Editor's Take: March 22, 2009
H4NUM4N, Flickr.
Sustainability Goes Local
Going local is the news of the day, as some of Cascadia's smaller towns find sustainable solutions to the economic downturn. Klickitat County, Washington is turning to wind energy to provide jobs. Salem, Oregon may soon have a biodiesel research and educational facility. Berkeley, California is providing habitat for bees to make a come-back. And nationally, organic, local food may finally have its shining moment.
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Klickitat County Gets Its Wind Back
Yakima Herald
03/21/2009
In rural Klickitat County, wind farm construction is driving new employment in a place that's struggled for years after high-paying jobs in timber and aluminum dried up.
Go to article.
Salem Area May Get Biodiesel Campus
Oregonian
03/22/2009
A Willamette Valley consortium plans to turn the area's only commercial biodiesel plant into a research and education campus. With the new emphasis on renewable energy and economic stimulus, backers feel the time is right.
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Vancouver, BC Wants To Send Its Trash South
Toronto Globe and Mail
03/21/2009
As Metro Vancouver pursues in-region strategies for trash disposal, it's also seeking permission to ship some garbage out of the country.
Metro wants to amend its Solid Waste Management Plan to allow for exporting up to 600,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste to the United States for up to five years, beginning in 2010.
Go to article.
Bee Habitats Proposed for Berkeley Parks
San Francisco Chronicle
03/23/2009
The Berkeley City Council is poised to transform all the city's parks and open spaces into habitats for bees. If the council approves the resolution, all future landscaping would be "pollinator-friendly" flowering native plants intended to attract bees, bats, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beetles and flies.
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'Green' Energy Threatens BC Rivers, Report Warns
Vancouver Sun
03/23/2009
Half of BC's 10 most threatened rivers are at risk from so-called green energy projects, according to an annual report released today by the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC.
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Startups Invest Millions In Scooter Market
Seattle Times
03/23/2009
A growing number of US startups have invested millions in the two-wheel electric-vehicle market, and many models are poised for production.
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Views: Taxing Health Benefits Not a Good Solution
Missoulian
03/22/2009
There are too few people with health insurance as it is.
We should not - we cannot - pay for new solutions in health care by taxing the few methods that work.
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Whatcom County Growth Denser Than Planned
Bellingham Herald
03/21/2009
Housing lots in Sumas have been much larger than the city planned for them to be, and those in Bellingham have been smaller than planned, county data shows.
State law generally considers four homes per acre to be an urban density. But over the past five years, Sumas has seen density as low as one-plus house per acre and as high as nearly three per acre.
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Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?
New York Times
03/21/2009
After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply.
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Are We Making Too Many Americans?
The Christian Science Monitor
03/20/2009
They don't work, they don't pay taxes, and they don't speak English. And according to federal data released Wednesday, some 4.3 million of them entered the United States in 2007, more than in any other year in the nation's history.
We're talking of course about babies. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control, 4,317,11960 of these drooling homunculi came into existence within US borders that year, surpassing the previous record set in 1957 at the peak of America's Baby Boom.
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