Did I mention you should buy the book?

“If we were to decide in this generation to take for granted all the hard work of previous generations, and then give the back of our hand to all generations following us,” he said, “that would be the most immoral choice that any generation on the planet has ever made.”

All the press were in the nosebleed seats. There was no wi-fi, of course. “Did you see that naked PETA chick?” asked one of the news anchors, about another protester outside—she wants Gore to become a vegetarian and was handing out fliers quoting Paul McCartney. “I just talked to her for a while so I could stare at her tits.”

Meanwhile, I wished I had one of these, like the dude from the O:

We’ve had more forest fires and more lightning strikes, said Gore. People are dying. Global warming is terrifying. It’s all driven by greed. We’ve got to stop it!

And then this: “For every one of us 6.8 billion people on the planet, there will soon be one billion transistors per person,” said Gore.

That's a lot of transistors!

There were no other surprises.

So the song goes on for about four minutes too long, but aspiring protesters should take note that the students' monk-like chanting actually turns out to be a pretty good tactic for breaking up Diver's mild-mannered speech-making. Apparently the student senate wants the college to draw up a carbon reduction plan and hire a sustainability coordinator.

I know, I know, Reedies love protests even more than Kindles, but it seems to me that the students have a good point here. The Association of the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education lists Sustainability Coordinators at Oregon State University and Portland State, along with a number of little liberal arts colleges like Middlebury and Bowdoin so, uh, WTF is up, Reed?

Why is it so hard to get Republicans to even discuss climate change legislation? Maybe we need to work on our sales pitch. One idea environmentalists are tossing around right now is that instead of fighting global warming with the rhetoric of science, fear or appeals to human decency, politicians should start selling climate change legislation with patriotism.

Robert Dujarric pitches the idea in the Christian Science Monitor.

• Victory Gardens of tomorrow

So far, only a global recession has been shown to work when it comes to cutting emissions...

The way to get Americans to take action? Appeal to their patriotism. Historically in times of war, the US government has successfully gotten citizens to join the armed forces, to buy war bonds, and to accept rationing by appealing to their patriotism...

Even if the oil sold in the US comes from Alaska, Texas, or allies like Norway, American demand drives up the price of the commodity, thereby pumping huge flows of dollars into the treasuries of its enemies.

On the other hand, when the US invests in alternative energy sources and energy conservation, it helps spur technological innovation in America and other advanced liberal democracies.

I long for the day when local tea baggers proudly roll up to Michael's Italian Beef on anti-Obama bicycles.

h/t to Sightline. Check out Portland artist Joe Wirtheim's site for more progressive propaganda posters like the one above.

Wild.

"A single mature tree with a 30 foot crown can intercept up to 700 gallons of water annually," said City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, introducing the resolution. "The program will provide a small incentive for Portlanders to plant trees in their yards," he continued. "This is an emergency ordinance because the best time to plant trees is in the fall, winter, and early spring."

Here's how it works:

1.Buy a tree
2.Plant it
3.Submit a treebate application form with a proof of purchase to the city.
4.Receive up to $50, as a utility bill credit.

The city is hoping to manage 10-15 million gallons of stormwater a year, with the program, to prevent sewer backups. And there's a limit of ten trees per residence, before you get carried away.

"Our tag line is plant a tree, increase livability," said Jennifer Karps, who'll be running the program at the city.

Get more information here.

"When I bought my house I saw it had a big leaf maple, and shortly after we closed, it collapsed on my house," said City Commissioner Nick Fish. "Shortly afterward I got an $800 bill from the city to chop it up into firewood. I'd been thinking about replacing that tree, and now I have a financial incentive."

"This is a win win win for everyone," said Saltzman.

Mayor Adams, sporting a chic green-striped tie, lauded the Climate Action Plan (pdf) to standing-room only council chambers. "Portland is recognized as one of the most sustainable cities in America," said Adams. "That is very high praise on an incredibly low standard… I'm afraid, as one of your leaders, that we will sit on our laurels.” Adams' Bureau of Planning and Sustainability drafted the plan in conjunction with Multnomah County. Portland's carbon emissions have decreased 19 since 1990 percent while the rest of the country has increased emissions 20 percent (though since Portland's population has jumped in the past 20 years, our overall carbon emissions have only dropped one percent).

