Editor's Take: November 20, 2008
Credit: US Federal Government
Is Change Coming to Alaska?
What does the end of the Ted Stevens era mean for Alaska? The NYT reports that Senator-elect Begich wants to "broaden the story of Alaska beyond oil," but is also sounding some familiar tones. On the economic front, an unexpected victim of the downturn is BC’s recycling industry. And amid dismal budget news, Oregon's Kulongoski is already working on a green stimulus of sorts for the state.
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Congratulation and a Concession for Alaska's Senator-Elect
New York Times
11/20/2008
Irascible will be out. Approachable will be in. That oil drilling and federal earmarks? They will still be a go. "What you have here is a state in transformation," said Mr. Begich, who will become Alaska's first Democratic senator since Mike Gravel left office in 1981. "What I want to do," he said, "is repackage some of the messaging of what we have here that will have an impact on this country."
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National Economic Crisis Hits NW State Budgets Hard
Oregon Public Broadcasting
11/19/2008
The national economic crisis is pounding state budgets here at home. On Wednesday Oregon and Washington got bad news about tax revenues. They're down -- dramatically -- and that means budget cuts will be necessary. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.
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Nissan Selects Oregon to Help Debut Electric Vehicles
Oregonian
11/20/2008
In July, Nissan North America's product planning director noticed that Oregon -- the nation's hybrid-car capital -- was installing electric-vehicle charging stations. Soon, Nissan, PGE, and Kulongoski hatched a deal, announced Wednesday, to include Oregon among a handful of sites worldwide to pioneer zero-emission vehicles.
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BC's Recycling Industry Hit by Global Slowdown
CBC BC
11/19/2008
The global economic crisis is hurting a new sector of the B.C. economy: recyclers. Some goods are fetching only a third of the price they did in September; some recycling companies are laying off workers and others have stopped collecting certain types of plastics altogether.
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Top Companies, Including Starbucks, Urge Congress to Go Green
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
11/20/2008
A group of companies including Starbucks, Nike and Sun Microsystems has banded together to urge Congress to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and promote investment in renewable energy. For its part, Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. says that climate change is a threat because the company relies on coffee crops.
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'Applause' for Carbon Tax in California
Vancouver Province
11/20/2008
The carbon tax was a hit yesterday at the Global Climate Summit in California, says B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner. B.C. is the only jurisdiction in North America to have a carbon tax, which has sparked opposition from some quarters hit by rising fuel prices and an economic downturn.
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State's Salmon, Trout Populations in Deep Trouble
Contra Costa Times
11/20/2008
Two-thirds of California's native salmon, trout and steelhead are headed for extinction unless major changes are made to the way the state's rivers are managed and protected, according to a report by one of the state's top fish experts.
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Oregon's Hunger Rate Is Among the Highest
Eugene Register Guard
11/20/2008
According to an annual survey released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oregon is the third-hungriest state in the nation. In addition, requests for emergency food boxes are skyrocketing, the Oregon Food Bank Network reported Wednesday.
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Big Green Brother
Mother Jones Magazine
11/20/2008
Since 2007, all Wal-Mart employees in the US have been asked to take a simple, concrete step to benefit their health, their local community, or the earth--part of an initiative called the Personal Sustainability Project, a.k.a. psp. Pledges, which can involve work or home life or both, have included vows to drive the speed limit (to save gas), clean up trash, quit smoking, switch to a reusable bottle, or turn off the tap when toothbrushing.
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Views: Change Can't Be Silenced; Same-sex Marriage Will Be Legal
Seattle Times
11/20/2008
Same-sex marriages will be legal in the U.S. It will happen long before most voters are ready for it because our Constitution tugs us toward equality, no matter how much some may resist. Voters in California were wrong to force a ban on same-sex marriage into their state constitution, and their vote will be flushed away by the tide of progress just as opposition to other civil rights has been.
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Editor's Take: November 19, 2008
Credit: Yelley, Flickr.
