Oregon
-
![]()
![]()
Portland Mayor Sam Adams wants ’20-minute neighborhoods’
Newish Portland Mayor Sam Adams wants to build more “20-minute neighborhoods” in his fair city. From a Fast Company interview: We’re also working to make every section of Portland a complete 20-minute neighborhood to strengthen our local economy. Two-thirds of all trips in Portland and in most American cities are not about getting to and […]
-
Energy Trust and the Big Hope
If you’re like me, and spend a lot of the day drinking coffee and getting increasingly paranoid with the creeping suspicion that solving climate may not be possible, it’s good when you find glimmers of hope in the wreckage. One of those glimmers (actually more like a tractor beam) is called Energy Trust, an organization […]
-
![]()
![]()
Weatherizing Portland
Clean Energy Works Portland is a groundbreaking new program that enables Portland residents to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and pay for the improvements over time through their utility bills. A contractor performing a blower door test to identify air infiltration and leakage throughout a home.Energy Trust of OregonBut the most exciting and […]
-
National Day of Action Against Coal
This post was co-written by Kathleen Ridihalgh, Senior Representative for the Sierra Club’s Northwest Region The first three days of this week are seeing a slew of activities taking on coal. We have events in 25 states to counter the coal industry and cheer on clean energy investments. It’s all part of our National Day […]
-
![]()
![]()
Sen. Jeff Merkley answers Grist’s questions on Senate climate bill
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) won his 2008 race against 40-year Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in a squeaker, with a margin of just 3%. Despite the narrow win, Merkley has come out swinging on climate and energy issues, securing an appointment to the Environment & Public Works Committee, sponsoring or co-sponsoring a series of clean energy […]
-
![]()
![]()
Pacific NW landowners team up to market forest offsets
Owners of forestland in the Pacific NW could benefit more under a national carbon offsets system, as trees common to the region store more carbon per acre than East Coast species. Pictured: Douglas firs in an Oregon forest.Courtesy Ecotrust’s sbeebe via FlickrThough most people probably think of national parks when they think of forests, more […]
-
![]()
![]()
DeFazio lambasts cap-and-trade
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) made one thing clear on Friday: he’s just not that into the cap-and-trade legislation under debate in the House. Peter DeFazio was first elected to the House in 1986. He represents Oregon’s 4th district in the southwestern part of the state.Courtesy Rep. DeFazioIn a speech in Portland, DeFazio decried the focus […]
-
![]()
![]()
Ask Umbra on living off the grid
Q. Hi Umbra, You’ve made several mentions of living off the grid in previous columns, and I was wondering where someone should find such things? It seems as though there are secret communities and communes that everyone seems to know about but me. How would you find an off the grid community, or go about […]
-
![]()
![]()
EPA announces collegiate Green Power winners; competition fails to change power buying habits
The Ivy League is the greenest of them all, according to the EPA, which today announced the college and university winners of the Green Power challenge — a competition to motivate American schools to purchase more renewable energy. Participating schools compete within their athletic conferences to purchase the most certified green power, but conferences only […]
