Editor's Take: September 01, 2009
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Cycling Safety in Portland
Today’s news shines light under all corners of the sustainability umbrella. Portland unveils a new bike lane system to help improve safety for cyclists. Meanwhile in Washington, R-71 gathers enough signatures to put gay partnership rights on the fall ballot; eastern Cascadia opens for wolf hunting season while a federal judge weighs the evidence; and the Tyee looks at BC's dwindling farmers.
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Portland unveils its new "Cycle Track"
Willamette Week
08/31/2009
Mayor Sam Adams and Portland State University President Wim Wiewel today presented "the freshest take on bike lanes." The track is seven blocks long, and according to Adams, "removes" the conflict between cars and cyclists. It is essentially a wide bike lane that runs between the curb and parked cars, which means that bikers are separated from the flow of traffic.
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Gay partnership referendum makes ballot
Seattle Times
08/31/2009
Expanded domestic partnerships for same-sex couples could face a public vote. The new partnership law, nicknamed "everything but marriage" by its supporters, would broaden domestic partnerships by granting gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided benefits that presently apply only to married heterosexual couples.
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Wolf hunts are on as judge eyes request to stop
Oregonian
09/01/2009
Gray wolf hunting will begin in the Northern Rockies as a federal judge considers an injunction request by environmental and animal welfare groups to stop the predators from being killed.
Hunters in Idaho, where up to 220 wolves could be killed, are poised to head into the field Tuesday. Montana's season is set to begin Sept. 15, with a quota of 75 wolves.
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Funding First Nations health-care projects
Victoria Times Colonist
09/01/2009
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq will announce details today of more than $400 million in funding for First Nations health-care projects, Canwest News Service has learned.
The money, allocated in the 2009 budget, is being directed to the construction of 40 new permanent nursing stations and nurses' residences and toward 230 renovation projects in First Nations communities across the country.
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Canola good for bio-fuels, but dangerous for other crops
Oregonian
09/01/2009
With a national push on to develop alternatives to fossil fuels, Oregon may seem well-positioned to benefit. The Willamette Valley in particular has the capacity to grow a significant amount of canola seeds, which can be crushed to yield oil for bio-diesel or for food. But, some say canola is an invasive plant that can harm their crops with cross-pollination, diseases and competition from "volunteer" plants that spring up from scattered seed.
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Idaho schools offer healthier school lunch menu
Boise Idaho Statesman
08/31/2009
Idaho students will see less chicken nuggets, Tater Tots, French fries and chicken patties on the school lunch menu this fall.
And the ranch dressing many kids relied on to spice up virtually all their entrees? It will still be available, but in small portions. The preference is to serve fresh fruit and vegetables.
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BC study: midwife home births no riskier than hospital
Vancouver Sun
08/31/2009
Planned home births attended by midwives are just as safe--both for babies and moms--as hospital births, according to a new study based on nearly 3,000 B.C. births over five years. Only low-risk pregnant women are eligible for home births with midwives who are licensed and regulated by their own college in this province.
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States make pitches for high-speed-rail money
NPR
08/31/2009
Advocates for high-speed rail in the United States have lived a somewhat lonely existence over the past couple of decades. Year after year, high-speed rail took a backseat in an autocentric and highflying culture. Now, there is suddenly enormous interest in getting high-speed trains zipping from city to city in almost every part of the country.
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EPA to declare CO2 a dangerous pollutant
San Francisco Chronicle
08/31/2009
Carbon dioxide will soon be declared a dangerous pollutant - a move that could help propel slow-moving climate-change legislation on Capitol Hill, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said today.
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Small farmers: vital work, slim wages
The Tyee
09/01/2009
A new breed, many of whom come out of cities educated in agro-ecology or other ways to simply farm sensibly, are the hope for a profession that looked to be going the way of the elevator operator or horse and buggy driver. They tend to be ecologically-dedicated, hard-working and willing to be part of a vanguard taking us out of an environmental tailspin.
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