NW Scientific Solutions
The National Marine Fisheries Service is poised to help salmon. The Oregonian reports on restrictions placed on three pesticides used in the Northwest that harm salmon. Northwest scientists are also looking for climate solutions, as carbon dioxide trapping techniques are tested. A green future is in the works at Portland State University, with a $25 million grant to fund sustainable programs.
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Pesticide Restrictions to Help NW Salmon
Oregonian
11/18/2008
Federal fisheries biologists Tuesday, concluding that three pesticides used throughout the Willamette Valley harm imperiled salmon, ordered sharp new restrictions on use of the chemical compounds.
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NW Scientists Study Carbon Trapping
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
11/19/2008
A team of Northwest scientists report that it has figured out how to better chemically trap carbon dioxide gas underground and plan to field-test the approach early next year, aiming to prove this as a powerful weapon in the battle against climate change.
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Shell to Clean Up 83 Sites in Western Washington
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
11/19/2008
Shell Oil Co. has agreed to clean up contamination at 83 current and former gas stations in Western Washington.
It's the first time an oil company has voluntarily undertaken such a massive cleanup in the state at one time, state Department of Ecology officials said.
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Views: The Fate of the Fraser River
The Tyee
11/19/2008
We were 12 people altogether: eight participants, three facilitators, a videographer and myself. Our purpose was to see first-hand how British Columbians live and work on the Fraser, and gain a better understanding of how people, land and rivers are connected.
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Ashland Seeks Grants for Local Farm Food Program
Ashland Daily Tidings
11/18/2008
Federal funding for the school district's farm-to-school program will expire in December, and the district will seek grants to continue buying local food directly from farmers for school lunches.
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Idaho Special Olympics to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/19/2008
The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games received a $1.1 million grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation.
The grant will help launch a "Greening the Games" initiative to help reduce the event's overall carbon footprint.
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Lumber Industry Downturn Hits Montana Hard
Missoulian
11/19/2008
Lumber production in Montana continues to slide, and with it go the industry's wages and jobs.
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Obama's Long-Term Environmental Goals
The Washington Independent
11/18/2008
Five million green jobs. One million hybrid cars on the road. Some $150 billion in clean-energy investment. Eighty percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions.
These are just some of the promises made by President-elect Barack Obama during the long presidential campaign.
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PSU to Use $25 Million for Sustainability Research
Oregonian
11/19/2008
Over the next decade, Portland State University wants to use a $25 million donation to gain a reputation as a global leader in environmental sustainability by turning the entire city into its laboratory.
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Interest Surging in California's Cow Power
San Francisco Chronicle
11/19/2008
It doesn't have solar power's high-tech sexiness, and it's far from clean. But cow power is slowly gaining ground in California.
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Editor's Take: November 18, 2008
bugman50, flickr
Creating a Healthy Cascadia
Today's news doesn't bring the most optimistic outlook to the Northwest. But despite bark beetle infestation, unemployment, and child hunger, there is a bit of good news. A controversial drug injection site in Vancouver could save $20 million in the healthcare sector, and add 920 years to the population's lifespan. Also, the economic crisis might set the right climate for healthcare reform.
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Your editor today is Eric Hess | View All Today's News
Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West
New York Times
11/17/2008
On the side of a mountain on the outskirts of Montana's capital city, loggers are racing against a beetle grub the size of a grain of rice. From New Mexico to British Columbia, the region's signature pine forests are succumbing to a huge infestation of mountain pine beetles that are turning a blanket of green forest into a blanket of rust red.
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Oregon's Jobless Rate Spikes to Four Year High
Oregonian
11/18/2008
Consumers slapped shut their wallets in October, helping drive the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in Oregon, which lost 14,100 jobs since September -- the worst seasonally adjusted monthly decline since February 1981.
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Jobless Statistics Boil Down to this: Struggling Families
Oregonian
11/18/2008
The number of Oregonians seeking state help in the form of food stamps or cash assistance jumped again last month, prompting those who work with needy families and seniors to say they're worried about the winter.
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