Editor's Take: June 28, 2009
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The Zen of Saving Energy
As debate continues about compromise that led to the House vote on a historic climate bill, stories today focus on energy savings closer to home. Free Microsoft software could help track energy use, but most homeowners need a more holistic approach to upgrades. Plus, new attention on saving ugly species from extinction and sick Northwesterners from bankruptcy.
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Climate bill shaped by compromise
Los Angeles Times
06/28/2009
President Obama's willingness to sit down with each group affected by a historic climate bill and compromise yielded a narrow victory in the House on Friday. The question is: did supporters give away so much in the process that the benefits to the environment ended up being slim to none?
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Even those with health insurance going broke
Seattle Times
06/28/2009
When Mark Moody and Glenda Krull could no longer afford both health insurance and mortgage payments, the Edmonds couple knew which had to go. They sold their house.
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Hohmmmm: The zen of saving energy
KPLU
06/28/2009
Tracking energy use is the first step toward reducing your carbon footprint and saving money on your utility bill. Now, Microsoft is coming out with free software that let's you analyze how your home uses energy. It's called Hohm: a combination of "home" and "ohm," the unit for measuring electrical resistance.
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Going whole hog on energy upgrades
Sacramento Bee
06/28/2009
Jon Pyle is trying to do right by the environment and his pocketbook by having double-pane windows installed in his home, but some energy experts say the California resident doing it all wrong. Like most people, he's doing piecemeal energy efficiency upgrades rather than embarking on wholesale change.
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Unemployment checks running out in OR
Oregonian
06/28/2009
Soon the road that unfurls for miles across the vast desert of Harney County, OR, could be the only way out for people with no job prospects or safety net. An uncharted phase of the recession is setting in not only here but also across the state: Workers, jobless for longer than a year, are beginning to exhaust their unemployment benefits.
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Saving species no longer about the prettiest
Washington Post
06/29/2009
Are we ready to start saving ugly species? Though we gravitate towards iconic creatures like salmon, scientists say they're noticing a little more love for the unlovely lately. Plain-Jane plants, birds with fluorescent goiters and beetles that meet their mates at rat corpses are getting new respect - valued as homely canaries inside treasured ecosystems.
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Stopping chain saws inside OR's urban areas
Oregonian
06/29/2009
Oregonians love the region's trees. Unless, of course, we need to cut them down, for any reason at all -- profit, development or even just to improve our view. Now two citizens groups are pushing urban tree codes designed to protect the area's leafy canopy as the population swells.
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Connecting Seattle rail to the beaten path
Seattle Times
06/29/2009
Seattle's new light rail trains won't quite take people to Columbia City's old brick storefronts built along an electric streetcar line. The challenge is to forge a transportation and psychological bond between the stop on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and the bustle on Rainier. Otherwise, ridership will sag.
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Views: Young mothers at the margin
Oregonian
06/28/2009
Lately, there has been a good deal of discussion on abstinence, teen pregnancy prevention, adoption and even the search for middle ground on the issue of abortion. Yet something is left out. We're not talking about how to support teen parents, the ones who have already gotten pregnant and whose babies are here.
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Views: Replace WA property tax with BC carbon tax
Seattle Times
06/29/2009
It has been a roller-coaster year for anyone concerned about climate change. The Western Climate Initiative is stalled and federal legislation has an uncertain future. But Washington state could make strides to reduce carbon emissions by repealing the state property tax and imposing a carbon tax shift modeled on British Columbia's.
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