It's Getting Hot In Here

At approximately 10:45 AM EST Thursday, FIFA (Soccer’s international governing body) announced Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup. The announcement, which shocked people around the world, came minutes after Russia was announced as the World Cup 2018 host.

The announcement has not been without controversy. From questions about strong cultural differences and laws to the heat and overcrowding. Not to mention size issues – Qatar is a small nation of only 1.6 million people. Richard Spencer of The Times (UK) wrote about the cultural controversy surround Qatar, “I wonder if today’s decision might have come at just the wrong time.”

Continue reading ‘Qatar 2022 – A Carbon Neutral World Cup?’

There’s a new program at George Fox University, just outside of Portland, Oregon – Christian Earthkeeping. The University describes its program by saying, “Christian Earthkeeping is the Church’s response to the ecological crisis and to God’s command to ‘keep’ the Earth (Genesis 2:15).”

For too long climate change and sustainable living have been the domain of secular environmentalism, even though there’s a biblical basis for why Christians should care for the Earth, the professor who created the course told the Oregonian.

Continue reading ‘Christian Earthkeeping’

The news that residents in Eastern Oregon are trying to halt production of a new wind farm because of health concerns over noise, lights, stress reminds me of similar, community-related issues occurring around the country related to wind energy

This potential stoppage is not the first of its kind. Recently, a different proposed wind farm in Oregon was put on hold after the discovery of an eagle’s nest in the area.

The wind farm in Eastern Oregon, residents say, will be loud, obstructive eye-sores. Residents also fear that the wind farm will be harmful to their health, cause property values to decrease, and endanger wildlife. One teacher feared the harmful effects of the farm’s proximity to a local school.

Continue reading ‘The Wind Farm Wars’

Next week’s elections might affect climate and energy conservation less than you might think. Although politico says that it will be difficult for GOP candidates to succeed unless they are climate change deniers, evidence suggests that stance may not be so important in terms of protecting the environment if you approach it for the right reasons. It does not necessarily matter what people believe causes environmental changes, as long as we address them as best we can.

Even though states’ energy efficiency and policies seem to reflect their political stances, there is a lot more to it than what we see on the surface, according to a recent study. Though the top ten best and worst states in terms of efficiency and policy may have been mostly “blue” and “red” respectively, there are a number of reasons states focus on energy efficiency. Maggie Molina of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy told the New York Times that those reasons include supply and infrastructure concerns, as well as economic development and job creation.

Many churches have taken a completely apolitical stance to protecting the environment, calling it “creation care“. Nancy Jackson, chair of the Climate and Energy Project, told the New York Times that you can avoid the climate debate and still reduce environmental impact by targeting key areas such as cost-reduction, job creation in “green” fields, and “creation care”.

Continue reading ‘Climate Debate and Next Week’s Elections’

The Seattle City Council voted 8-1 Monday to create a registry for residents who no longer wish to receive the yellow pages phone books. Though current opt-out systems exist from distributors, Seattle has become the first city in the United States to pass formal legislation.

This legislation is part of what the city call’s it’s responsibility to “develop and implement aggressive and effective waste reduction and source separation strategies,” and reaffirms the long-term goal of achieving 70% recycling.

Part of the legislation includes a fee to distributors who deliver yellow pages to those on the no-delivery registry, in addition to charging distributors to recycle unused books. Seattle Public Utilities estimates that nearly 2 million books are delivered annually in Seattle, costing $350,00 to recycle.
Continue reading ‘In Seattle, Phonebooks Now Optional’

Remember that wind farm in Oregon I wrote about last week? Portland General Electric just purchased the project and were attempting to bypass an Oregon law requiring competitive bidding. Now, those plans and the entire project seem to be brought to a halt. By what you ask? The endangered golden eagle.

The Golden Eagle (from Wikimedia Commons)

The Oregonian is reporting that a golden eagle nest has been found in Wasco County, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Oregon Department of Energy recommended in a letter to PGE that no wind turbine be built within six miles of it

In response to these recent events, PGE has given up trying to skirt around the Oregon competitive bidding law and has backed off trying to build the wind farm.

How about this for a development? Many of you have said that PGE’s wind farm plans were more about good business and publicity than an environmental agenda. Nonetheless, this means the odds of another large wind farm being built in the near future have gone from good to slim (if not nil). Is the (potential) risk to golden eagle(s) worth halting a wind farm’s construction?
Continue reading ‘Wind Farm Construction Stopped by Endangered Eagle’

On Thursday Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) announced plans to purchase development rights to the Rock Creek Wind Farm in Gilliam County, Oregon. The wind farm, scheduled to begin construction in 2013 or 2014, will have the capacity to produce 400 to 550 megawatts. That is enough energy to power, depending on wind variability, 125,00 homes. At present, 9% of PGE’s electricty is supplied from renewables, but this development indicative of changing mindsets and changing strategies.

The proposed project is currently owned by Renewable Energy Systems America Inc. (RES Americas). RES Americas operates nearly 3,900 Megawatts of wind power capacity (10% of all the currently available wind power in the country) at sites across the country and have another 12,500 Megawatts in development.

Continue reading ‘Portland Expands on Wind’

Due to a bill passed in the fall of 2009 by the Oregon State Legislature, field burning in 2010 has been outlawed. This primarily applies to the burning of grass seed and cereal grain crop residues in the Willamette Valley. With what was previously a dirty, pollutant-filled yet money-saving process now illegal, farmers have had to turn to something new. Their proposed solution is not only greener, but it may turn out to be profitable as well.

photo via The Oregonian
Continue reading ‘Clean Legislation Creates Clean Energy’

There may be a solution the large amounts of contaminated soil present on the earth’s surface. WI Environmental has created XR-88, which ” treats and turns heavy metals and poisons inert, making them harmless to the
environment for safe, easy disposal.”

The company, based out of Whidbey Island in Washington State (the same place that has tidal turbines in the works), focuses on everything from contaminated mine water to air quality and stormwater runoff. XR-88 is applied to a contaminated site, which then breaks down the harmful chemicals into a safe, sludge-like substance.

The company focuses mainly on sites in the pacific northwest, including the 3,800 abandoned mine sites, the 12 million tons of coal from Washington’s lone coal plant, and 14 million pounds of pollutants dumped in the Puget Sound annually.

The Puget Sound (Wikimedia Commons)

WI Environmental is expanding, though. According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, the company has just “signed a multi-million-dollar deal to license his environmental technology to begin cleaning up China’s heavily contaminated rivers and
soil.”

Continue reading ‘Environmental Remediation’

Hang Ten! Tidal Power (Webisode 207) from Center for Innovative Media on Vimeo.

Are you ready to ride the waves?

Continue reading ‘Hang Ten! Tidal Power’