EWU Rec Center awarded LEED gold certification In what seems like forever ago (2005), Down To Earth voted in a special election as students at Eastern Washington University to approve student funding for a state of the art recreation center. Little did we know back then that the building we voted for would some day be awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification for its environmentally friendly construction. Opened in May of this year, the EWU Rec Center pays “special attention to water savings, energy efficiency, natural lighting, low maintenance landscaping and other environmentally sensitive products and designs,” as noted in a recent press release from the University. To read more about the Rec Center, in addition to other eco-news from DTE’s alma matter, click HERE.”I drove a hybrid all the way to D.C. and all I got was a $1/year salary. That’s what the chiefs for the nation's top automakers are saying following a second appeal to lawmakers last week for a $25 billion in federal help. Urged by Montana Senator John Tester, the CEO’s of Ford, GM and Chrysler have all agreed to accept a $1 per year salary if their companies have to tap into federal relief funding. And after an onslaught of ridicule and disgust over each CEO taking private jets to the original hearing – the CEO’s each drove to D.C. – in hybrid cars nonetheless. To read more about Senator Tester’s plan click HEREEastern Washington’s new alternative energy savior: Beavers. Hear us out. Brian Walker, the Watershed Program Director for the Lands Council, has a peculiar idea. There is a definite water storage problem in Eastern Washington, so after rightly opposing the Washington Department of Ecology for environmentally harmful Columbia River dam projects---specifically at Hawk Creek, Sand Hollow, and Crab Creek---the Lands Council will begin researching beaver reintroduction as an alternative means to concrete dams. Far fetched? The DOE is partially funding the project and Walker says “if each beaver constructs a dam that holds back three or four acre feet of water, then the goal that DOE was tasked with will be met.” The non-human advantages are endless. No layoffs. No unions. (No drinking on the job.) Work at home. Yeah. More.
Crosscut says we should be skeptical of Obama’s new New Deal. Knute Berger has written a great column in Crosscut-- one of those pieces that wraps a lot of different concerns into one tidy package, something we’ve honestly been missing from him lately. He writes: “The New Deal and federal programs of the mid-20th century radically reshaped the Pacific Northwest with dams, nuclear power, land reclamation, cheap energy, and thousands of projects large and small that improved our infrastructure — from new airports to National Park lodges. Not all of the changes were good, as Hanford contamination, unsustainable agricultural practices, and the destruction of salmon runs remind us. And then there's the massive growth and pollution that resulted from heavy industry and a booming population.” With the federal bailout for states, he continues, everybody wants a hand out, and an expanded infrastructure could create a risk that we'll make the same kinds of mistakes. “The new New Deal is still predicated on the idea that growth is good, that building big and more is our destiny.” Unfortunately, thinking small is not what got us here. As we’ve posted before, our preference is for alternative energy incentives, rather than highways to nowhere. (Ahem, North-South Freeway.) Check it out here.
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Eastern Washington’s new alternative energy savior: Beavers. Hear us out. Brian Walker, the Watershed Program Director for the Lands Council, has a peculiar idea. There is a definite water storage problem in Eastern Washington, so after rightly opposing the Washington Department of Ecology for environmentally harmful Columbia River dam projects---specifically at Hawk Creek, Sand Hollow, and Crab Creek---the Lands Council will begin researching beaver reintroduction as an alternative means to concrete dams. Far fetched? The DOE is partially funding the project and Walker says “if each beaver constructs a dam that holds back three or four acre feet of water, then the goal that DOE was tasked with will be met.” The non-human advantages are endless. No layoffs. No unions. (No drinking on the job.) Work at home. Yeah. More.
Crosscut says we should be skeptical of Obama’s new New Deal. Knute Berger has written a great column in Crosscut-- one of those pieces that wraps a lot of different concerns into one tidy package, something we’ve honestly been missing from him lately. He writes: “The New Deal and federal programs of the mid-20th century radically reshaped the Pacific Northwest with dams, nuclear power, land reclamation, cheap energy, and thousands of projects large and small that improved our infrastructure — from new airports to National Park lodges. Not all of the changes were good, as Hanford contamination, unsustainable agricultural practices, and the destruction of salmon runs remind us. And then there's the massive growth and pollution that resulted from heavy industry and a booming population.” With the federal bailout for states, he continues, everybody wants a hand out, and an expanded infrastructure could create a risk that we'll make the same kinds of mistakes. “The new New Deal is still predicated on the idea that growth is good, that building big and more is our destiny.” Unfortunately, thinking small is not what got us here. As we’ve posted before, our preference is for alternative energy incentives, rather than highways to nowhere. (Ahem, North-South Freeway.) Check it out here.
