Plastic bag bans have been sweeping the country lately. The whole state of Hawaii has banned the bag; while this is facilitated by its only having four counties, this is a major step for the bag ban efforts.
I was first turned on to this issue when I saw the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club at the Earth Fair in Corvallis. They are trying to initiate a bag ban in my town. Wearing a massive 500-bag costume, the representative encouraged people to start using reusable bags and send in postcards to encourage the plastic bag ban.
And the U.S. alone uses 380 billion of them a year.
I find reusable fabric grocery bags in stores at $1 apiece, and I have three that I use every week. It's easy to keep them in my car or right by the door. And I grew up with my mom holding on to paper bags to reuse them rather than using plastic bags every week.
It's not hard to give it up, even though it's what we are used to. So I'll issue you a challenge, dear reader. Do you have paper or fabric bags? Try bringing them with you for the next week. If you can do that, try it for the next month. And know that you can lessen YOUR impact just by making this quick change.
With
both environmental concern and gas prices on the rise, people are
starting to realize the benefits of owning a hybrid or electric car.
In the past, these cars have only represented a niche market; now,
they have become the third most popular car in the world.
That's
right - nearly 250,000 Prius vehicles have been sold worldwide in the
first quarter of 2012, with over 86,000 of those in the United States
alone. The only cars that are more popular are the Ford Focus (#2)
and Toyota Corolla (#1).
Part
of the reason that the Prius is so popular recently is an initiative
put forth by Japan. Japanese folks get a discount of approximately $2,500 if they bought a Prius.
This
news leads me to ask (and attempt to answer) three questions:
1.
If the Toyota Prius is doing well, then what of the Nissan Leaf and
the Chevrolet Volt?
I
think that, because the Prius has been on the roads for 15 years,
people have adopted the Prius into the mainstream and trust them as
reliable cars. The Leaf and the Volt are much newer cars, so they are
being driven by early adopters – but the average Joe will probably
be looking for something less “newfangled.”
2.
Should the United States try a similar initiative to get people to
have more fuel efficient cars?
This
has already happened. If you remember, the 2009 Cash for Clunkers
rebate system resulted in a staggering 700,000 older, less
fuel-efficient cars being traded in for more fuel efficient rigs.
One of my closest friends participated, trading in his old 18 mpg
Jeep for a brand-new 35 mpg Nissan Versa. But a Versa is not a
hybrid or electric car. Perhaps it is time to make that step.
(Of
course, I'm always partial to the idea of making more cities
bike-friendly, too!)
3.
Will this trend continue for a very long time?
Well,
look at the gas prices nationwide. They're especially high in
Washington, Oregon, and California. How long do you think people can
afford to drive gas guzzlers in those places? Or in the rest of the
country? Since Corvallis is very bike-friendly, I've taken to biking
most places to save gas. Those without such luck will likely need
to switch to fuel efficient/hybrid/electric cars so that their
wallets won't take such a whollop at the pump.
If
you have anything to add, please comment! I'd love to hear your
thoughts and ideas.
Some say dogs are man's best friend. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that a new favorite pet is showing up in cities across the country. It's not a cat. It's not a parrot, either. It's a chicken.
More and more urban and suburban homeowners are finding benefits in raising chickens instead of other pets. They're soft, they're friendly, and they give you fresh and delicious eggs that liberates you - at least in some small way - from industrialized food production.
Do you want a new feathery friend in your back yard? Before you commit, make sure you:
Some chicken-friendly cities.
Make sure your city allows chickens.
This website gives information on chicken policy in urban areas across the country. If your city or town isn't there, then still check in with your city to make sure that you're good to go.
Avoid roosters. Most cities don't allow them, anyway, and you want to make sure that you don't accidentally end up with more chickens than you can take care of.
Make sure you have the means and time to care for a chicken. If you're looking for a low-maintenance pet, you might go for an outdoor cat; chickens require lots of time, energy, and upkeep.
Read up on chicken care. There are a plethora of online resources at your disposal, and it never hurts to talk to someone who takes care of chickens in his or her back yard.