• Where we'll cut our greenhouse gasses - click to enlarge!

Transportation activist and Planning Commissioner Chris Smith drew a contrast between the $4.2 billion Columbia River Crossing freeway and the Bicycle Master Plan unveiled last night. "We have projects with dollar signs attached but no funding. Let's move the funding from projects that don't help us meet our goals to projects that do," said Smith.

"The Gordian knot has been how are we going to pay for this," acknowledged Adams at the beginning of the meeting. "Right now, Americans can go out and get a loan for a motorcycle or a power boat but you'll find very little opportunity to get the financing for a green energy retrofit for your home." Adams pointed to the development of Portland Clean Energy Works, a pilot program that will allow homeowners to pay for energy-saving remodeling on an installment plan rather than up front.

One speaker mentioned the need to watchdog the process, noting that although the council is supposed to check in on the plan in 2012, it's likely that no one who wrote the plan will be around in 2050 to make sure the city follows through. Commissioner Randy Leonard took offense. "I will be 98 and I will be sitting right here," he joked.

• Oregon: We suffer from Mercury poisoning.

Locally, the Sierra Club has launched a campaign to get Oregon off coal. Two weeks ago, the group packed a meeting of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a governor-appointed group that writes up recommendations for the region's future energy use. There was not a seat left in the Power Council's Ecotrust meeting room, as dozens of people waved red "No Coal" signs on popsicle sticks during a public hearing on the most recent power plan. This afternoon, the Sierra Club marched a human "Coal Train" around an inflatable replica of Boardman in Pioneer Square.

For all the hokey stunts, the anti-coal environmentalists have some solid support in the political ranks. Portland General Electric (PGE) owns Boardman and the Department of Environmental Quality gave the company two options: either shut the plant down by 2014 or install serious environmental upgrades ASAP. Mayor Adams wrote a letter earlier this month, urging the company to shut down Boardman by 2020.

• Protestor takes to the floor at packed energy meeting on 10/14.

But it's not clear whether the political and grassroots pressure will actually have any impact on the power companies' policies. As Adams pointed out in his letter, PGE's most recent energy plan actually increases the state's reliance on coal. And while the Power Council's current plan does aim to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions, chairman of the Oregon Global Warming Commission Angus Duncan says they significantly underestimate the problem. "Our goals in Oregon and Washington are probably more conservative than they will need to be," Duncan told the council. Steve Corson said in response to Adam's letter that closing Boardman would raise prices for energy customers as PGE would rely more on natural gas if it closed the controversial plant.

PGE's plan will have to be approved by the Public Utilities Commission later this year or in early 2010, while the Power Council will finalize their report in the next couple months. On top of the handful of recent protests against coal, this Saturday 10/24 is the "International Day of Climate Action" and Portland environmentalists are planning a big protest in Pioneer Square 1-3PM. There's also plans to possibly spell out something in the river with kayaks? See, teabag folks, this is why you don't get media attention. You need more kayaks. And inflatable things.

From Politico:

WTOP reports Wu's camp defended their boss: "Wu, who is married and has two children, bought the black GMC Yukon eight years ago so that it could carry his dog, a couple of strollers and his family, spokeswoman Julia Louise Krahe said. The congressman and his family regularly practice recycling in their household," she added. "He demonstrates his commitment to the environment in a number of ways, both personal and professional," Krahe said.

Eager to find out the transformative impact this footage may have on Oregon's political climate, the Mercury called Wu's opponent in the 2010 primary, David Robinson.

Robinson drives a BMW that gets 22 miles per gallon in the city and 30 miles per gallon on the highway, but "would prefer the story not be about the vehicle choice I have made." "Obviously when I get the financial opportunity to purchase a more environmentally friendly vehicle I would do so," he told the Mercury, adding, "it's better than driving a GMC Yukon."

