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Mar 21st, 2008 - 18:13:01
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Voices of the Northwest
Voices of the Northwest
The RG's Porter/Mickey Exchange Over BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision
Sam Porter and Ross Mickey
"But the BLM is required to comply with the Endangered Species Act to 'provide the means whereby the ecosystems upon which an endangered species depends may be conserved.' And although this crucial and ecologically insightful NFMA regulation – 'to maintain all native vertebrate species in a viable state across their ranges'– is not legally binding on the BLM, that agency should"...and the reply from Ross Mickey, the Western Oregon Manager for American Forest Resource Council. And Porter's second letter in reply.– a feature at WxNW.org and a thanks to Sam Porter and the RG
Mar 20, 2008
Voices of the Northwest
The LNG/Pipeline Conversation
Sha Spady
Oregon Public Broadcasting has a new call-in show called Think Out Loud covering regional issues. This thoughtful writer replied:"Simply put the LNG/No LNG issue is a classic example of the meeting of conflicting paradigms: the pre-21st century 'Human Entitlement' paradigm vs. the 21st Century 'Sustainability' paradigm." –with a link to OPB's Think Out Loud
Mar 20, 2008
Voices of the Northwest
Why BLM's Plan Is Indefensible
Sam Porter
"Under the National Forest Management Act, management strategies have 'to maintain all native vertebrate species in a viable state across their ranges.' Under the Endangered Species Act, such strategies have to 'provide the means whereby the ecosystems upon which an endangered species depends may be conserved...' Will tripling the cut on BLM’s heavily logged lands comply with such requirements? Even the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service say the BLM’s plan will harm water quality and salmon. It appears the BLM did not consult the EPA or the fisheries service regarding federal environmental laws."
–with a thanks and a link to The Register-Guard
Feb 14, 2008
Voices of the Northwest
Good Giving
Barbara Kelley
Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, Merry Christmas and Joyous Kwanzaa. As we celebrate the winter holy days, we need to remember to keep it simple, give from our hearts and to be gentle to the earth. Our occasional contributor, eco-mother Barbara Kelley, shares a few thoughts on how and why to do so. -a feature at WxNW.org
Dec 6, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
The Story of Linus Pauling and Oregon State University
Kyle Odegard, Corvallis Gazette-Times
"University collection preserves legacy of famed scientist... Sinatra, Gandhi and Einstein wrote to Pauling... 'This is a microcosm of the social, political and scientific history of the 20th century,' Mead said... Mead took a file for the letter K and flipped through it, listing various members of the Kennedy family, Martin Luther King Jr., Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and others...
The collection, he said, is the largest associated with an individual scientist anywhere in the world. Securing the Pauling Papers in 1986 was the result of 20 years of work by four different OSU presidents, competing for the property with other institutions...Pauling hadn’t been a year-round presence in Corvallis since he graduated in 1922, but his reasons for choosing OSU for his collection included sentiment; he met his wife there... Only OSU sought the papers of Ava Helen Pauling, a peace activist who influenced her husband to devote himself to the cause in 1957." –with a thanks to the Corvallis Gazette-Times and a link to The Register Guard
Nov 13, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
The BLM's Spray Plan from Hell
Barbara Kelley
Oregon's own Jean de Arc of Save Our ecoSystems is as passionate as it takes to save a forest, a planet, and maybe our souls. Her public comments to the BLM stand upright in the sun: "I refuse to muffle or disguise the fury I feel in looking over your 'plan from hell' to ruin our forests. Most people have been persuaded to take a cool, scientific approach in their critiques, and to avoid emotion. I think this is a misplaced value... Your role as God is a failure. The results of your misguided policies are disastrous. Oceans are rising, biodiversity is falling, extinctions are rising alarmingly, pollution is at an all time high, people are ill... Your activities and you yourselves are complicit in all this. Sorry, that is the unadorned truth." a feature of WxNW.org
Aug 17, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Sadler's Sense: Narrowcasting to Different Worlds
Russell Sadler
A shared reality is crucial to problem-solving. Can we explain our local and national, political logjams with the growing phenomenon of narrowcasting? "Narrowcasting allows commercial outlets to create their own reality -- their own facts -- for their true believers. This is not news, of course. It is sheer propaganda designed by publicists masquerading as newscasters who have learned to divide the nation in order to conquer public opinion... I first wrote a column on the fragmentation of the mass media and the consequences of narrowcasting in the late 1990s... Former congressman Les AuCoin read it and asked me, 'So how are we going to govern the country if everyone is operating on different facts?'" – a feature at WxNW.org
Jun 10, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
This Winter Green Farmer Loves Some Weeds
Linda Davies
Take a spring herbal walk with our favorite Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer, Linda Davies and get inspired to use the wild, tasty and healing bounty of the earth: Wait, don't curse that tall stinging plant! "Fresh, young nettle leaves are an excellent source of minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. They are very high in calcium, magnesium, trace minerals and B-Complex. The leaves and stalks also supply Vitamin C and Vitamin A. The cooked greens may help to stabilize blood sugar, reduce fatigue and exhaustion, restore adrenal potency to lessen allergen and menopausal problems and eliminate chronic headaches." Also this is your invitation to the Winter Green Farm's Spring Open House Potluck Party at the Farm June 2, 2007. Meet the baby animals and make a scarecrow. See you there! a feature at WxNW.org
