“Eco-friendly size!” When I posted a couple days ago about the new website that allows you to opt out of phone book delivery, some commentors were wondering whether opting-out costs local phone book delivery people their jobs. Well today I talked with Mr. Neg Norton, the president of the Yellow Pages Association which represents 158 […]
Green
Posted inMedia
Then They Came for the Food Day.
On the heels of this morning’s news about the new website to opt out of phone book delivery, reader Richard sends this photo and note: The news about the Yellow Pages is great, but is there an easy way to put an end to this bullshit? The Oregonian chucks about six of these down our […]
Posted inGreen
How to Easily Opt Out of Phone Books: Hooray Hooray!
Glorious day! Just as Oregon is poised to possibly become the nation’s first opt-in phone book delivery state, Yellow Pages has launched a new opt-out website. in the olden days (yesterday), you had to call a complicated phone line to opt out, so the website should be a big improvement. However, apparently everyone on the […]
Posted inPolitics
New Bills Roundup: Bag Ban is Back!
The legislative session kicked off this week, with over 1,600 new laws and rule changes proposed by Oregon’s representatives. I’ll be doing roundups of the laws relevant to Portland on the blog all week. For more interesting bills, see this week’s news section. Last summer, environmentalists scored a big victory when Portland City Council voted […]
Posted inPolitics
New Bills Roundup: No to Phonebooks! Yes to Recycled Roads!
The legislative session kicked off this week, with over 1,600 new laws and rule changes proposed by Oregon’s representatives. I’ll be doing roundups of the laws relevant to Portland on the blog all weekend and next week. Two small but important pieces of environmental legislation jump out from the piles of bills proposed for far […]
Posted inDrunk
Four Loko Finds a New Home: In Your Car
In case you were worried that Four Loko was just going to disappear off your 7-11 shelves and rot in some warehouse, worry no more. On the East Coast they’re turning Four Loko into ethanol and other products (though the other products weren’t specified… maybe more alcohol?). A company in Virginia, MXI Environmental Services, recycles […]
Posted inPolitics
Renewable Energy, Then And Now
The Cascade Policy Institute recently released a report on Oregon’s renewable energy aims, and it dug up some interesting information. Namely, Oregon (and Portland) has set far-reaching goals and utterly failed to meet them. In 2005, Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that by 2010, Oregon’s stage agencies should receive 25 percent of their energy from renewable […]
Posted inGreen
City Audit: We’re Making Less Garbage, but It’s More Expensive.
Once a year, the city auditor’s office turns its microscope on that dearest of Tea Party causes: government efficiency and waste. The annual “report on service efforts and accomplishments” released today basically details where city money is going within bureaus and whether services are getting better or doing worse. The big news from this year’s […]
Posted inArtsy
Hey Guys! I Just Turned My Iron Man Slurpee Cup into a Tissue Dispenser!
Just thought you should know!
Posted inGreen
Canada Can Handle The Compostable Bag, But We Can’t?
Last month, Frito-Lay announced it was (mostly) pulling the super-noisy compostable SunChips bags that no one liked and that may have been responsible for an 11% drop in the company’s annual sales. The backtrack only applied to the U.S., however; Frito-Lay decided that the Canadians could handle the noise. Frito-Lay even suspected the Canadians of […]
Posted inGreen
Solar Powered Christmas Lights: A Good Idea But…
…the execution could use some work. I spotted these innovative monstrosities in the new Director Park. At least they look good in the dark?
Posted inGreen
Eco-friendly Packaging Not Worth the Unpleasant Crinkling
Loud enough to drown out enthusiasm for the environment Frito-Lay has announced they’re no longer going to package Sun Chips in those unbearably loud compostable bags. Thank Krishna. I do care about the environment — almost as much as Osama bin Laden does — but like any real American, I only like sustainability that comes […]