Robinson says "Cash for Clunkers was Obama's great program to get environmentally unfriendly vehicless off the road." He thinks vehicle purchasing decisions are a matter of personal choice, and while some people need vehicles like a GMC Yukon "for the haulage capacity," "the congressman made a choice not to take advantage of the financial incentives to purchase a more environmentally friendly vehicle."

Robinson chose not to trade in his BMW, either, of course. But that's a debate for the 2010 primary, I suppose. And to think, some say Oregon has grown complacent about its environmental protection reputation. "The congressman and his family regularly practice recycling in their household." Nice.

Wu's office and the NRCC are yet to return calls for comment.

• via Gas 2.0
• Boardman - Dirty Power for Portlanders!

In a Portland Tribune editorial accompanying the release of the plan, PGE CEO Jim Piro argued that the plant must be kept open, but could be cleaner. "At PGE, we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of generating electricity by capturing more energy efficiency and adding more renewable power sources to our energy mix. We also understand that the system can’t power up and down with the wind or sunshine — it has to be there when the electricity is needed," wrote Piro.

Adams does not have any legal say over PGE's future plans, but he hopes to utilize his "bully pulpit" to get the company to commit to closing Boardman and investing in greater energy efficiency, in collaboration with Portland Clean Energy Works.

The Oregon Public Utilities Commission has to approve PGE's plan early next year and Adams' criticism could possibly push the company to revamp its business model. "I want to engage with them and come up with a business model for investing more in energy efficiency, clean energy and eco-districts." Adams says expanding clean energy will be better for PGE's business than sticking with its current coal and natural gas mix, though he admits he has not seen that type of business model work on the scale of a city (except with nuclear power, which Adams isn't interested in). "But this is Portland," says Adams, noting that 25 years ago people said Portland's recently-achieved car travel reduction goals were impossible.

Neighbors in the Creston-Kenilworth Yahoo group echoed my irate opinions about the greenwashed Yellowbook. But miracle of miracles, one of them managed to track down the phone number of someone who will actually come to your house, pick up your unwanted phone book and offer to take you off their delivery list altogether. Hallelujah!¹

Dialing 1-800-373-3280 will get you to the national Yellowbook distribution HQ. The line seems to be primarily used for people applying for a job dropping off phone books, but after a robot informs you that job information will be available at "a meeting with casual dress code," you're connected to a person who will arrange to have the Yellowbook delivery drivers come by and un-deliver your phone book. This exclusive limited time offer only lasts while they're still distributing phone books in Portland, so act now!

1. I just realized that maybe having someone drive a van back to my house to pick up and reuse one phone book is worse for the environment than if I just recycled it on my own. Uh... so maybe you should band together as neighbors if you're going have your phone books undelivered.

• Gregg Lande breathing easy in the new air testing site

After the brief press conference at the site, parents involved with PDX AIR grilled DEQ representative Gregg Lande. Ringleader Mary Peveto asked what the DEQ is going to do about the two "hotspot" toxic air sites models identified in Portland. "Should parents be worried about their kids breathing the air in those areas?" asked Peveto.

"I don't think they should," replied Lande, stressing that this air testing is a first step toward figuring out whether Portland's air is really as bad as the statistician models say it is. "It's important that we get more accurate measurements." While the EPA recommended they place the air testing station near an industrial site, Lande's team chose to put the station at Tubman school which (unlike Jefferson High School or Chapman) isn't near any heavy industry. Deflecting parents' skepticism, Lande explained that the DEQ wants to test the air quality near I-5, which runs just past the small school.

I know this, because I too was at the Mercury's branch office outside City Hall Friday morning, enjoying the sunshine. I also learned more about the city's Grey to Green initiative, thanks to the staff's wise choice to offer free coffee and cookies on the sidewalk. Ecoroofs are part of the program, but Grey to Green is also doing a bunch of other stuff. In the year and a half that it has been underway, the city has seen some significant improvements:

• GREEN STREET: MEANS LESS POOP ENDS UP IN THE RIVER

That's just the beginning. The five-year goals for Grey to Green include adding 43 acres of ecoroofs, constructing 920 green streets, and purchasing 419 acres of high priority natural areas. And with a city grant of $50 million over the next five years, those goals seem reachable.

