Portland Grab Bag. A Few News Favorites.

GREEN FOCUS: Cool Things That Are Green

Portland Grab Bag. A Few News Favorites.
10/26/2009

There are a plethora of local news sources providing a wide variety of green oriented news that affects Oregonians and Portlanders. The Portland Grab Bag is our compilation from the prior weeks entertaining green oriented news that you normally wouldn’t stumble upon. Feel free to submit articles you find, and let us know what you think!

10/20/09 Oregon ranks 5th in the country for wind energy. The BCS rankings for total operating capacity for wind energy is Texas, Iowa, California, Minnesota, and Oregon. Don't mess with Texas, they boasted the fastest growth in the last 3 months expanding by 436 megawatts.

10/21/09 Regarding energy efficiency measures, Oregon ranks 4th! What's up now Texas?! California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut rounded out the top 3. Last year Oregon was second, so we did fall behind 2 spots. So, now I gotta a beef with a couple East coast states.

10/20/09 Backyard chickens in Gresham for the last 40 years has required a 100-foot separation between coops and surrounding homes. This was recently up for a vote to make it more conducive for urban coops, but it didn't win. Yes, having chickens provide fresh eggs. Yes, it provides good fertilizer for your plants and they eat harmful bugs. Yes, there is a trend toward urban farming and sustainability. Yes, they might be a little smelly and noisy, but so are dogs. The Gresham Planning Commissioner, Ken Stine is pro-chicken. He grew up living with a chicken coop. This is the direct quote from the Portland Tribune: "I'm a chicken hater, but I support the code change." He recalled the satisfaction of collecting eggs every morning and having fresh eggs to eat. Then again, “They’re the stupidest animals in the world, and I can’t imagine why anyone would want one as a pet,” he said. Even so, if people want urban chickens they should be able to raise them, he said." At least he's honest and speaks his mind.

10/20/09 Global warming is GOOD for the Northwest environment. Good for upper elevations, that is. Above 3,000 feet could see substantial gains, like up to 75% in productivity as the temperatures rise according to researchers at Oregon State. However, commercial timber zones in lower-elevation could see reduced growth (1-3%) from drier conditions.

10/19/09 Federal prosecutors have been told that arresting people who use and provide medical marijuana is a waste of their time. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden says, “it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state laws.” Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project says, “this change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting…practical reality.” This is also one step closer to legalizing marijuana, aka weed, gonja, pot, hemi, trees, greens, ganja, cannabis, dope, grass, doja, chronic, nugs, sticky icky icky, and my favorite when said in Homer Simpson’s voice, sweet sweet chiba and the list goes on…Anyway, this affects 14 states including Oregon. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em…legally.ions.

By: Jonathan Davis, founder and editor.

Archive

2/03/2010	- Deposit a Gift is a Sustainable Solution For Gift Registries
1/20/2010	- BEST Business Center awards Portland Climate Champion to Clean Air Lawn Care
1/18/2010	- Portland News You Mave Have Missed 1.10.10 to 1.16.10
1/06/2010	- TriLibrium Releases GRI Sustainability Report
12/26/2009	- Sesame Street Favorite Green Video Clips
12/21/2009	- Oregon News You May Have Missed 12.14.09 to 12.19.09
12/17/2009	- Not Good Water Quality in Bottled Water
12/14/2009	- Oregon Green News You May Have Missed 12.7.09 to 12.12.09
12/09/2009	- Portland OR Resource for Stormwater Management \| WorkingGreenPortland

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