Editor's Take: September 14, 2009
Sam_Churchill, Flickr
Welcoming MAX: the New Green Line
This weekend was cause for celebration in Portland as the new MAX Green Line opened up for service. The new route helps boost Portland State University's green image. Some other resources for sustainable living in the Northwest include funding to the Yurok and Karuk tribes in California to improve recycling, and a new tool for measuring water consumption developed by the Idaho Department of Natural Resources.
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Riders pack MAX Green Line on first day of service
Oregonian
09/12/2009
The region's fifth light-rail project, the Green Line runs on 8.3 miles of new track from Portland State University to the town center mall. Families came from across the region - Beaverton, Fairview and Vancouver, in addition to Clackamas and Portland - to take a free ride on the new route and sample a day of family friendly festivities.
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Yurok, Karuk tribes receive recycling funds
Eureka Times-Standard
09/12/2009
The Yurok and Karuk tribes have received a total of $86,000 from the federal government to help improve solid waste management after removing 200 tons of hazardous waste and 400 cars from the Klamath River watershed this past year.
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Researchers track 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash
Seattle Times
09/13/2009
Where does that coffee cup, disposable razor or unwanted television end up once it's tossed to the curb?
Using an electronic tracking device about the size of a matchbook, MIT researchers are tagging about 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash to get people thinking about what they throw away and where it ends up.
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Oregonians challenge energy through conservation
Oregonian
09/12/2009
In August, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's staff dramatically upped the ante on energy efficiency, detailing what it would take to double electricity conservation during the next two decades in the Northwest. Doing so would not only cut consumers' power bills but virtually eliminate the need to build new carbon-spewing power plants.
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New water-measurement tool tracks consumption
Washington Post
09/14/2009
Trying to determine how much water is diverted from rivers and how much is pumped from hundreds of thousands of wells -- has been an inexact and expensive science.
Now a tool developed by the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the University of Idaho is changing the face of water management and conservation by efficiently offering specific measurements of the water consumed across a large region or single field.
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Gay marriage best accepted in BC
Vancouver Sun
09/13/2009
When it comes to same-sex marriage, British Columbians are among the world's most tolerant and accepting people, a new survey suggests.
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Views: Emissions incentives better than tests
Boise Idaho Statesman
09/13/2009
Let's erase from our minds the philosophy that because Ada County has vehicle emissions testing, so should Canyon County, and consider an alternative. Until the DEQ can give us hard data on the effectiveness of emissions testing, residents of the Valley should not be subjected to this costly and ineffective system.
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What is Obama's plan for NW's imperiled salmon?
Oregonian
09/12/2009
On Tuesday, the Obama administration will reveal how it thinks we can have the many hydroelectric dams that bring us cheap power, navigation routes and flood control without pushing salmon past the brink.
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Public option fades from debate over health care
New York Times
09/12/2009
It was just one line in a campaign manifesto, and it hardly seemed the most significant or contentious. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said he would "establish a new public insurance program" alongside private health care plans. Now, the tune is changing.
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A glass house to reap bounty for restored Elwha River
Peninsula Daily News
09/14/2009
Dave Allen and Steve Acker, and Olympic National Park itself, have waited a long time for this: construction of the 2,100-square foot greenhouse where they will grow native plants, from grasses to towering evergreens, for the Elwha River restoration project to begin in 2011.
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