For me, the #1 bummer about living in an apartment is a lack of chickens. My dream home involves a red door, a picket fence and a chicken coop out back!
Do you have any experiences or stories with backyard/urban chickens? Share in the comments!
A sad-faced polar bear watches her cub float away on a block of ice. She dives in after her cub, and can barely struggle to heave herself up onto the slippery, wet ice. They look on hopelessly.
We've also heard about penguins shipped to zoos to preserve their populations (see humorous video below). We know about thinning herds of elephants and zebras struggling to keep their populations alive. And, of course, we've seen the adorable panda on the World Wildlife Foundation logo.
Folks pour money into the causes that promise to help these endangered animals, fascinated by the chance to keep something so foreign and exotic on this planet.
Take, for example, our friend the Pacific Fisher. He is threatened by loss of habitat and depressed population size, and his folk are suffering in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. I know I haven't seen him on TV, and yet, look how cute he is!
The list of threatened species for the Northwest area goes on and on and on. And I wonder how people would respond if these animals were shown on the "save the animals" commercials, rather than lions and zebras and elephants.
One thing I know for certain is that, while people care about strange and interesting issues, they also connect strongly to local issues. And while I care about endangered species worldwide, I would probably be more likely to shell out cash if it meant that I have a better chance of seeing the Pacific Fisher (or Pygmy Rabbit, or Columbian white-tailed deer) on a hike one day.
"OR-7" sounds like it could be the name of a robot.
Or maybe a code name for a top-secret investigation.
But, no: OR-7 is the name of a history-making wolf.
Not gonna lie; this wolf makes me feel lazy.
OR-7, who has been dubbed "Journey," is the first wolf west of the Cascades since 1947.
In fact, he's gone all the way across Oregon from the northeast region of the state all the way to northern California. Recently, he has seemed to loop back around toward the Oregon border.
Problem is, Journey is not very welcome in California. The Siskiyou County Board of Directors are deciding whether or not to allow anyone who sees the wolf to kill it.
While Journey is more than likely just looking for a mate, hungry wolves are known to make prey of cattle. Cattlemen are not very sympathetic to anything that will destroy their livelihood, even if the wolf is making history.
OR-7's buddy OR-10 is not happy to see you.
Federal law does prohibit the shooting of wolves since they are endangered in California. And so far, nobody has accused Journey of killing their cattle.
OR-7 wears a radio monitor so his progress can be tracked daily. Several other members of his pack are also being monitored, but only a handful of the original 16 are still alive.
So what do you think should be done about Journey? He is being monitored; should he be tracked down and contained? Should he be put down before he causes any damage? Or, is it fine that he wanders, mateless and alone?
The way I figure, he hasn't done any harm, so he might as well be left alone. Wouldn't any of us want the same?
May has arrived, and now that spring is in full swing you
can expect to see Farmer’s Markets popping up in parks and community lots
everywhere.
Farmer’s Markets are excellent because you can get some of
the freshest produce possible directly from the source. A few reasons I enjoy
farmer’s market days:
Colorful AND delicious!
You get to meet the people who grew your food.
It brings a strong human element into the picture which you just can’t find at
the grocery store. Plus, there are often musicians and artists who bring an
excellent community feel to the event.
You skip out on the over-packaging practices that
are common when getting your produce from far away. Take mushrooms, for example
– you can get them vacuum-sealed in Styrofoam and plastic at the grocery store,
or you can pick out exactly how many you need at the market and bring them home
in a reusable container.
Variety! Did you know that certain varieties of
carrots are PURPLE? You don’t normally find that in the produce section! Plus,
purple food = antioxidants = extra good for your health!
You can feel good knowing that your produce
arrived to you from nearby, meaning that they weren’t carted in from far away
using lots fuel that polluted the air.
This stuff is FRESH and RIPE. You know when you
get strawberries from the store, and the insides are white? That’s because they
had to be picked a little early to arrive to you before they went bad. I find
that the strawberries at the Farmer’s Market are red (and so deliciously sweet)
all the way through. And you just can’t beat that.
