Editor's Take: September 03, 2010
joguldi, Flickr.
Green Revolution Goes Urban
Low-income communities and urban neighborhoods that have been skipped over by the environmental movement and green-employment opportunities are at last feeling the love, says a story in the Los Angeles Times. The article's focus is on California, but also cites the spread of green roofs and urban gardens across the US, and the lessons and experiences from LA certainly apply to cities through out the Northwest.
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Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
Green revolution comes to urban neighborhoods
Los Angeles Times
09/02/2010
Kendrick Harris, a high school dropout who has been homeless and jobless, has had more pressing things to worry about than the environment. But in the last year the South Los Angeles resident has planted community gardens, cleaned up abandoned industrial sites, and learned how to install solar panels.
Go to article.
New plan coming for spotted owls
Oregonian
09/02/2010
In what conservation groups say is a win for science over political manipulation, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that the US Fish & Wildlife Service must revise its recovery and habitat designation plans for the northern spotted owl.
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Seaside plan a tale of two cities
Astoria Daily Astorian
09/02/2010
A new transportation report contains a tale of two cities: the Seaside of the present and the Seaside of the possible. Instead of allowing cars to speed through the Oregon town, officials are committed to making it easier to use alternate modes of transit -- buses, bicycles, and walking.
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Fight against mine could be a bloody affair
Toronto Globe and Mail
09/02/2010
Ramping up pressure on the Canadian government, native leaders on Thursday expressed fierce opposition to a proposed copper-gold mine in the BC Interior and warned of violent consequences if the project is approved.
Go to article.
Employers push health care costs onto workers
Los Angeles Times
09/02/2010
As employers struggle with rising health care costs and a sour economy, US workers for the first time in at least a decade are being asked to shoulder the entire increase in the cost of health benefits on their own.
Go to article.
The future of Columbia River water
Missoulian
09/02/2010
The Columbia River Treaty doesn't come up much in casual conversation. But the 45-year-old agreement governs the fate of 8.5 million acre-feet of water that's stored in Canada. Climate change and other demands across the border could create pressure to alter the agreement.
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Whale watching rules to change
Seattle Times
09/02/2010
Expected tighter US regulations protecting endangered orca populations in the San Juan Islands may soon change how and where the public enjoys whale watching.
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Cedar Grove has spent $1.73 million to solve stink
Everett Herald
09/03/2010
Cedar Grove Composting, the company accused of emitting unpleasant odors through Marysville and Everett the past few years, has spent nearly $2 million over the past few years to address the problem.
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Seeking sage grouse solutions
Wenatchee World
09/02/2010
Do sage grouse always fly into barbed-wire fences, or just those on hillsides? Is there a way to prevent a fence post from being used as a perch for grouse-hunting raptors? A new grant will pay for a study that aims to protect fowl -- and farmers.
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Bike lane good for business?
Georgia Straight
09/02/2010
A Vancouver, BC, cycling group is making the case that a new bike lane in the city would come with economic benefits, whereas much of the public debate has focused on safety and the inconvenience for downtown businesses.
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Editor's Take: September 02, 2010
Scrunchleface, flickr
Miles To Go
In the Northwest, many of us take pride in the region's progressive policies, but here's how far we still have to go: women and minorities are underrepresented on Portland bike paths, the lives of black Oregonians have worsened in the last year, and Washington state asks its poorest families to pay more in taxes than any other state in the country.
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Your editor today is Jennifer Langston | View All Today's News
Many miles to go
Portland Mercury
09/01/2010
Portland officials hope one in four residents will regularly get on a bicycle by 2030. But a new report by a leading bicycle advocacy group shows how city leaders are falling short: On Portland's bike paths, women, poor people, and minorities are getting left behind.
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A national look at tax fairness
Sightline's Daily Score
09/01/2010
Sightline has developed a new pair of maps that illustrate the fairness of tax systems in the 50 states. The reason Washington is the brightest red of any state is that the poorest 20 percent of Washington's families pay 17.3 percent of their income in state taxes. It's by far the highest amount in the nation.
