Donate to the Portland Fruit Tree Project
In 2009 over 14,798 lbs of fruit was collected and given to those in need, saving it from falling and going to waste on the sidewalks. The Portland Fruit Tree Project is an amazing idea that both helps fight hunger and waste, while increasing urban sustainability in a very green way. The PFTP collects fruit from trees in the city that would otherwise go to waste, all fruit is either in a public space or has been donated by the property owner. No more walking down the street to find perfectly good plums rotting and squishing underfoot from where they fell, now the little old lady with too many plums can have volunteers collect them from the trees in her yard and then then take them to the food bank. Fresh fruit and vegetables are critical to a healthy diet, yet often are unavailable at a reasonable cost which prevents lower income families from enjoying fresh food. With the Portland Fruit Tree Project, all of the food is used and used by those who need it most.
Now through December 31st, 2009 the Portland Fruit Tree Project has a generous anonymous donor that will do a 50% match on whatever donations are collected. That means that your donation now can make 50% more of an impact to the hungry of the Portland area. You can also Gift a donation. The donation goes to the project and they send a holiday gift card to the person who you gifted it for thanking them for the donation in their name. Give the gift of local healthy food to the hungry and urban sustainability for us all to share.
To donate to this amazing project write a check to or donate online:
The Portland Fruit Tree Project
1912 NE Killingsworth St
Portland, OR 97211
… Read the full story »Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Food, Portland, Recycling, Sustainable | Tagged:
Seattle gets a look at the Nissan Leaf
In the year 2010 900 Seattle area residents are going to become the lucky new owners of the Nissan Leaf. The Nissan Leaf is poised to become the most affordable all electric car available at $28,000 to $35,000 before a $7,500 government kickback. The Nissan Leaf has zero emissions, and to prove it just try to find the tailpipe (Hint: There isn’t one). The car can charge using a 220volt charging outlet (like the one that your dryer runs on), which will be installed in the owners garage as well as in public places around town. The car also has a solar panel that is able to keep the clock running even if you run out of charge. The public charging stations are going to be at some downtown parking spots as well as being increasingly spotted at supermarkets and businesses around the Puget Sound area. The GPS unit inside of the car can even help you find the nearest charging station if you are running low on juice. Thanks to a $100 million dollar grant as part of the stimulus package many more areas of Seattle are going to get electric charging stations as Mayor Greg Nickels tries to push his city ahead of Portland and San Francisco, two other west coast cities that are wiring their cities for the electric vehicle revolution. Click here to read more from the Seattle Times.
Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Green Energy, News, Northwest, Sustainable | Tagged:
A new way to grow food…
The folks at Omega Garden have created a few different machines that are going to change the way we think about a greenhouse. Rotating cylinders with a light in the center and plants growing all along the inner side, watered automatically all day long by a controlled gravity drip. Omega has created models for home/small business and another model for high scale greenhouse operations. With the commercial sized one you can get 6,600 sq ft of growing space while only using 100 sq ft of floor space.
Currently, the worlds population growth is far outstripping our ability to produce food. Already there are about a billion people in the world that do not always have enough to eat. Whats worse is that our government has not caught on with the times and still subsidizes poor factory farming practices that destroy the land, and use far more water while polluting everything around it with pesticides and animal by products. With the Omega garden and other smarter hydroponic methods of growing food, water use is reduced up to 99% because the water is not lost into the ground and can be recycled. Furthermore, the machinery is enclosed indoors so the water loss from natural plant transpiration and evaporation are eliminated along with the bugs and the need for pesticides.
The Omega garden goes even further in the conservation than other hydroponic methods as they conserve light energy through the cylindrical design. Normally, a light would have to be above the plants, and have a reflector above it so that the light moving upwards away from the light would not be lost. With the cylindrical design, the light is in the center and the plants are growing all around it, giving it 360 degrees of effectiveness. Using this design, you can get a pound of basil for .38KWh (about 3-5x the yield of standard methods).
With water and farmable land becoming scarcer and our population growing, its ideas like this that are going to keep us from starving……See more at Ecofriend
… Read the full story »Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Food, Garden, Sustainable, Water Conservation | Tagged:
Green Sprouts Organic Baby Fest Sept. 26
Calling all parents (and parents-to-be)! Get informed and entertained at Green Sprouts Baby Fest, set for Saturday, September 26 at Peninsula Park. This gathering features over 90 non-profits and green businesses vetted by the ubiquitous Re-Direct Guide. Find a pre-natal yoga instructor, a midwife, and a daycare co-op in one fell swoop. Get the scoop on non-toxic nurseries, organic clothing, safe toys, and more. In addition to exhibitors, Green Sprouts also offers a variety of seminars and interactive events for the whole family, including sing-a-longs, a kids clothes/books/toys swap, and even a baby sling fashion show! Follow Green Sprouts on Twitter for the latest.
Attendees are encouraged to take public transit as the MAX Yellow Line drops you off just blocks away at North Rosa Parks Way. Organizers aim for the event to be zero-waste, so leave the organic handi-snacks at home, folks.
$3 suggested donation to benefit Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative.
Location: Peninsula Park
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Education, Green Home, Portland, Sustainable | Tagged:
The Muddy Boot Festival 2009: A Soulful Celebration of Sustainable Living
Holy cow, the Muddy Boot Festival is almost here! Now in its fourth year, this lively, three-day outdoor festival celebrates all manners of sustainable living in Portland, so get your tickets now and show your support for making our town greener and cleaner than ever before.