The city has never taken on street tree planting on this scale—the budget for that has been only about $20-40,000 over the last twenty years, and now they're looking at over $1 million in just a year or two. Despite the rosy outlook for Portland watersheds, the work isn't done.

A new treebate program (get it? like rebate!) will compensate property owners for planting trees. The initiative is a collaborative effort with Friends of Trees and will launch in a few weeks. It hopes to encourage land owners to plant trees, especially local varieties, by covering 50% of tree-planting expenses up to $40, and up to $50 for native species. Money for you, trees for the world!

The NYT writes: "The gap between design and construction, which LEED certifies, and how some buildings actually perform led the program last week to announce that it would begin collecting information about energy use from all the buildings it certifies."

This is all highly relevant to Portland because just last week neighbors and city commissioners were questioning whether the new Albert Apartment complex on N. Williams will actually be a green building. After learning that some of the bedrooms in the building would be interior rooms with no windows, Commissioner Amanda asked, "How would you meet LEED silver if you constantly have to have a light on in the bedroom?"

One of the experts in the NYT article must have seen straight into Fritz's heart! Look at this quote:

"Once a building opens, it may use more energy than was predicted by the design. And how a building is used — how many occupants it has, for example — affects its energy consumption. 'If the occupants don’t turn off the lights, the building doesn’t do as well as expected,' said Mark Frankel, technical director for the New Buildings Institute."

In an absurd, Orwellian turn of events, the CRC received another feather in its $4.2 billion cap today: an environmental excellence award! The National Association of Environmental Professionals crowned the 12-lane bridge a "A Model for Collaboration and Environmental Stewardship" for its greenhouse gas and climate change evaluation.

Oh, you mean the greenhouse gas and climate change evaluation that the Environmental Protection Agency found "failed to adequately examine the potential for a bridge to induce sprawl, increase pollution and contaminate an aquifer that supplies Vancouver and Clark County's drinking water." The one that green advocacy group Coalition for a Livable Future tears apart, arguing that CRC planners' analysis that the bridge will decrease greenhouse gases is wrong?

Local consultant and economist Joe Cortright explains (at more length here) that the CRC's greenhouse gas and climate change analysis relies on a faulty baseline. "They made this assumption that there will be tens of thousands of more people in Clark County whether they build the bridge or not, and that all those people will get in their cars and drive across the bridge." But really, says Cortright, the bridge itself will help create more sprawl and lead to more people commuting over the river in cars. "The effect of the bridge will be more people driving longer distances," he concludes.

His write-up of a year's worth of junk mail is pretty funny—15 pounds of phone books? 17 credit card offers from United Airlines? Seven pounds of annoying sales pitches from Qwest, Verizon and Comcast? This shit is ridiculous, but Durning includes action ideas after each item to help channel that frustration into activism.

It would be cool to chronicle Portland's biggest junk mail offenders. I think it must be phone books by far but I can also commiserate with the Comcast deluge.

• Alan Durning
• Two feet tall, 50 pounds deep: one year's worth of junk mail.

• Eric Rosewall - Depave

Last summer Vestal teacher Chad Honl got so upset with kids spending recess on a what amounts to a grassless parking lot that he got the school to tear up one patch of pavement and plant grass. This summer, he's got some help. The anti-pavement nonprofit Depave that I profiled a couple weeks ago is heading out to Vestal this weekend to annihilate another 15,000 square feet of pavement. In the picture above, you can see volunteers cutting the pavement into squares with the help of heavy machinery — tomorrow anyone can come and attack the pavement with pickaxes.

I can tell you from personal experience that there are few things as cathartic as getting to manually demolishing a giant swath of asphalt. It's basically every eight-year-old boy's dream come true—getting let loose with a crowbar and told to attack. Plus, they'll have free snacks.

Tomorrow, Saturday August 8th! 9AM-5PM Vestal Elementary, 161 N. 82nd Avenue

The peppy branding made me cringe a little, so I turned over the bottle and read this little statement on the back:

Uh, what? This bottled water company wants me to stand dripping and cold in the shower so that there's still enough water in the world to be drained into millions of totally unsustainable 8.5 ounce plastic bottles? Who would be so cheeky?

