Editor's Take: December 05, 2008
Credit: photosavvy, Flickr.
An Apple A Day
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Washingtonians must eat plenty of apples it seems, as a report ranks the state tenth in healthy people. In Alaska, Gov. Palin wants better health care for children. She proposes increased health care funding in the state. The Seattle P-I opines about reproductive rights, and the nation's trend against access to birth control.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Christina Claassen | View All Today's News
Washington Is Tenth Healthiest State
Seattle Times
12/05/2008
A mixed snapshot emerged from a new report card released Wednesday offering a state-by-state checkup on key health measures.
Washington ranked 10th healthiest in the country, up two spots from 2007.
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Funds for Kids' Health Unveiled in Alaska
Anchorage Daily News
12/05/2008
Gov. Sarah Palin is calling for more state spending on children's health insurance, preschool and other programs, even as Alaska oil prices and state revenues plunge.
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Oregon Convention Center Rolling in Green
Oregonian
12/05/2008
The convention industry may seem an unlikely green force in Portland, but McCartin, the executive vice president of convention and tourism sales for Travel Portland, said the region's environmental ethos is a natural fit. Meanwhile, even organizations without an environmental focus are requiring that convention sites provide services like recycling and renewable energy.
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EPA Enforcement Keeps Pollution Out of Idaho
Boise Idaho Statesman
12/05/2008
Federal environmental regulators enforcement actions kept 9.3 million pounds of pollution out of Idaho in 2008.
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Energy Goals a Moving Target for States
New York Times
12/05/2008
In hopes of slowing global warming and creating "green jobs," Congress and the incoming administration may soon impose a mandate that the nation get 10 or 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within a few years.
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Views: Reproductive Freedom
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
12/05/2008
Difficult as it is to fathom, the war against abortion has morphed into a war on contraception. The campaign began the day Bush took office, when he signed the global gag rule, which took contraception away from the poorest of the world's poor women, and has continued apace, though not unchallenged.
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Awaiting Klamath Dam Removal
Indian Country Today
12/01/2008
A glimmer of hope appeared in November when the Bush administration proposed a nonbinding agreement that would result in removal of the four lowest dams beginning in 2020 - which would be the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
The possibility comes after 100 years without salmon for Klamath tribes upriver.
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Emissions Systems May Come for Buses, Trucks
Washington Post
12/05/2008
The Environmental Protection Agency mandated yesterday that manufacturers of heavy diesel trucks and buses install dashboard lights by 2010, like those devised for cars more than a decade ago, to signal whether emissions control equipment is malfunctioning.
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Seattle Housing: City Life for First-Time Buyers
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
12/05/2008
For first-time buyers such as Donovan and Ogle, sliding Seattle home prices mean a chance to buy in the city, rather than "driving to qualify" farther away in King, Snohomish or Pierce counties.
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Electric Cars in the Spotlight
Vancouver Sun
12/05/2008
In Los Angeles, where the smog and smoke hang thick, the theme at this year's L.A. Auto Show was green, green and greener.
Everything from electric cars to fuel cell-powered SUVs sat centre stage.
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Editor's Take: December 04, 2008
Gov. Gregoire, by bryce_milton, Flickr.
NW Climate-Changing Policies
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire's Climate Action Team task force has released final recommendations for reducing climate change in the state. The report calls for more energy-efficient buildings, compact urban development and various driving reduction implements. Also in Washington, a Vancouver-based company spreads green building in China. In Portland, the city gets short-shrifted on its green-building policy.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Christina Claassen | View All Today's News
Curbing Climate Change in Washington
Seattle Times
12/04/2008
A task force created by Gov. Christine Gregoire has released final recommendations on how to curb climate change in Washington state. The report calls for more energy-efficient buildings, compact urban development, better collection of recycled materials, using tolls to reduce driving and revising development rules to account for greenhouse-gas emissions.
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Scaled-Back Green Building Policy for Portland
Oregonian
12/04/2008
On Wednesday, Portland's City Commissioner Dan Saltzman unveiled the results to his green-building policy: A scaled-down version that would not touch owners of existing homes.
