SeeingGreen ™

I recently drafted a post railing about all the items we accumulate to fill up our lives and don’t really need. I think my foul mood was triggered by the aisle of Christmas paraphernalia I saw at a local drug store when the calendar barely read September. I’ll save you the whiny details, […]

A little over a year ago, several Portland realtors were the first in the nation to convince the Regional Multiple Listing Service to add fields for green home features. This function allows sellers to identify efforts to increase the environmental performance and healthfulness of their property so that perspective homebuyers can search for these […]

I suppose it is the holiday season that has me making a list like this, but I thought I would share some things that have me seeing green.

1. Portland Aerial Tram
Sure its budget ballooned and many pundits thought it would fail, but I really enjoy this new addition to Portland’s increasingly tower-filled skyline. I […]

When I first moved to the block where I still live, none of the neighbors would look at me. Or say hello. Or, I imagine, even knock on my door should my house be engulfed in flames. The problem wasn’t my own un-neighborly activities, such as hosting rowdy parties or supporting illegal […]

I recently sat in on a meeting at my day job that re-energized my thinking about sustainable urban living and the opportunities for innovation. Although I was already aware of Portland Park and Recreation’s (PPR) aggressive plan to put a skatepark within one mile of almost every neighborhood in Portland, the more compelling news […]

This past Friday, Co-Pilot and I went on a road trip to Oregon’s coast for some much needed r+r. With little planned, our only destination was a well-appointed campsite at Cape Lookout State Park. Eager to get on the road early, we packed up our sleeping gear, enough food to keep us from […]

Every week from May to December, I will be receiving a box of fresh vegetables harvested less than 20 miles away from my urban home. Said box will be delivered to my place of employment, where I will divide the fresh bounty with a coworker. The price for such a convenient delight: $450 […]

My first job was working as a page in the library in the town where I grew up. Shelving books, mending torn pages and showing patrons how to navigate the Dewey Decimimal System was my simple charge. It was then that I developed a love for libraries that has never vanished. I […]

A coworker of mine recently married and true to office form, we all pitched in and bought her a present. No, we didn’t get her a gift card to a department store or purchase anything off her registry, but instead we offset all the carbons generated by the act of saying “I do.”
In order to […]

In a nod to the increasingly loud hub-bub over biodiesel in this town, Enterprise Rent-a-Car on 16th and W. Burnside recently added five Jeep Liberties fueled with B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% regular diesel) to its fleet. In addition to the potential for biodiesel to be made in Oregon (from rapeseed or spent fryer […]

Before Princeton geologist and peak oil soothsayer, Kenneth Deffeyes, gave a lecture for the Illahee series on oil and water, he engaged City of Portland employees for over an hour to talk about what the end of cheap fossil fuels could mean for our urban area. Although the conversation started with Deffeyes asking […]

When Prananda opened its doors on N. Interstate Avenue in 2003, the yoga and arts center was a welcome addition in the otherwise flagging redevelopment of the old motorway. Although the new light rail line brought much needed transportation and road improvements to the neon-clad throughway, the business boom planners had predicted has been […]

I remember being disappointed when Maya Lin, my favorite architect/artist/environmentalist retreated from designing Portland’s newest park due to a conflict with some folks at the “City that Works.” Now that I’ve recovered from that setback, I can go to Tanner Springs to enjoy this engaging park set right in the middle of a growing […]

This past summer I had the chance to interview someone about a noble effort to raise funds to support Portland’s notoriously cash-strapped schools. After hearing from her parents and teachers about her school’s financial woes, Reed, a 7-year old second grader at Buckman Elementary decided to do something about it. Her first idea […]

Portland has an admirable transit system for a city its size. My neighborhood alone is serviced by light rail and 3 bus lines that will either take you downtown or across town. That’s not to say that you’ll get to your destination faster than if you were to drive, but you will get […]

There aren’t too many stores in this world where you can purchase a stack of surplus greeting cards, a half dozen metal tins, a leftover roll of packaging labels from a product called “Hot Cheddah Sticks” and fifty legal sized envelopes for a modest $4.00. If this sounds like your dream come true, […]

I’ll admit it. I’m addicted. It is not unusual for me to visit the Craigslist (CL) site twice, sometimes three times, ok maybe five times a day. What am I looking for? Nothing, really. I usually check out what’s new in the free pile, peek at the job postings or peruse […]

When I first moved to Portland in 1994, the city was a weird place. I lived in the downtown area (where I thought you lived when you move to a city) before the light rail extended past Pioneer Square and where the only people who lived downtown were “junkies, convicts, and perverts” (she says […]