Editor's Take: April 12, 2009
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Sustainable Economics 101
Bend, Oregon - once the epicenter of a booming economy based on transplants looking to live and play in pretty places - is hurting now. So what does today's news say about our path towards a more sustainable economy? Some question the Obama administration's commitment to cap and trade, while more Americans are gleefully curbing their consumption.
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Your editor today is Jennifer Langston | View All Today's News
Oregon's 'New West' economy goes bust
Seattle Times
04/12/2009
Bend's transformation from timber town to outdoor recreation mecca once defined the booming "New West" economy. Now, it's one of Oregon's hardest hit areas, with hundreds of empty homes and carpenters, masons, mortgage brokers, real-estate agents, architects and others struggling to make a living when there is no need for big new subdivisions.
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Obama too cautious on climate change?
New York Times
04/12/2009
President Obama's budget initially included roughly $650 billion in revenue over 10 years from a cap-and-trade emissions plan, but he did not fight to keep cap-and-trade in the budget resolutions that Congress passed last week. Has the administration scaled back its global-warming goals, at least for this year, or is it engaged in sophisticated misdirection?
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Best bang for energy efficiency bucks
Tacoma News Tribune
04/12/2009
Community organizers want the WA Legislature to set aside up to $30 million in federal stimulus funds for energy upgrades on middle-class homes and small businesses, from installing new insulation to replacing oil-burning furnaces. But some want the freedom to spend it on other energy-saving measures, such as retrofitting power-sucking hospitals and other large buildings.
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Oil industry braces for drop in US thirst for gas
Wall Street Journal
04/12/2009
Since Henry Ford began mass production of the Model T nearly a century ago, car-loving Americans have gulped ever-increasing volumes of gasoline. A growing number of industry players believe that era is over. The result could be profoundly transformational, since much of contemporary America -- from the design of its cities to its tax code and its foreign policy -- is predicated on a growing thirst for gasoline.
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Muckleshoots worry 520 tunnel could harm salmon
Seattle Times
04/12/2009
With Olympia locked in a power struggle over plans to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 floating bridge, the Muckleshoot tribe is raising concerns about a 520 tunnel idea favored by neighbors along western Lake Washington. The area is already a gauntlet where the lake's seagoing salmon must pass on their way to and from the ocean.
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N. Idaho city may ban drive-throughs
Seattle Times
04/12/2009
To better handle growth and make a more attractive city, Sandpoint, ID is considering banning drive-through restaurants, banks, coffee shops, pharmacies, dry cleaners and other businesses that cater to customers in cars.
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Honeybee, be mine
Oregonian
04/12/2009
Beekeeping is all the buzz among a rising class of urban gardeners, organic hipsters and retired hobbyists. Some want pollinators to work their vegetable gardens, or just fresh honey, but many are worried about colony collapse disorder.
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Portland couple makes freight deliveries by bike
Oregon Public Broadcasting
04/13/2009
A husband and wife team are biking freight -- yes, that's right, heavy freight -- around downtown Portland, in an effort to replace trucks.
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In an age of austerity, the miserly thrive
New York Times
04/12/2009
Americans' spending is down and their personal savings are up - sharply. The savings rate in the United States, which had fallen steadily since the early 1980s, has recently spiked to 5 percent. The gleefully frugal happily seek new ways to economize and take pride in outsaving the Joneses. The mantra is cut, cut, cut - magazine and cable subscriptions, credit cards, fancy coffee drinks and your own hair.
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'Toxic toy' tests delayed
Everett Herald
04/13/2009
Local toy makers and sellers have gotten a one-year reprieve for testing and certification requirements for some children's products. The U.S. law was introduced after a wave of recalled toxic toys, many from China, but local sellers believe it's poorly crafted.
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