http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/index.php Portland and surrounding area community news and information http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810868519971300 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810868519971300 en-us Quick: What’s Oregon’s official beverage? Take a seat at the back if you blurted out "beer." And sorry, Stumptown aficionados, but you’re out if you picked coffee. Actually, it’s milk, as wholesome as Mom and apple pie, brought to you locally by the farmers of ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810873417735700 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810873417735700 en-us We have high expectations for our sunscreens. We expect them to sink into our skin and not sit like a white, greasy blob on our noses. Most of all, we expect them to protect us from harmful ultraviolet A and B rays, so we don’t become one of the one million new cases of skin cancer expected ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810862998168200 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810862998168200 en-us Osprey, fish, deer and herons aren’t the only ones playing around Ross Island lately. Over the past two years, water-sport enthusiasts who’d otherwise be windsurfing at the Gorge, surfing at the Oregon Coast or dragon-boat racing at the Rose Festival are now hanging out here, near Oaks ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810855517839100 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810855517839100 en-us Portland resident Resa Thomason-Schnacky recently hosted an “eco-party,” where people gather to swap sustainability tips around the home. She invited eight people to her Southeast Portland home – and 18 showed up. “People shared ideas; that was the great part,” she ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810878337058500 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810878337058500 en-us Greenies working in the state office building near Lloyd Center used to pack their lunchtime food scraps and bring them home to bury in backyard compost piles. Not any more. Thanks to volunteer employee efforts, some 1,200 workers in the 12-story office building can now stow compostable waste in ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810865434364600 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810865434364600 en-us Portland Mayor Sam Adams told Sustainable Life last year that he favored a ban on plastic bags in the city, and he tried to have a committee work on the issue. But then the issue was dropped when the recession hit. Adams said in February 2009 that it wasn’t the time to impose a 5- to 20-cent ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810858057708200 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810858057708200 en-us The climate-change conference in Copenhagen was a bust. Cap-and-trade bills to lower greenhouse gas emissions are stuck in Congress and the Oregon Legislature. And Americans are more worried about jobs these days and more leery of aggressive actions to avert climate change. But Portland State ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810852850423300 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810852850423300 en-us For many years, the idea of going “off grid” was a goal of hippies, survivalists and UFO believers living in battered Airstream trailers on remote mountaintops. They dreamed of living self-sufficient lifestyles without depending on utilities to supply their energy and other needs. As ... http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810849697704800 2010-07-08 00:00:00 http://www.sherwoodgazette.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=127810849697704800 en-us My EcoThought is to place a park atop the Columbia River Crossing bridge planned between Portland and Vancouver. The park roof will pay for itself by replacing an expensive stormwater treatment facility. It will greatly reduce the bridge’s carbon footprint. It will create public park space ...