Another Green Monday: Spokavore
This week is a bit different for DTE. To coincide with the grand opening of the Main Market Co-op, we’re taking part in another competition: Spokavore. Different in the sense, we’ll be writing in first-person as per the usual custom in tracking our individual progress. We’ll describe our endeavor with minimal self-dramatics and maximum self-deprecation. Alliances will be formed, old rivalries resumed, and somebody will inevitably break down to their animal instinct which lies at the dark heart of 7x7. In other words, it’s going to be fun. 
(Map courtesy of John Speare.)
The goal is eat local products from local vendors within a 150 mile radius of Spokane and you can view the rules here. This challenge is the fourth of a collectors series of challenges that we have competed in with our local bloggers and it’s a testament to our robust blogosphere.
Be sure to consult the Spokavore directory and our daily updates. Stay tuned. And, as Tobias Fünke once said, “let the great experiment begin!”
Additonal stories after the jump...
Busy weekend for keeping up on Spokane River news. We were sent some good news Saturday when we learned that SB 6289, the proposed legislation to tightly restrict the use of phosphorous in lawn fertilizer, passed the Senate with a 36 to 11 bi-partisan vote. We'll be following this closely as it progresses, currently it's scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources at 8:00 AM on Thursday, February 18. And in case you missed it, Becky Kramer had a story in the S-R on Saturday about the state's plans to clean up our Spokane River. And as expected, the border battle between Idaho and Washington was a main point of dissent in her piece. Read more of that HERE.
Spokane Valley Bike / Ped master plan in motion. Big thanks again to OutThere Monthly for keeping us up to date on these developments. And a reminder to your Spokane Valley folks, this is an incredible opportunity to get involved in the early stages of building the framework for a Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan. According to OTM, the City was awarded funds to facilitate safety analysis, route location, and implementation from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants Program, and public outreach will be a large part of the Plan. So if you want to be involved, and the City wants you to be, get added to the Planning Department’s contact list for updates regarding the Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan, by contacting Mary Swank at 509-720-5325 or at mswank@spokanevalley.org. Read more HERE.
New federal agency will monitor climate change. Early last week, former Washington Governor and current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke along with Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced that NOAA will set up a new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service that will study and report on the changing climate. Our only question is, is this reactionary to the controversary surrounding climate change data and research in the UK that has caused great skepticism and concern over the last few months? Read more about this new agency HERE.
