Resource reality is setting in, and we are now aware that there are consequences to ignoring the effects that our lifestyle has on the environment.
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Use Green Products This Year While Spring Cleaning
Spring cleaning season is almost here: It’s the time of year to clear the clutter, give the home a deep cleaning and get ready for spring and summer festivities. Granted, most of us need more than this annual event to keep our homes free of clutter and germs, but it gives us the push we need to tidy our homes. The City of Portland wanted to raise the recycling rate to 75 percent by 2015. Portlanders can help by using green services and making informed choices. If you don’t want to use a local company like Maid in Portland Eco-Friendly Cleaning, LLC, you can do the hard work yourself and…
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Lean, Green, and Working from Home
Environmental, Social and Economic Effects of Your Commute Do you love to leave your warm house every morning and get into a cold car? Does rush hour traffic fill you with joy? Do you enjoy donating thousands of dollars to the petrochemical companies in exchange for their gasoline? If so, this article is not for you. If, on the other hand, you wish there were real alternatives to car-based commuting, read on. Best to Worst – Ways to Get to Work #1. Work from home. The number one most environmentally benign way to get to work is to walk into the next room. There is no commute. You’ll get more…
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Stress, What is it Good For?
Absolutely nothing. Ok, so that’s not entirely true. But 99.9% of reactions to stress nowadays are harmful and unnecessary. Most of us have heard that the physiologic (body) response to stress has evolved to run away from woolly mammoths or saber-tooth tigers or something along those lines. Here’s a whirlwind tour of what stress is doing to you and your body, why it sucks, and what you can do about it to have a happier, more kick-ass life. Well, ok, great, but we were also club-swinging unibrow-sporting troglodytes (word of the day for ya). Things have changed. So why on earth would morning traffic and work deadlines cause the same…
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Safe Green Pest Control Methods for Winter
Get Ahead of the Bugs and Varmints While They Are Dormant Winter is a time of reduced pest pressure. This is a well-known fact. What isn’t so well known is that it is also a time for greatly impacting pest activity in the coming year. At this time, with the exception of rodents, pests are not as mobile. Indeed, most insects and spiders go into a dormant state that renders them completely immobile. The key thing to impacting next year’s pest populations is to know where they are and how to deal with them. Integrated pest management companies know where they are and the most effective ways to reduce overwintering…
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Are Commercial Car Washes More Eco-Friendly?
In the last decade, Americans have been encouraged to take a second look at their recycling habits, what eco-friendly products they buy and how they are supporting environmentally friendly companies. Did you know cleaning your car in a commercial car wash is considered far more eco-friendly than washing it in your driveway? Located in the heart of Portland, EcoCarwash is one of many places you can take your car to make it sparkle like new, while doing something good for the environment at the same time. Here are a few reasons why taking your car to any car wash is a good call to make. Saving Water While Washing When…
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Should You Drink What’s In Your Tap?
Water treatment has come a long way since we washed our clothes, bodies and livestock in the same bodies of water we used to dispose of our bedpans. In fact, diseases like polio, hepatitis A, and other horrific ailments have been all but eradicated since we’ve learned proper water treatment en masse. Although now we’re facing a whole new set of health problems as new issues are being raised about the side effects of current chemical additives. Is Portland Water Safe? Portland’s wastewater collection and treatment system works around the clock to monitor the millions of gallons of dirty water that the city and area residents produce.. This process begins…
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5 Unconventional Ways to Cut Home Utility Costs
. For the average American household, monthly utility bills represent a significant chunk of the family budget, usually 5 – 10 percent of monthly expenses. Since utilities are such a big chunk of your expenses, there are probably a number of ways that you can effectively cut your home energy costs each month. While many people may see “going green” as an additional expense, there are a number of green practices that can help you slash your monthly bills. At this point, we all know how to set the thermostat higher when we sleep or leave the house. We know that we can turn the water heater down a little…
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Spanning the Seasons of the Gorge with Saur Farming
Winter at Saur Farm It’s January, and I have a terrible hankering for some fresh winter greens. The only problem is that I didn’t grow any winter crops in my puny garden this year, and the farmers’ market closed in November. In the back of my mind I remember Ben Saur, one of the owners of 10-Speed Coffee in the Hood River Heights and a local farmer, mentioning he still had carrots back in December. Maybe he still has greens? I stop by the shop to buy a cup of coffee, and ask him what he still has in the field. “Carrots, rutabaga, leeks, collards, and turnips,” Ben says while…
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Casa Verde CSA Guest Blog by Michelle McGrath, MS Outreach Manager for Gorge Grown Food Network
Abundant sunshine, flowing rivers, and snowy mountains feed into the diverse landscapes of the Columbia River Gorge. With natural resources like these it is no wonder farmers with less acreage and innovative business models are choosing the Gorge as the place to sow their seeds. The agricultural heritage of the Gorge has been preserved in the picturesque orchards that erupt into blossom each April, but a growing number of smaller, diversified farms are springing up in between. I have the immense honor of working closely with these farmers as the Outreach Manager for Gorge Grown Food Network—a food and farm based non-profit organization. Over the winter I checked in with…