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Lives of black Oregonians no better this year
Oregonian
09/01/2010
The lives of black Oregonians have not improved in the last year compared with whites and have worsened in some cases, according to a study released by the Urban League of Portland. "We are still last, or virtually last, in every significant category for quality of life," said the organization's president.
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The dirt on organic produce
Sightline's Daily Score
09/01/2010
A new study from Washington State University soil scientists is one of the most comprehensive, persuasive studies yet to show the nutritional and environmental benefits of organic farming. The results are pretty convincing: organic strawberries are healthier, tastier, and better for the soil than conventional strawberries.
Go to article.
"Free" parking costs Eugene $220,000
Eugene Weekly
09/02/2010
A free parking test program in downtown Eugene flopped last year, but the city council ignored the results, voting in effect to spend $220,000 a year to subsidize free parking downtown. The expenditure for a dozen blocks of free on-street parking comes at a time the city is cutting services and raising fees to cover increasing budget deficits.
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A dishonor to be nominated
The Stranger
09/01/2010
Dilapidated and low-density housing projects in Seattle may accidentally be preserved as historic landmarks, if arguments prevail that Yesler Terrace should be preserved as one of the country's first low-income garden communities. (Never mind the crumbling plumbing and roving vermin that run through those lawns now.)
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Environmentalists stunned by failures in CA
Los Angeles Times
09/01/2010
Environmental activists expected big gains in Sacramento, but a ban on plastic grocery bags, another on a chemical used in baby bottles and a bid to boost alternative energy fell short in the face of heavy industry opposition.
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First OR solar program up and running
Oregonian
09/01/2010
Within a few weeks, onion farmer Jeff Ramp will start receiving monthly checks from his utility - Portland General Electric Co. - which will pay him a premium for solar energy he produces and consumes. The checks will keep coming for 15 years and could exceed $600 a month, ultimately more than repaying his investment.
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BC urged to get tough on urban wildlife
Victoria Times Colonist
09/01/2010
BC municipalities say they are being overrun by wild animals that are threatening public safety and befouling urban amenities, and they are asking the provincial government for help. Possible solutions include allowing residents to hunt with bows and arrows inside city limits, and developing effective contraception for wildlife.
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Rage against the machines
Eugene Weekly
09/02/2010
Picture the oil monsters: Giant earth gobbling machines slowly barging up the Columbia River, making their ponderous way past endangered salmon, through the craggy gorge to the Snake River and then bellying up to a dock at Lewiston where they hit the highways to the Alberta tar sands. Oregon will be the gateway to this fossil fuel hell.
Go to article.
Editor's Take: September 01, 2010
michaelrighi, flickr
Skyline for Sale?
Clearly, times are tough. Portland's transit agency is raising bus fares while cutting service, and school lunches may cost Puget Sound students more. But a proposal to lure businesses to downtown Seattle will most certainly be challenged: the city's planning department wants to let corporations put their logos on top of downtown skyscrapers.
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Your editor today is Jennifer Langston | View All Today's News
City wants corporate logos on Seattle skyline
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
08/31/2010
Like your Seattle skyline free of corporate logos? That could change with a city proposal to allow big companies to put their names at the top of downtown skyscrapers.
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Spare change? Portland bus riders need it
Oregonian
08/31/2010
On Wednesday, Oregon's largest transit agency will raise fares by 5 cents. Then TriMet will make its fourth round of service cuts in the past year. It's the latest lug nut to fall off the wheels of local transit, say riders' advocates.
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LA mayor, Latino activists take on oil companies
Los Angeles Times
09/01/2010
The mayor of Los Angeles, flanked by Latino community activists, rebuked refinery companies for bankrolling a measure that would effectively scuttle the state's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A recent poll found that ethnic state residents were more likely than whites to be concerned about climate change and more likely to see air pollution as a problem.
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CA rejects ban on plastic bags
NPR
09/01/2010
California lawmakers have rejected a bill seeking to ban plastic shopping bags after a contentious debate over whether the state was going too far in trying to regulate personal choice.
