Posted inSustainability

Oregon court orders halt to wolf killing

Great news. The Oregon Court of Appeals has granted the request of three conservation groups to temporarily halt the hunt of two wolves in Eastern Oregon. Governor Kitzhaber should have ordered the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to do this on his own, rather than forcing Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Oregon Wild to step in. It's crazy that ranchers get compensated for documented wolf kills, yet ODFW also jumps into action as soon as a wolf-hating rancher demands that the last breeding pair in Oregon also be killed. Crazy, because wolves are more important…
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Posted inHome life

How I sold our 2007 Prius: what worked, and what didn’t

Yesterday I sold our 2007 Prius Touring for a fair price: $16,000. The buyer was happy, and I'm happy. So now that I've had the vast experience of one recent private party used car sale, I'll share my tips for car-selling in this Internet age. In short: AutoTrader good, Craigslist bad. I only got two serious inquiries about the car, both through AutoTrader. My Craigslist ad mostly resulted in email messages that said: "Location? I can pick it up," along with "How much are you asking for this car ?? Ive been wanting to buy one like this so if…
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Posted inSalem

Salem’s riverfront development looks like a loser

Salem, Oregon is cursed by a Blah Witch. That's pretty damn clear. Whenever something creative, energetic, and enticing comes on the Capital City scene, it encouragingly flashes into life, then starts to dim until Salem's stultifying atmosphere snuffs it out. At best, a few mildly glowing embers remain to remind us of the luster that a genuinely vibrant urban area, such as Portland, offers its residents. One example is the Sustainable Fairview project that my wife and I bought shares in quite a few years ago. Plans were for a world-class mixed use oh-so-Green development featuring residences, lots of open…
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Posted inSalem Sustainability

“Farming or Folly?” forum in Salem (Oregon)

Friends of Marion County, a land use advocacy group my wife and I are close friends with, is having a "Farming or Folly?" community forum this coming Thursday, October 6, 2011 at the Salem Public Library. See press release info below. I'll be attending, because I haven't made my mind up on the farming or folly expanded uses question. Some people don't like the idea of a winery, say, being able to host marriage parties or other events. They consider that bringing a hundred or more people onto farmland isn't really appropriate, and fear non-farm uses will steadily erode the…
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Posted inSustainability

Car conversations make me appreciate Oregon’s Green’ness

Too often, we Oregonians take our state for granted. We focus on what our Pacific Wonderland lacks rather than feeling appreciative for the oh-so-special nature of Oregon. Every time I fly back to Portland from some flat, brown, fir-tree-lacking part of the country, and a Mt. Hood panorama fills the airplane window, I think Wow! I'm so fortunate to live here. The past few days some car-related conversations helped reinforce that feeling. Last night we had dinner with some friends. I mentioned how Laurel and I had recently bought a Nissan Leaf, the first 100% electric car offering from a…
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