Oh geez. What a bizarro green-hungry market we live in these days. Coca Cola is preaching to me about how my showers are wasteful while it's meanwhile trying to get itself out of hot water with environmentalists who criticize their overuse of the world's finite water supply. While Coke is ambitiously aiming to be "water neutral" by 2012, they still extract 1.73 liters of fresh water for every liter of soda they produce. Thanks for putting your eco-friendly tips on the side of a bottle of water distributed on jet planes, Coke!

The state could be getting up to 1000 Nissan Leaf cars, and up to 2,500 charging stations in 2010, according to a press release just put out by Mayor Sam Adams' office.

“This is exactly the kind of clean tech investments that Portland, and Oregon, have fought for,“ says Mayor Sam Adams, in the press release. “I have committed to making Portland a national leader in the EV industry, and with Nissan and eTec, we’re able to move our agenda forward.”

We've got a call in to get some more information on the project—yet to be returned.

Update, 3:51pm:

The mayor's spokesman, Roy Kaufmann, says the price of a Nissan Leaf includes the cost of having Arizona-based company ETEC install a plug-in station at the buyer's home, making it more practical for people to own and drive the cars.

Kaufmann didn't know the exact cost of the Nissan Leafs but said they would be priced "competitively."

"The big problem with electric cars has always been that it's hard to get parity with gas vehicles because there's this infrastructure to fill up," says Kaufmann. "The win in with this deal is that it brings not only the cars but the infrastructure, too."

"Hopefully after we've built out the charging stations in Portland and Seattle, we're going to start seeing the charging stations emerge on I-5," he continues. "That's the hope."

Portland will start seeing the charging stations being installed next summer, with the vehicles available for private purchase in late 2010. "I have a feeling it will be more of a long wait list than going to the dealership to pick one up, if the Prius is any indication," says Kaufmann.

San Francisco was not awarded one of the five target market designations, much to Kaufmann's delight. "Their application was for a battery swap model, not a battery charging model," he says.

Portland's high speed charging stations will only take a matter of hours to charge the cars, rather than overnight.

The challenge he's referring to is a get rich quick scheme from a blogger who's willing to bet global warming skeptics $25 dollars a day that the world is getting hotter.

Victoria Taft is the charming local radio host who coins phrases like "crap and trade". But is she chicken? Victoria and all other global warming deniers can take Nate up on his offer right here.

What do the researchers credit for the change? An environmental ethos is never mentioned. Instead, Sightline points to practical changes like smarter urban growth policies, investments in transit and high gas prices. And don't get too excited because even though we're below the national gas consumption average, America consumes a miserably high amount. Twenty million barrels of oil per day! Woo! We're #1!

The city initially said yes. Since the design meets the city's transit oriented development guidelines, the project was officially stamped good for transit because it's over 10 units, makes 20 percent of its apartments "affordable" and is within a quarter mile of MLK Avenue (a rapid bus transit Main Street).

But that seems absurd to neighbor Tracy Olson, who wrote an appeal against the plan. "How is his development Transit Oriented? He is building a 49 car parking lot on the ground floor, something the City does not require and in fact a feature that in the City's eyes discourages mass transit usage. This parking lot will include ONE car share space - for 72 apartments, ONE car share as part of the TOD abatement qualifications, Transit Oriented?"

Olson's right - while the transit-oriented zoning means developers don't have to put in any parking spaces for residents in a project like this, the city's "transit oriented" criteria do not include a parking space maximum. The car share space isn't required for transit-oriented development either, that's just a "public benefit" a developer can putting in to qualify for the tax break. So what if Portland forced developers to build carfree housing in mass transit corridors? I wrote last year about some smart young architects who are doing density right in North Portland — their cohousing project started off with parking spaces, but ripped them out to make room for more condos.

That's an extreme. But, hey, isn't Portland looking to be the most sustainable city in the whole wide world?