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Frogs and felons
KUOW
08/31/2010
This month the Oregon Zoo announced a $5,000 grant to go towards raising spotted frogs. The unlikely grant recipient - the Washington State Department of Corrections, where prisoners have been able to raise larger, healthier frogs than the Woodland Park Zoo, the Oregon Zoo, or any other institution that's tried.
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Ziplining past the 'war in the woods'
The Tyee
09/01/2010
More than 25 years after clashes saved Clayoquot Sound's old growth forests, a new tribal park in BC offers a model for land use collaboration.
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Lunch to cost more at some WA schools
KPLU
08/31/2010
As kids head back to school over the next couple of weeks, some of them will have to fork over more lunch money. The lunch lady may ask hungry teenagers in Puget Sound for an extra quarter or two, which more adequately reflects the true costs of producing the meals.
Go to article.
What if the bottled water tax and repeal both pass?
Publicola
08/31/2010
What happens if measures to repeal Washington sales taxes on candy, soda, beer and bottled water and another that would use the bottled water tax to finance bonds to weatherize public schools both pass? A state spokesman says the repeal would take precedent over the bond-funding bottled water tax, leaving the school energy efficiency bonds without a funding source.
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Slideshow: Taking bike activism to the streets
Grist
08/31/2010
The pervasive attitude that roads were made for cars, not bikes, has pushed cyclists toward guerrilla street art to get their point across. In homage to those creative forces pushing non-gas pedals across the nation, we invite you to strap on a helmet and steer yourself into the "I'm loving bikes" lane with these artistic examples of bike activism taken quite literally to the streets.
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Views: Income-tax initiative's math adds up
Everett Herald
09/01/2010
Through I-1098, 197 out of 200 Washington taxpayers will see their taxes go down, while just 3 will pay the initiative's new income tax on the wealthy. And our state will gain $1.6 billion for education and health care.
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Editor's Take: August 31, 2010
Photo courtesy: MorgueFile, dzz
Environomics
Personal, environmental, and economic health are knit together in today's news. The ugly: air pollution in Fairbanks causing more hospital visits, the national costs of car accidents and cancer-causing toxics from tar sands operations; and the optimistic: stickers on cars that give climate scores and banks getting smart about green business. It's not freakonomics, it's environomics.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Anna Fahey | View All Today's News
Cancer-causing pollutants tied to Canadian tar sands
The Tyee
08/30/2010
Despite repeated government claims that the world's largest energy project doesn't contaminate the Athabasca River, a new scientific study released today shows that air pollution from the oil sands industry combined with extensive watershed destruction has released a highly toxic brew of heavy metals into northern waterways.
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Unhealthy air in Fairbanks boosts hospital visits
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
08/30/2010
Hospital visits for heart disease, stroke and lung afflictions in Fairbanks rise as the air quality deteriorates, according to new study by the state of Alaska.
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Agriculture fuels the Fraser Valley's white smog
Vancouver Sun
08/30/2010
Forty years ago the Fraser Valley was filled with pastures and dairy cows, well-water was clean and automobile emissions were hardly cause for concern. Fast-forward to today and the picture looks quite different.
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Puget Sound Partnership devises progress indicators
KPLU
08/30/2010
The state agency in charge of leading the clean-up of Puget Sound has come up with a set of what it calls "dashboard indicators" to measure progress toward that goal.
Some are science measures, such as marine water quality and the abundance of salmon and orca whales.
Go to article.
Banks move away from dirty fuel business
New York Times
08/30/2010
Blasting off mountaintops to reach coal in Appalachia or churning out millions of tons of carbon dioxide to extract oil from sand in Alberta are destructive activities. But they are also legal and lucrative. For a growing number of banks, however, the risks to reputation and planet are too high.
Go to article.
Don't overfish salmon, warns BC native leader
CBC BC
08/30/2010
First Nations fishery adviser is warning against allowing commercial fishermen to scoop up as many sockeye salmon as possible during this year's massive salmon return on the Fraser River.
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Assessing the national bill for car accidents
New York Times
08/30/2010
Motor vehicle accidents cost the nation almost $100 billion dollars a year, about $500 for each licensed driver, according to government data.
