on earth, capable of deep connection with humans.

“He was a convicted felon who found a niche in Seattle’s construction boom. As the region’s fortunes rose and fell—and rose again—so did his. Then a fatal boating accident came for Michael Powers’s fairy-tale ending.”

“The Tacoma Refugee Choir formed to reach out to the most vulnerable. Its founder didn’t anticipate its impact on her—or her city.”

After summiting Washington state’s Vesper Peak on a day hike in August 2018, Sam Sayers disappeared. At Seattle Met, Allison Williams reports on the conspiracy and true-crime enthusiasts, the social media frenzy, and the desperate search for a woman who hasn’t been seen since.