Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Groups push for a less expensive I-5 bridge
Portland Tribune
11/06/2009
Groups are urging WA and OR leaders to toss out the proposed massive $4 billion, 12-lane Columbia River Crossing bridge project and start over, using a new approach that starts with region's shared values of economic vitality, affordable transportation, safe and healthy neighborhoods and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
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Ready to jump off the grid?
Oregonian
11/05/2009
Researchers believe the day is coming when the electricity you use will be your own. Instead of relying on large central generating stations - hydroelectric dams, coal plants and the like - scientists say we're moving toward an era of "personalized solar energy."
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Rural NW could receive economic boost
Oregonian
11/05/2009
Rural and disadvantaged communities in the Northwest could receive an economic boost thanks to $30 million in new markets tax credits allocated to Portland-based Ecotrust. The nonprofit organization plans to target former timber towns struggling to recover jobs and tribes working for economic benefits by improving the health of forests.
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All in a tree's work
Oregonian
11/06/2009
Twenty years ago, a group of children planted a sugar maple tree behind Boise-Eliot School in North Portland. The tree was supposed to grow tall and spread a graceful canopy, but looks more like a lollypop. The unremarkable tree goes about its remarkable job: cleaning the air of pollution, capturing carbon dioxide and filtering stormwater, while providing shade and a sense of well-being.
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Takeout, eco-style
Ashland Daily Tidings
11/05/2009
An Ashland High School graduate has created a reusable takeout container that is being used at 200 workplaces and universities nationwide - including Southern Oregon University. Audrey Copeland, 24, created the Eco-Takeout clamshell container after she was inspired by a college environmental studies project.
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Can guerrilla gardening save downtown?
Eugene Weekly
11/05/2009
If Eugene's city officials fail to act to beautify its long derelict property, fed up residents could arm themselves with agricultural implements and storm the blight with guerrilla gardening.
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Deadly foam gone, more than 10,000 seabirds die
Oregonian
11/04/2009
The deadly foam that clobbered seabirds in the Pacific Northwest has subsided and several hundred birds rescued from the slime are being released. But the death toll worries conservationists.
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Easements will preserve savanna, prairie habitat
Salem Statesman Journal
11/05/2009
The Bonneville Power Administration has funded conservation easements on almost 300 acres of critical habitat near Salem -- preserving and restoring rare oak savanna and prairie habitat and endangered species such as Fender's blue butterfly and Kincaid's lupine.
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Portland gets $5.6 million for energy retrofits
Oregonian
11/04/2009
Portland is getting $5.6 million in federal stimulus dollars for energy efficiency projects including upgrading traffic and pedestrian signals and paying for residential energy efficiency loans.
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Views: Walking out on global warming
Oregonian
11/04/2009
About all the world will see in Washington, DC, right now is political posturing and, among a disturbing number of US "leaders," a willingness to deny what the vast majority of the world's climate scientists say is a truly dangerous rise in global temperatures.
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Oregon overhauls 'green' tax breaks
Coos Bay World
11/04/2009
Oregon's Department of Energy has issued new rules aimed at curbing a state program that grants lucrative tax credits for wind, solar, and other renewable power plants.
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'Treebates' help stormwater programs branch out
Portland Tribune
11/04/2009
A rebate to plant trees? That's the city of Portland's plan to encourage property owners to plant more trees, which help suck up hundreds of gallons of rainwater every year, reducing the amount that flows into storm drains and, eventually, into local rivers and streams.
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Sustainable meat hits its hot spot
Willamette Week
11/04/2009
Portlander Berlin Reed used to be a militant vegan, until a series of off-restaurant jobs left him working behind a sustainably run butchery counter. "There was pretty much no argument against it. I knew exactly where the animals came from and how they lived. So I took a nice bite of rib eye at work and was like, 'I'm sold.'"
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Streetcars are our desires
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/03/2009
In Boise, a proposed $60 million trolley plan became a major theme of local elections Tuesday but also represents an American revival. Some 80 US cities have proposals for streetcars, which they hope will become engines for prosperity that will reduce congestion and air pollution by turning back the clock.
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OR adds 10,000 children to health plan
Corvallis Gazette-Times
11/03/2009
More than 10,000 children have been added to the state health plan under a new law aimed at expanding health insurance coverage to nearly every child in Oregon, officials said Tuesday.
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Oregon reins in renewable tax breaks
Oregonian
11/03/2009
Oregon energy officials released new rules Tuesday aimed at curbing a controversial state program that grants lucrative tax subsidies for wind, solar and other renewable power plants. The changes are intended to rein in some of the runaway costs of the program.
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Solar plant's opening may light Salem future
Salem Statesman Journal
11/03/2009
Sanyo Solar of Oregon LLC officially has started making silicon ingots that are sliced into wafers for solar cells at its new Salem factory. On Monday, the company dedicated an $80 million manufacturing plant which officials hope will usher in a new era for Salem as a location for renewable energy companies.
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WA, OR on cutting edge for green jobs
Vancouver Columbian
11/03/2009
The green research firm, Clean Edge, has released a study of "clean-tech" jobs, identifying the top 15 metro areas in the US for jobs in fields such as renewable energy and energy efficiency. The Puget Sound region (Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton) and the Portland-Salem area in Oregon, ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.
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Green energy tax incentives cost Oregon more than predicted
Coos Bay World
11/02/2009
According to an investigation by the Oregonian, OR officials underestimated the cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big subsidies, resulting in a program that cost far more than expected. Kulongoski's staff says that they had no idea the program would be this popular when they designed the policy.
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Portland aims for Denmark-style bike culture
Willamette Week
11/02/2009
If city planners have their way, Copenhagen will be the model for Portland's urban transportation network. Bikes account for 55 percent of all trips in the Danish city, and 37 percent of commutes. Portland's commuting number -- near tops among large US cities and growing -- is a comparatively scanty 8 percent.
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More Oregon farmers grow their own electricity
Coos Bay World
11/02/2009
More farms are installing renewable energy, said Stephanie Page, renewable energy specialist for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The motivation was sparked by the 2008 spike in fuel prices, and is being fanned by a range of grants and tax credits handed out by state, federal and private agencies.
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Going for the green in Oregon
Corvallis Gazette-Times
11/01/2009
Environmental and economic concerns increasingly converge to create a new class of Earth-friendly employment opportunities in Oregon, from dam removal to boosting energy efficiency in homes.
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Farmers growing electricity along with their crops
Corvallis Gazette-Times
11/02/2009
More Oregon farms are generating renewable energy with solar panels and micro turbines. Just how many remains unclear, but the motivation seems to be a desire to be green more than the bottom line, despite an increasing array of financial incentives.
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Portland-area builders shift to small, efficient homes
Oregonian
11/01/2009
For the Portland home buyers that remain after the market's collapse, the evidence points to stronger demand for modest, energy-efficient homes.
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Climate change ethics explored in Oregon
Eugene Register Guard
11/02/2009
As people continue to debate the science behind climate change, a two-year program at the University of Oregon is moving beyond data to explore the moral and ethical implications of a warming planet.
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