Starbucks: Northwestern or Colombian product?
It’s hard to tout Farmer’s Markets without also mentioning
locavorism. “Locavore” is a term that a North Carolina woman named Jessica
Prentice came up with on World Environment Day in 2005. She and her friends
wanted to challenge themselves to eat local foods for a month and see what it
was like. Since then, locavorism has gained popularity across the country.
The challenge of being a locavore? Restricting your diet to
foods that come from within a 100-mile radius of where you live. That makes
coffee, bananas, and oranges difficult for us Northwesterners. So while it is a noble challenge, I know I wouldn’t be able to commit myself wholly – but any step I can take is a step in
the right direction.
So, have I convinced you to try going to a Farmer’s Market?
Not yet? You don’t know where to find one? Well, I have good news for you –
Farmer’s Market directories are becoming more increasingly available online! A
really good directory I’ve found is called LocalHarvest.org. By simply entering
zip codes it came up with the market in Coeur d’Alene, ID that I used to visit with
my dad; the market in Rathdrum, ID where I set up an arts & crafts booth
with my friend; and the market in Corvallis, OR that I bike to on Saturdays.
I double-checked and found several other markets throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. The web site also
gives locations of co-ops and farms to make buying local much easier. Seriously; it's a gold mine.
So look up a market near your town and try going this week!
It’s an easy and fun outing, and you may find yourself walking home with some
excellent salad makings.
Riding electric bicycles makes you tall. Really, REALLY tall.
Think it would be just about impossible to bike across the country? Think again. Longtime bicycle enthusiasts and environmentalists Anna Mostovetsky and Boris Mordkovich are taking on the 4,000 mile journey on their EVELO electric-assist bicycles in an adventure called the Trans-American Electric Bike Tour. EVELO sent the team out to prove their claim that 1,000 miles of land can be crossed on a little more than the cost of a single gallon of gas today. The team set out on April 7 from New York City. Tomorrow, they will be crossing through Chicago, 800 miles from their starting point. The Trans-American Electric Bike Tour and EVELO hope to prove a point: that bicycling can be done in spite of distance and tough hills. The electric assist makes it possible to power through any problem. Plus, you get all the added benefits of riding bikes: exercise, fresh air, low/no fuel costs, and easy (free!) parking. Electric bicycles have already been embraced in Europe. In fact, BMW is going to be launching its new pedelec electric bike at the London 2012 Olympics - and really, could there be a better venue for showing new products?
Good thing the streets were closed off, or drivers would have been mad.
Electric bikes are finding a wider and wider audience across America, as well.
The second annual CicLAvia event, held on April 10 in Los Angeles, saw thousands of participants ditching their cars in favor of earth-friendly alternatives, including skateboards, roller blades, hula hoops, and yes, electric bicycles. A 7.5-mile route was made available so that the enthusiasts could enjoy a fun long ride. I can only imagine how well this kind of event would be attended in the Willamette Valley! So what makes electric bikes great for the Northwest lifestyle?
Fresh air! Nobody likes being cooped up inside a car on a beautiful day. These babies are like one-seater convertibles.
Keep up with your friends. I admit I'm not in prime shape, and when I go biking with my friends I fall behind on hills. Electric-assist would help me to keep up and allow them to keep their pace.
Health benefits. If it's easier to bike, you'll bike more. Get your cardio and fat-burning in while you get groceries!
Cheap to run. The EVELO bikes go 40 miles on one battery charge, and one battery charge is just eight cents.
Good for the planet, of course! Electric companies are starting to offer wind and water-power programs, and that clean electricity fed into your bike means that you are riding renewable.
So get ready to start seeing more occupied bike lanes and people putting up hills, because this isn't just some fad. Electric bikes are going to take hold in our culture, and it's going to be great! ----- via EVELO.com, TransAmericanBikeTour.com, AAA.com, BBC.co.uk, LATimes.com
