The financial benefits of carpooling, featured in a front page story of the Oregonian today, are only one reason that carpooling is cool. I’d say its coolness is embodied in four C’s: cash, congestion reduction, carbon footprint and community.
The carpool I’m in makes my commute between Portland and Salem a joy instead of a grind. [...]
Entries from April 2008
Carpooling Is Cool
April 28th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · carpooling · global warming · sustainability
The Maven of Green Careers
April 24th, 2008 · 1 Comment
I just received a nice comment from Klara on “Why Bother? Three Great Reasons“. She is moving here to Portland soon and like many Portlanders, new and old, she is passionate about sustainability.
I imagine that also like many, she wants to find green-collar work, i.e. a job in sustainability. I’m going to refer her [...]
Tags: 97215 · green living · sustainability · transportation
Driving A Prius In The Wild West
April 22nd, 2008 · 5 Comments
My job in transportation options has taken me, in a new Prius, to the high desert town of Bend, Oregon (recently named by American Cowboy magazine in its Top Ten list of wild-west towns). The Prius, mud-splattered from the Santiam Pass, is now dusted with snow as well, so it reminds me of an [...]
Tags: climate change · energy conservation · global warming · green living · hybrids · sustainability · transportation
Why Bother? Three Great Reasons
April 21st, 2008 · 4 Comments
Of all the good pieces in today’s Green Issue of New York Times magazine, “Why Bother?” by Michael Pollan is the one that helps us see that lower-consumption lifestyles are crucial in dealing with global warming, Inventors and legislators cannot rescue us.
1.) Pollan points out that being a role model is powerful. As various citizens like you and me consume significantly less, especially in terms of fossil fuels, other
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · climate change · environment · global warming · sustainability
Sustainability Round-Up
April 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Today’s post is a round-up of my recent mini-discoveries on important aspects of sustainability.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · environment · global warming · sustainability
The Very Best Diet, Part II
April 19th, 2008 · No Comments
Last week I named the very best diet for weight loss as being one of low car use. That’s because our bodies were designed to get us from place to place with this cool gait called walking. My husband and I share just one car, and use public transit, our feet and our bikes for many of our trips. It’s more fun, too.
What else has been rising in the
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · community · entertainment · environment · global warming · simplicity · sustainability
Our Portland CRAG Launches!
April 16th, 2008 · No Comments
Last night five friends of mine, new and old, got together at Colleen and Thad’s house in NE Portland. We had wine, a delicious potluck dinner and animated-to-hilarious planning of our Carbon Action Reduction Group.
Honestly, it would have been fun and funny even without the wine. The four sled dogs milling around our legs added a lot to the happy hubbub. Bottom line: We’re going to do it! We’re
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · climate change · culture · economics · energy conservation · environment · global warming · life · simplicity · sustainability
I, A Tax Non-Begrudger
April 15th, 2008 · No Comments
If you’re stressing over your taxes being due today, I empathize. I have SO been there (though not any more. Here are my tips on breaking free of credit card and consumer debt.) Now I am a tax non-begrudger. I willingly pay taxes because I want to live in the civilized kind of society they make possible.

I see roads and highways as
Tags: bipartisan politics · economics · life · politics · sustainability
Peak-Hour Tolls And Global Warming
April 13th, 2008 · 1 Comment
I’m intrigued by (Oregon) Governor Kulongoski’s speech last Friday on transportation and global warming. It’s not many politicians who are brave enough to consider peak-hour tolls, which are also known as congestion pricing.
London and Stockholm have found that these reduce rush-hour traffic by about 20%, which is huge in the transportation context. The tolls were highly unpopular at first, but became more accepted as people found themselves spending
Tags: 97215 · carbon footprint · global warming · sustainability
The Very Best Diet, Part I
April 11th, 2008 · 6 Comments
You have probably read by now that our country has been getting dramatically more obese for twenty years now. Most people I know seem to want to lose weight and be more lean and fit. Diets, though, are famous for non-lasting results and nasty backlash effects.
My philosophy of the diamond-cut life naturally has a different take on weight loss and dieting than the mainstream culture does. (I’m
Tags: 97215 · cars · culture · global warming · green living · health · lifestyle · sustainability · transportation