http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/index.php Portland and surrounding area community news and information http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456514270408500 At the gym where a certain reporter works out, several fellows shave after their workouts and leave the tap water running the entire time. That’s a waste of two precious resources – water and energy used to heat the water. Would the responsible thing be to point out the waste? Or, ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456538699261600 Most Sundays, rain or shine, they rendezvous at North Clackamas Aquatic Park’s parking lot, lugging clippers, shovels, waterproof clothes. They call themselves the Tsunami Crew. Chris Runyard leads about a dozen of them down a circuitous muddy path into Three Creeks Natural Area, 89 acres ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456534517038700 Michael Abbaté wants Christians to look up to God by coming down to earth. Abbaté has written “Gardening Eden: How Creation Care Will Change Your Faith, Your Life and Our World,” to help believers do just that. The author is urban design and planning director for the city of Gresham, ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456529388589400 When local birdwatchers proposed taxing themselves to raise money for habitat preservation, The Oregonian newspaper lampooned the idea, labeling it one of the silliest bills before the 2009 Oregon Legislature. But wildlife advocates say the proposed 10 percent tax on wholesale birdseed is no ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456517223098700 When the hot water kept petering out at Alan Martin’s house in Milwaukie, he ditched his old hot-water tank and switched to a tankless system. Now he’s saving $20 a month on utility payments, and his six-member household never worries about running out of hot water. Sustainability ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456523954855100 Each week at Beaverton Farmers Market, vendors dish up barbecue sandwiches, falafels, burgers, panini, crepes and other prepared foods to 18,000 shoppers. Then shoppers promptly fill a dumpster with cups, straws, plates, napkins and utensils. Starting in May, though, vendors selling prepared foods ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456521669368400 Consider the relationship between the typical Portland resident and his lawnmower. The machine comes out of storage around the first of May, or after its guilt-ridden owner becomes the last person on the block to mow. The grass is cut diligently, if grudgingly, until July. Then the sun turns the ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456542931283800 Carbon emissions low in Oregon Oregon had the second-lowest carbon dioxide emissions, per person, among all 50 states from 1960 to 2005, according to a new report by Greenpeace. Each Oregonian, on average, accounted for 423 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year during that period. ... http://www.spotlightnews.net/sustainable/story.php?story_id=124456510676248000 Learning about placentas, lactation and the stages of labor aren’t typical fare for middle-school curriculum, to say the least. Then again, nothing at Southeast Portland’s Sunnyside Environmental School is typical – least of all its principal. Sarah Taylor, a longtime educator ...