Editor's Take: August 17, 2009
BikePortland.org, flickr
Sorry Bicycles, Here's a Burger
Here are just a few signs that car-free transportation options are becoming ingrained in Northwest culture: a new rapid transit line opens today in British Columbia, Portland closed streets to motorists this weekend, and - perhaps most tellingly - a local burger chain has changed its policy and apologized after a bicyclist was refused service at a drive-thru.
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BC's Canada Line set to launch Monday
Toronto Globe and Mail
08/16/2009
Vancouver has always provided a unique sensory experience to riding rapid-transit that other cities have envied, with its largely above-ground system that gives passengers panoramic views of the city and mountains. Now, it's added to that with its third line opening Monday, the $2-billion Canada Line.
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CA employees in quandary over carbon offsets
Sacramento Bee
08/16/2009
Al Gore buys them. So do the Grateful Dead and Hollywood celebrities. Compensating for airplane pollution with so-called carbon offsets has become a fashionable solution. But one global green leader does not offset its travel, even though its employees regularly fly around the world warning about the dangers of climate change. That leader is the state of California.
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Southeast Portland streets go car-free
Oregonian
08/16/2009
The clock is ticking on summer, and there's a hint of autumn in the air. Maybe the desire to savor it gave the crowds at Southeast Portland's Sunday Parkways such broad grins. Or the stilt-walking lessons, bicycle polo, and the novelty of walking and biking down city streets normally traveled by cars.
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Would you like fries with that apology?
Oregonian
08/16/2009
The Northwest chain Burgerville has announced that it will open its drive-throughs to bicycles, two days after Portland customer and cyclist Sarah Gilbert got rebuffed when she tried to order cheeseburgers at a local drive-through.
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Co-op populates food desert with free produce
Seattle Times
08/17/2009
Delridge Produce Cooperative in Seattle is giving away free fruits and vegetables from rotating "mobile markets" along Delridge Way Southwest. The co-op hopes to eventually open a nonprofit produce store in a neighborhood that one local resident calls a healthy-food desert.
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Geothermal power search holds promise, threat
San Francisco Chronicle
08/16/2009
On a high ridge in California's Mayacamas Mountains, a drill slowly bores into the earth to test a new way to generate electricity. The test, by a Bay Area company called AltaRock Energy, could give the world another source of renewable geothermal energy, a valuable weapon in the fight against global warming. It could also trigger earthquakes.
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Climate law may not limit coal plants
Washington Post
08/16/2009
If a climate-change bill drives up the cost of opening new power plants, but provides free emissions allowances or potential carbon offsets for existing facilities, companies could have an incentive to squeeze even more power out of their old, highly-polluting clunker coal plants, many of which are now running well below capacity.
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'Public option' in health plan may be dropped
New York Times
08/17/2009
Facing increasing skepticism over the call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector - a central component of Obama's health care overhaul that has become a flashpoint for anger - the White House signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate.
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'Recession roomates' share space to save costs
San Francisco Chronicle
08/16/2009
Facing layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs, more people have turned to shared housing to help make ends meet. While young singles sharing digs to save money is nothing new, this new brand of "recession roommates" includes more families and couples who are sacrificing their privacy as a way to cope with the economic downturn.
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Views: The coolest roofs in the world
Oregonian
08/16/2009
Portland helped pioneer a growing movement in green roofs, but the city must now look to Chicago, Toronto and Tokyo for more inspiration.
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