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Grades for car fuel economy
NPR
08/31/2010
Cars with higher fuel economy and very low tailpipe emissions would get an A, while less-efficient cars could get a D.
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Nuclear industry takes new path for new plants
Seattle Times
08/31/2010
Power utilities are trying to buy the next wave of nuclear reactors much like a consumer buys a light bulb: right off the shelf.
Go to article.
Whole Foods CEO: Healthy food is affordable necessity
USA Today
08/30/2010
It has been widely imitated in style and concept. Its pricing has garnered it the pop culture nickname "Whole Paycheck." The relatively tiny chain, which has 300 units in 38 states, has had a cultural impact more akin to that of Starbucks, which has more than 11,000 U.S. locations.
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Views: What will the Indian health system look like?
Indian Country Today
08/30/2010
Mark Trahant says: "Answers are up to us." Right now nearly half of all American Indians and Alaska Natives are either uninsured or rely solely on the Indian Health Service. But health care reform changes that. Beginning in four years, hundreds of thousands of people will become eligible for insurance through government programs because of new income rules.
Go to article.
Editor's Take: August 30, 2010
David Lieberman, Flickr.
Invisible Families
The Seattle Times is running an impressive package of stories delving into the growing problems and emerging solutions for Northwest homelessness. Homeless families are the fastest-growing segment of folks who are without a stable abode. The answer is more affordable housing, experts are saying, and they make the case for government to foot the bill.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
Fastest-growing local homeless population: families
Seattle Times
08/29/2010
Parents with children are the fastest-growing yet least-visible segment of Washington's homeless population, far more likely to be doubled up in the homes of friends or living in their cars than to be at a busy intersection asking for help.
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Portland streetcar success fuels interest elsewhere
USA Today
08/29/2010
A decade ago, the Pearl District in Portland was a dicey warehouse area. A streetcar line that opened in 2001 helped transform it into a lively neighborhood with boutiques, condos, and restaurants.
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Klamath Basin's water worries extend to wells
Oregonian
08/29/2010
During the last big drought crisis in the Klamath Basin, in 2001, Carleton Farms filed for bankruptcy. Nine summers later, amid drought crisis No. 2, heavy pumping of wells that Jim Carleton and his neighbors installed since 2001 is saving his bacon, or, more precisely, his alfalfa, potatoes, wheat, cattle and 12 employees who work his 2,000 acres.
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BC program schooling kids with fresh, local fare
Toronto Globe and Mail
08/29/2010
BC's Farm to School program is providing fresh, local fare to students while teaching them about where their food comes from -- and the kids are eating it up
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Showdown over closing Oregon coal plant
Oregonian
08/29/2010
Portland General Electric Inc. says state environmental regulators may be about to squander an historic opportunity to negotiate the early closure of Oregon's only coal-fired power plant.
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Tiny houses simpler, easier on the environment
Missoulian
08/29/2010
The LaTrays of Missoula want to design a home for the way they actually live -- and not someone else's idea of how they should live. They also want to build small to shrink their carbon footprint and save money.
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NW forests offer carbon dilemma
Olympian
08/30/2010
Scientists suspect that the forests with the biggest trees store the most carbon, and the Northwest forests are probably among the largest carbon sinks in the world. However, younger trees also absorb more carbon as they grow rapidly.
Go to article.
Hundreds of dolphins in waters of southwest BC
Vancouver Sun
08/30/2010
Marine biologists are stumped as to why dolphins, which are typically found in offshore waters near the north and west side of Vancouver Island, are being seen more often in the inlets and closer to shore.
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Will Portland finally have a green jobs generator?
The Skanner
08/30/2010
The real story in Clean Energy Works Portland's bigger impact is this: Dozens of under-represented businesses and individuals met for months to hammer out a community workforce agreement that many say is a game-changer for workers of color hoping for a green jobs-style career.
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Views: The growing clout of the 'clean rich'
Oregonian
08/29/2010
America is witnessing the twilight of the dirty rich and the move of economic power to the clean rich. What's more, enviro values are spreading fast through affluent America, with more superwealthy individuals putting their money behind green causes and more upscale voters expecting government action to protect the planet.
Go to article.