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Promoting Energy-Efficient Buildings in China
Vancouver Columbian
12/03/2008
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state will help China develop more energy-efficient buildings under a new program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
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Views: Transit, Not People, Causes Traffic Jams
San Francisco Chronicle
12/04/2008
It isn't that people don't want to use public transit - San Francisco is one of the greenest cities in the country. It is that the public transit we have isn't a good alternative.
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Black Mold Affecting BC First Nation
Vancouver Sun
12/04/2008
Black mold is a common concern on the tiny Tsulquate reserve outside Port Hardy, where about 500 people are crammed into 112 homes, and health conditions are compromised.
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Idaho Town Gets To Reuse Wastewater
Boise Idaho Statesman
12/04/2008
Meridian has become the first city in the state to be issued an Idaho Department of Environmental Quality permit allowing it to do more than just dump its treated wastewater.
The IDEQ Class A Reclaimed Water Permit issued Monday means that the city will be able to preserve groundwater for drinking purposes, while using its treated wastewater on city parks, golf courses and open spaces, said Meridian Public Works Director Tom Barry.
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Ashland Could See Community Currency System
Ashland Daily Tidings
12/03/2008
If your next-door neighbor rakes your yard, you could reward him or her in Trade Dollars under a new system being developed by two local women.
Sharon Miranda and Libby VanWyhe hope to have Ashland residents and business owners using community currency to purchase goods and services and compensate people for volunteer work through their OurNexChange system.
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The Plan to Save Puget Sound
KUOW
12/03/2008
The Puget Sound Partnership issued its final report this week. The group was appointed by the governor to save Puget Sound. The final version pays close attention to stormwater runoff. And that makes some people happy.
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Crafting a US Green-Economy Job Plan
San Francisco Chronicle
12/04/2008
President-elect Barack Obama and leaders in Congress are fashioning a plan to pour billions of dollars into a jobs program to jolt the economy and lay the groundwork for a more energy-efficient economy.
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As More Eat Meat, a Bid to Cut Emissions
New York Times
12/04/2008
The cows and pigs dotting these flat green plains in the southern Netherlands create a bucolic landscape. But looked at through the lens of greenhouse gas accounting, they are living smokestacks, spewing methane emissions into the air.
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Editor's Take: December 03, 2008
Credit: BostonBill/flickr
Searching for Solutions: Economic, Health, Salmon
US governors talked budget crisis with President-Elect Obama yesterday, even as states consider painful cuts to critical areas like children's health care. On the solutions front, San Francisco examines congestion pricing; Seattle considers streetcar expansion; and BC's David Suzuki floats his ideas for how to spend $4.1 trillion. And how’s this for timely? Slate investigates why eloquent speeches give us an emotional lift.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Elisa Murray | View All Today's News
Obama Promises Governors Federal Help Is on the Way
New York Times
12/03/2008
With the economic crisis tearing holes in most state budgets, President-elect Barack Obama promised the nation’s governors on Tuesday that he would come to their aid with an ambitious program to build or repair roads, bridges, schools and other public projects.
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High-wire Health Care
Yakima Herald
12/03/2008
Washington State's children's insurance plan is a federal-state program for working-class families that can't find -- or can't afford -- private insurance for their kids but aren't poor enough for Medicaid. Gov. Chris Gregoire pushed the legislation two years ago and an estimated 2,600 children in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties will be eligible for coverage. But the state's budget crisis could affect future funding.
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Recession in Oregon from A to Z
Willamette Week
12/03/2008
The debate going on now is, how bad is the recession already, and how bad is it going to be? We have no idea. So we turned to the experts: fortunetellers, bartenders, cab drivers, comedians, yoga teachers, shopkeepers, theater owners, rabbis, ministers, divorce lawyers, book sellers, architects and, for good measure, a few economists. Here’s a different look at our financial fix--from A to Z.
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Oregon Coastal Salmon at Center of Forest Debate
Oregonian
12/03/2008
The salmon rivers of northwest Oregon are at a crucial crossroads. On one hand, the state is counting on them to nurture troubled species such as coho toward recovery. On the other, the state is looking to cut trees that could in time remove ingredients of good fish habitat.
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