Current Stories
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Northwest drivers using less gas
KPLU
07/02/2009
If it seems like you're buying less gas these days, you're probably right. A new study from a Seattle-based sustainability think tank finds total gasoline consumption across the Northwest dropped sharply last year. In fact, per-capita gasoline use has dropped in 8 of the last 9 years, and it's now at its lowest level since 1965.
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Portland's neighborhood groups shape communities
Oregonian
07/02/2009
Portland's neighborhood associations are flexing their political muscles on public and private projects proposed for their communities. It's part of a quiet transformation under way among the 95 associations, one that leaders say bodes well for the future of civic involvement.
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Climate change from Europe to the Oregon Coast
Oregon Public Broadcasting
07/01/2009
A majority of climate scientists agree -- the planet is warming. The question now is how climate change will change our lives, our landscapes, our economy, and the ecological web around us. So we decided to focus on the impact of climate change on one small town -- the town of Denmark, Oregon.
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Energy efficiency at home: simple, accessible, and possible
Astoria Daily Astorian
07/02/2009
Most people who live in existing housing are baffled about how to make their lifestyle more sustainable. Here's how.
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Winter snowpack melts into waterfalls
Seattle Times
07/02/2009
A record hot June and a winter snowpack more than 2,000 percent of normal in places have combined to detonate an explosion of waterfalls this summer in the Central Cascades.
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Transportation secretary watches US-made streetcar debut
Oregonian
07/02/2009
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came to Oregon on Wednesday to tout metro Portland's mass transit innovations and lavish praise on the first US-made streetcar in nearly 60 years.
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One in 4 Oregon adults obese
Oregonian
07/01/2009
One in four Oregonian adults is obese, putting Oregon smack in the national midriff bulge -- 28th among states -- according to a new report on America's weight problem. One in four kids in the state is overweight.
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New Oregon law will improve storage, water planning
Oregonian
07/01/2009
A bill passed by Oregon lawmakers improves planning for water use and provides $2.5 million for the next phase of a project to create underground water storage in the Umatilla Basin.
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Affordable-housing project gets national green award
Oregonian
07/01/2009
A mixed-use, affordable-housing project, built on land in southwest Portland long considered environmentally unsound, has received a national award for incorporating outstanding "green" practices.
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Judge overturns Bush admin. logging rule
Oregonian
07/01/2009
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down the Bush administration's change to a rule designed to protect the northern spotted owl from logging in national forests.
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Views: Solving obesity epidemic starts with kids
Oregonian
07/01/2009
Deep in the new national obesity report is a small portion of hope: Oregon has one of the lowest rates of obese and overweight kids. That rate is 24.3 percent, and yes, you get a sense of the challenge when it is considered heartening that "only" one in four Oregon kids aged 10 to 17 is seriously overweight.
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Views: Affordability is key to real health care reform
Oregonian
07/01/2009
While there's a good chance that Congress will enact some type of health care reform this year, all will be for naught if the new system leaves the cost of care out of reach for many Americans. If affordability is not adequately addressed, the prognosis for the nation will be poor.
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Resisting density in Portland project
Portland Mercury
07/02/2009
Neighbors are fighting a development -- a project that embodies Portland's shiny new ethos -- on the former site of an African-American landmark. Developers razed the dilapidated building to make way for a 72-unit complex that may qualify for a $1.12 million city tax break thanks to its sustainable, transit-oriented designs. At the heart of neighbors' anger is their distaste for perceived gentrification.
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An energy windfall for Oregon homeowner
Medford Mail-Tribune
07/02/2009
A single mother of four in Medford, Oreg., will get a home makeover that hardly will be evident to the naked eye, but provide some $25,000 in improvements to comfort and savings for what she calls her "energy hog of a house."
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Northwest drivers using less gasoline
Boise Idaho Statesman
07/01/2009
Idaho, Washington, and Oregon drivers cut back their per-capita gasoline consumption by 5 percent in 2008. Total gasoline consumption in the three states fell about 180 million gallons between 2007 and 2008, the largest drop since 1980, according to a new study from Sightline Institute.
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Green light for Portland's green line
Oregonian
06/30/2009
As a MAX train glided through a brick-lined section of downtown Portland, someone in the VIP crowd on the first trip of the new Green Line called out: "Where are we?" The answer: Union Station, a place where no MAX has gone before.
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OR conservation lobby counts successes, setbacks
Salem Statesman Journal
06/30/2009
It didn't exactly turn the session around, but the final days of the Oregon legislative session brought some good news for groups who have been disappointed by the lack of movement on green legislation.
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Portland jobless jump outpaces the nation
Oregonian
07/01/2009
Portland unemployment has jumped more in a year than in any other U.S. urban hub, outdoing even greater Detroit. Oregon and Michigan have a common trait that hurts during the current recession: both rely heavily on manufacturing durable goods. These are things like cars, in the Midwest, and recreational vehicles, machinery, lumber and computer chips in Oregon.
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The once and future streetcar town
Oregonian
06/30/2009
The US Transportation Secretary will unveil in Portland on Wednesday what's believed to be the first American-made streetcar in 58 years. The visit could bring more orders for streetcars, giving a boost to a number of local businesses.
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Energy searchlight back on biomass
Medford Mail-Tribune
07/01/2009
Born in response to spiking energy prices of the 1970s, a now maturing and green biomass industry finds itself positioned to play a leading role in the renewable-energy movement. A southern Oregon plant produces enough to power 5,000 home and has become a favorite recycling site for everything from Christmas trees and hedges to plywood from remodeling projects.
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OR governor blasts Dems for job program failure
Oregonian
06/30/2009
OR Gov. Ted Kulongoski praised Legislative accomplishments but had harsh words for fellow Democrats who let his favorite job-creation bill languish. He wanted to spend $60 million from the state's unemployment insurance trust fund to pay thousands of unemployed Oregonians to work temp jobs in food pantries, parks and other community-based programs.
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Coastal restoration projects for habitat and jobs
Oregon Public Broadcasting
06/30/2009
In the Pacific Northwest, the federal agency that oversees ocean life will spend stimulus funding to reconnect tidal wetlands, remove obsolete dams and clean up marine debris by hiring dozens of out of work crab fishermen.
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Oregon grocers want joint bottle return center
Oregonian
06/30/2009
For years, Oregon's big grocers have wanted to offload the messy collection of bottles and cans returned under the state's storied bottle bill.
Now, the industry is taking its first crack at a new system: Under the proposal, four big grocery stores in Gresham would bar returns and bump them to a separate, industry-financed "redemption center" in a former auto dealership nearby.
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Portland stores will sell Metro's recycled paint
Oregonian
06/29/2009
If that house color looks familiar, it may be for good reason. Portland's Miller Paint Co. recently announced an agreement with Metro to begin selling recycled latex house paint that has been collected at landfills.
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Green jobs perk up Oregon's work force
Oregonian
06/29/2009
Green jobs account for 3 percent of Oregon's private, state government and local government employment, the Oregon Employment Department said in a report released today.
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