Editor's Take: October 21, 2009
thelastminute, flickr
The World's Greenest City?
Cascadia's mayors are in friendly competition for sustainability superlatives. Vancouver, BC's mayor has released an ambitious plan to become the world's greenest city in 10 years, and Portland wants to build the world's first large-scale "net zero" building. But could non-profits and sustainability start-ups afford the rent?
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Vancouver as world's greenest city?
Vancouver Sun
10/20/2009
Mayor Gregor Robertson announced an ambitious 10-year plan Tuesday to make Vancouver, BC, the world's greenest city by 2020. It would include creating a low-carbon economic development zone, reducing waste, requiring green building techniques and having more than 50 percent of residents walking, biking or using public transit to move around the city.
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Looking through green-colored glasses
Willamette Week
10/21/2009
Portland's mayor seeks federal dollars for a sustainability center and the world's first large-scale "net-zero" building. But with projected rents of $30 a square foot, could the pricey building's proposed tenants - non-profits, university groups and sustainability start-ups - afford it?
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'Net zero': Sexy or no?
Oregonian
10/20/2009
Portland Community College is poised to begin work on a project aimed at turning the Sylvania campus into what's called "net zero" - newspeak for generating all energy on site and offsetting all carbon emissions. But despite the zippy name, many energy efficiency projects are less than sexy, focusing on improved HVAC systems and new lighting.
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Death by a thousand wells
High Country News
10/20/2009
Unregulated wells strain short water supplies in Washington's Yakima Basin and throughout the West.
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Finding fun and efficiency in a scooter
New York Times
10/20/2009
A funny thing happened on the way to $4-a-gallon gas, financial collapse and gridlocked city traffic. From Miami to Seattle, Americans finally climbed off their Hogs and out of their Hummers and discovered scooters.
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Green spaces: Good as Prozac?
Vancouver Sun
10/20/2009
People who live near green spaces may be less likely than those surrounded by concrete to suffer a range of health problems, particularly depression and anxiety, according to a new study.
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FDA takes aim at food labels
Washington Post
10/20/2009
The federal government is making its first effort to provide better nutritional information on food products since it developed the black-and-white Nutrition Facts label 15 years ago. Shoppers are so bombarded by slogans ("Heart Healthy," "Good for You," "A Better Choice") on products that the government needs to set standards and knock down spurious claims.
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Unemployed and uninsured in OR
Salem Statesman Journal
10/21/2009
Oregon has been hit harder than any other state in the nation in terms of people losing health insurance because of job losses, a new national report shows. A quarter of working-age Oregonians now are uninsured, up from 22 percent last year.
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Views: Seattle race turns into flippin' contest
Seattle Times
10/21/2009
We Seattleites can't do much but gape as our two newbie mayoral candidates take one head-scratching U-turn after another. This week brought the floppiest flip yet, when Mike McGinn, he of the "insurgent," anti-establishment campaign, said "never mind" to his central rebel yell - that he would try to stop the $4.2 billion waterfront tunnel project.
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Views: Coal's massive hidden energy costs
Grist
10/20/2009
A new report from the National Research Council on the hidden costs of energy is, frankly, stunning. Producing and using energy imposes all sorts of costs on public health, crop yields, ecosystems, recreation, educational performance that aren't reflected in the market price of energy. Remember this report the next time you hear "coal is cheap."
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