The Albert Apartments design is up for appeal in July, drop the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods a line to figure out how to get involved.

Meanwhile, downtown plans are in the works for an ultra-modern building: Portland Architecture has the first full rendering I've seen of the planned Oregon Sustainability Center.

The website for the 250-foot tall building proposed to take up the city block between SW 4th and 5th Ave at Harrison and Montgomery has a bunch of cool design ideas for how to make the structure water independent and zero energy impact.

Yes, indeed, Secretary LaHood along with a host of other politicians, including Governor Kulongoski, Congressman Pete DeFazio and Congressman Earl Blumeneaur (who graced his second transit-unveiling press conference in two days), were very very proud to release the first American-made streetcar since the auto industry killed streetcars 60 years ago.

"This is a great, great accomplishment, I believe this is the dawn of a new era for transportation in the USA, a new opportunity to claim 'Made in America,'" gushed LaHood, gesturing to the red, white and blue streetcar which was built at a cost of $2.9 million (with 90 new jobs created) right in state at Oregon Iron Works.

There was political high-fiving all around. "Thank you to the legislature for passing my Jobs and Transportation Act, the largest and greenest long-term investment in Oregon's transportation history," said Gov. Kulongoski, hilariously glazing over environmentalist's complaints that the act included only a tiny sliver of funding for bikes, ped and public transit.

The only person not engaging in the jobs-green transit-love fest was sulky Jonathan Maus, of BikePortland.org, who shook his head in disdain at the photo opp. For less than the $77 million cost of the first 3.3 mile streetcar extension, Portland could build the nation's best bikeway network, with hundreds of miles of bike lanes. "Streetcars are great, but at what cost? Where's the similar dedication to bikeways that cost nothing in comparison?" said Maus. "In politics, things that are cheap and easy don't always win - there's no money behind them."

When I blogged about phone book waste a couple months ago, commenters pointed out that Oregon should mandate some sort of opt-in policy for phone book distribution. And that is exactly what SE Portland Representative Jules Kopel Bailey has done. He and Portland Rep Ben Cannon are the sponsors of HB 3477, which would make Oregon the first state in the country where it would be illegal to distribute phone books to people without their specific request. Phone book companies could still drop off a bunch of the obsolete tomes at public libraries and post offices, where people who need them could pick one up. In the meantime, look what we wouldn't be doing:

According to a DEQ study, in 2003 there were 6.45 million sets of
white/yellow pages published and distributed in Oregon, and there were
only 1.33 million households in the state at that time. Only about 20%
of phone books are recycled, the rest end up in landfills or are burned.

Glory glory Hallelujah. However, the bill hasn't gotten a hearing yet, so it doesn't seem likely it'll pass this session. Which means by the next possible time it could become law, we'll have cut down the trees to print at least 13 million more phone books in Oregon. I say we engage in a vigilante campaign, impaling more phone books on fences around town as a warning to Qwest.

The produce from the garden is going to Loaves and Fishes, Portland's Meals on Wheels people. A victory garden for the new recession!

But the truly exciting part about this garbage patch is that a it has inspired a British banking billionaire, David de Rothschild, to build a boat completely from plastic waste and to sail it through this patch, across the Pacific Ocean. He says it’s to raise awareness about the importance of being eco-friendly and keeping oceans clean. However, my favorite parts of this project (called Plastiki) are that 1) it has proven far more difficult to build a boat out of plastic waste than the billionaire originally imagined and that 2) de Rothschild is ENTIRELY convinced that this is a super EXTREME adventure that will bring TONS of awareness about the environment, despite the fact that this is not the first voyage of its kind. Maybe it’s cruel to laugh at an adventuring adrenaline junky who wants to use his fortunes to save the world and is finding it’s not easy. But I enjoy it. And you can too! Check out the Plastiki site or read about his vision here and here. He was scheduled to launch today, but has been delayed to the vague date of "Summer 2009." Don't you just hate when your big plans to get sponsors to build a boat so you can go sailing all summer go awry? ...I guess it’s also a rather a decent idea that might change the way we build boats from now on, but who cares about that.