Highly recommended is Friday’s keynote address by environmental activist and prolific author Bill McKibben, whose work deals with how local communities can come together to combat global climate change. McKibben wants everyone to know about “the most important number in the world,” 350. As in 350 parts per million, the safe upper limit ofCO2 in the atmosphere as identified by scientists (see 350.org). The talk begins 7 pm on Friday, September 11. Tickets are $20/general and $15/students in advance; $25 at the door.
Muddy Boot continues through the weekend. Get fed on organic food and drink in the marketplace. Get informed via workshops and panel discussions with local sustainability advocates (the list of speakers reads like a who’s who of pdx green experts). Get down to live music by awesome local bands. Kids entertainment, too. Puppets! Recycled arts and crafts! Did I mention March Fourth Marching Band will be there Saturday night? Sounds like some good, wholesome fun for all.
Location: St. Philip Neri Church, 2408 SE 16th Avenue
Click here for the full schedule.
… Read the full story »Filed Under: Education, Food, Portland, Sustainable | Tagged:
Hanes Embraces Hemp
Portland based Naturally Advanced Technologies has come up with a natural enzyme based process that makes hemp fiber as soft as cotton. That would launch hemp fiber into the mainstream as a competitive alternative to cotton as the softness is the only thing keeping this crop from being the biggest and most sustainable way to make fabrics for cheap with less environmental impact. Hemp can grow in harsher conditions, grows faster, longer, and produces far more (the whole plant can be used rather than just bits of fluff from the pods). All of this makes hemp a very cheap way to have organic fabrics for the masses. The only environmentally friendly alternative to mainstream cotton at this time is organic cotton. Although organic cotton does exist, it is over 60% more expensive than regular cotton and has nearly zero market presence because of that. If the Crailar hemp technology takes flight, then you can expect to see denim, paper towels, paper, and clothing fabric all to be made out of hemp in the future. Hanes has already taken notice, so the next time you pick up a pack of tightie whities they might just be made of hemp instead of cotton.
… Read the full story »Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Northwest, Portland, Sustainable | Tagged:
Portland Flocks to Hear Joel Salatin Speak
Today, August 13 is likely your best opportunity to see the gregarious and visionary Joel Salatin speak in person. Founder of Polyface Farm, Salatin is a small-scale organic farmer whose pasture-based method of raising meat and eggs and selling them directly to consumers offers an ecological alternative to polluting, diseased, anonymous, corn-fed animal products. He will be giving a talk tonight from 7 to 9 pm at Friendship Masonic Center. Proceeds benefit Hollywood Farmers Market.
Salatin is worth seeking out as has a unique gift for communicating how urgently we need to overhaul our food production systems, all the way from the farm to your table. According to Salatin, he is “…in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture” (from his farm’s website). Salatin’s work has been popularized by Michael Pollan in The Omnivores Dilemma. He was also featured in the movie Food, Inc..
In addition to being a slow food darling, Salatin’s written quite a few books of his own, including the following:
Pastured Poultry Profit$: Describes the how and why one would keep chickens on pasture. If you keep chickens at all (even a flock of three like I do) this one is a real eye-opener. I love the eggmobile!
Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal: A scathing critique of agricultural regulations (and government regulations in general) that have been designed without regard for the small-scale, organic grower.
The Lecture:
Friendship Masonic Center from 7 to 9 pm today, August 13. 5626 NE Alameda Street (57th and NE Sandy Blvd.) $25.
A benefit for Hollywood Farmers Market. Get tickets at the the Hollywood Farmers Market this Saturday from 8 am - 1 pm or by contacting the Market at 503-709-7403 or tickets@hollywoodfarmersmarket.org.
Thought you should know he’s got a few other stops planned, too:
Urban Farm Store from 4:30-5:30 today, August 13. 1925 SE Morrison St. 97214. Free!
Whole Foods in Tigard Oregon from 11-12 noon on Friday, August 14. 7380 SW Bridgeport Rd 97224. Also free!
Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Education, Food, Sustainable | Tagged:
City Garden Farms
City Garden Farms is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) here in Portland using a brilliant new idea for successful urban farming. CGF is distributed across many different physical yards in Portland, each donated by a CSA member who doesn’t mind a portion of their lawn being converted into a shared garden. City Garden Farms was put together by Dan Bravin and Martin Barret who found that by having many donated lawns they have a lot of space to grow food for the members, more than any single location they can find in the city. The United States used to produce 60% of its food from home gardens, not multinational food corporations that fly food in from thousands of miles away. By having more gardens and less lawns we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and unsustainable food practices. Prevent starvation, grow your own food.
… Read the full story »
Filed Under: Eco Ideas, Food, Garden, Portland, Sustainable | Tagged:
Greenest City in the US!
A big thank you to Portland and all of its green minded inhabitants! Portland, Oregon has been rated the #1 Greenest City in the US by the Mother Nature Network. The criteria that was rated to determine the rank was carbon footprint reduction, air and water quality, efficient recylcling and management of waste, percentage of LEED certified buildings, acres of land devoted to green space, use of renewable energy, and easy access to green products and services. Check out more on Sustainablog and Mother Nature Network.
Filed Under: Portland, Sustainable | Tagged: green, Portland
Composting now mandatory in San Francisco
San Francisco, California has a great city recycling program with nearly everyone participating by recycling everything possible in their daily lives. With a lofty goal of being zero waste by 2020, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco is striving to meet that goal by making composting mandatory. New green bins have been distributed to homes and businesses for a total of 3 bins per business and household. The green bin is for compostable organic matter, the blue bin is for recyclables, and the black bin is for the remaining trash. The mandatory composting will bring SFs current 72% deferred waste rate (amount of waste that does not end up in a landfill), to over 90% deferred waste. That means that only 10% of the city’s waste is actually ending up in a landfill. Go Cali! Check out Inhabitat for the original article.
… Read the full story »