May 10, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Sadler's Sense: Under the Big Top
Russell Sadler
Many good bills have died in committee this last Monday, including the Ban on Field Burning bill since Russell wrote us on the doings in our fair capital of Salem at the Fates 'n Follies Review. Yet the good citizens and their reps trudge on: "The Democrats intend to plod ahead, slowly but steadily, demonstrating that they can pass a two-year budget that takes care of Oregonians’ needs in six months and go home. Democrats are trying, for example, to pass a plan to provide health insurance for all children, add 150 officers to the State Police and increase basic school support for education, community colleges and higher education... The Republicans have decided to deny Democrats the politically palatable, marginal tax increases to finance those programs -- an increase in the cigarette tax to finance childrens’ health insurance and a tax on auto insurance to finance more state police -- and force the Democrats to raise the state income tax to balance the budget. Then Republicans can campaign on the claim that 'Democrats raised your taxes!' Oh, the horror of it." –a feature at WxNW.org
May 4, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
It Is Time to Ban Field Burning
Dan Galpern
Tired of suffering through hot, smoky summer days? Pray relief may be in sight: "Oregon's law relating to field burning is no less schizophrenic than Idaho law, though in different ways. Oregon's declared policy is 'to restore and maintain' air quality 'as free from air pollution as is practicable' and, toward that end, to 'reduce the practice of open field burning.' But Oregon law also requires the state to grant permits to growers to burn tens of thousands of acres annually... Moreover, state law insulates growers from liability to private nuisance and trespass suits that might otherwise be brought by neighbors and others downwind who are unable to breathe or safely enjoy their property when it is inundated by smoke from burning fields. – a feature at WxNW.org
Apr 17, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Oregon House Health Panel Endorses Burning Ban Bill
Diane Dietz, The Register-Guard
"The bill may never reach the House or Senate floors for a vote by the assembly... About 150 Willamette Valley farmers burn about 50,000 acres of straw from spent grass seed fields each summer - sending columns of smoke high into the air and spurring hundreds of complaints from residents... Portland-area Democrats Mitch Greenlick, Suzanne Bonamici, Ben Cannon and Tina Kotek said they were convinced by the doctors, nurses and research that supporters presented last week that field smoke is damaging to breathe... 'I was skeptical about the health issue - to be very honest,' Kotek said before the vote on Friday. 'I went through all the information, and I've really had an about-face on this.'" – with a thanks and a link to The Register-Guard
Apr 17, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Sadler's Sense: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtin
Russell Sadler
"The Oregon Republican meltdown over House passage of a measure converting this year’s corporate kicker into a permanent rainy day fund and increasing the minimum corporate tax is reminiscent of the penultimate scene in the Wizard of Oz.... When these tactics failed to generate a hysterical wave of anti-tax sentiment, Jason Williams of the Taxpayers Association of Oregon decided to manufacture one. His fake 'grassroots' group started drumming up the 'news' that businesses all over Oregon were upset that the new minimum corporate tax which has been fixed at $10 since the 1930s." – a feature at WxNW.org
Mar 9, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Sadler's Sense: Regional Solutions for Global Climate Change Is Key
Russell Sadler
"No, this five state compact will not solve the worldwide problem of climate change.But it is a good start in our part of the world. Nine states in the Northeast are already a couple of years ahead of the West Coast in dealing with their fossil fuel-fired powerplants... These regional compacts are taking potentially effective action now, without waiting for the oil-patch partisans who control the White House or the Southerners in Congress who still really don’t believe there is a problem." –a feature at WxNW.org
Mar 5, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Lane County Prepares for Deep Cutbacks
Matt Cooper, The Register-Guard
Wild West-- here we are! We have criticized our County Commissioner, Faye Stewart, in these pages but last week we were proud of him. He and two others may have committed political suicide to save the County: "Following their enactment of an income tax last week, the Lane County commissioners continue to study how to make up to $40 million in budget cuts... The federal government historically has given Lane County about $47 million annually as compensation for the presence of federal timberland that the county can't tax. Congress ended the payments last year and hasn't renewed them...Observers say Lane and other Oregon counties should expect less money, or none, in the future." -with a thanks and a link to The Register-Guard
Mar 5, 2007
Voices of the Northwest
Some Inconvenient Truths Too Close to Home
Reida Kimmel
"Perhaps all this seems a bit remote or inconsequential in our troubled times. But it is a fact that in 2006 the Oregon Department of Forestry received spray notifications for almost eight-hundred-thousand acres of private forestland in the state. Of this, 74,468 acres were in Lane County, 65,914 acres were in Lynn County, 24,577 acres were in Lincoln County, and 16,545 acres in were in Benton County. Not surprising is the horrible figure for Douglas County, where 321,782 acres were sprayed last year." The only way to address this truth is through the political process, flawed as it may be. Get the facts and write your state representative. A salmon will thank you. – a feature at WxNW.org
Feb 7, 2007
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