Platt Auto Group, specializing in the sale of used electric vehicles (EVs) at 18720 SE McLoughlin Blvd, will be opening a service facility for all makes and models of EVs, including hybrids, this fall. The new 5,000 square foot facility is at 17325 SE McLoughlin Blvd Suite B. It will be equipped with the same service equipment as used at any of the factory authorized dealerships. In addition, their technicians will have the same training and certifications as those found at the new car dealerships. This new facility will enable Platt Auto to offer quality service not just for their customers but also for any EV owner looking for service…
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It’s Not Easy Being Green
When I first went through the Master Recycler class in 1992, I was so excited to learn all about the Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I wanted to share with everyone how they, too, could recycle more and reduce their waste (and their expenditures), and help the planet. I mean, wouldn’t everyone want to know how to do that?! Sometimes, it’s hard to know a lot about impacts and not be able to share that knowledge with others. It pains me: To see food wasted at all levels of production and consumption, knowing how many people go without, as well as how much water and fuel is also wasted. …
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How to Compost in Your Apartment
While tossing orange peels and coffee grounds in the garbage might seem inconsequential, sending food waste to landfills has a real impact on climate change. When trapped without air, decomposing food in landfills produces methane: a greenhouse gas that’s at least 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term. As much as we try to cut down on food waste in our kitchens, there will always be leftover banana peels, apple cores and other things that can’t be used – much of which can be diverted from landfills by composting. Composting recycles organic material and allows for the natural processes that decompose food, yard waste and other organics to create a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer. Compost piles heat up…
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Recycling in the Garden
If you are reading the Green Living Journal, you probably are committed to protecting the earth and reducing your drain on its plentiful resources. But the term “recycling” in the garden environment is often overlooked by mindful gardeners. Your garden is the most precious and vulnerable area you can impact and has all of the basics from which other recycling concepts arise. Consider: “they” are not importing atoms from Mars, or any farther planet, according to NASA. The particles that make up every rock, animal, plant, fungus, bacteria, or other earth forms—living or inanimate—were here at the creation of the planet. Our natural world is the simplest form of recycling.…
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Fix it Forward
When we first moved into our home 40 years ago, the front door lock didn’t work quite right. One day I decided to fix it. Ha! I learned that it just wasn’t that simple. In order to fix it, I needed to understand how it worked. If you want to fix something, it is wise to take the time to find out how it works, how all the pieces fit together. It has become evident that many, many things are out of balance and fundamentally needs fixing: the economy, health care, the food system, partisan politics, climate change and environment, social and racial inequities, and education. This long list can…
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The RE-Generation
During our class, Less is More: Getting to One Can of Garbage a Year, we talk about the three familiar Rs – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. After we discuss these three in order of importance, we ask folks to identify more Rs to move their thinking further upstream. Their suggestions include: Repurpose, Resist, Restore, Repair, Refuse, Reconnect, and Reimagine. Practicing any or all of these behaviors can rehabilitate our planet. Choose the actions that appeal to you and work them into your daily habits. We can all be part of the RE-Generation, no matter when we were born! Another R that is getting more attention now is Regenerate. According to Wikipedia, “the term “regenerative” describes processes…
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McMinnville Recycled Arts Festival
*Rescheduled to the Weekend of July 23-25 2021 Trash as Art: Learning that Upcycling is Amazing! Celebrating how easy it is to learn to live sustainably! Sustainably made goods from upcycled content; this is a marvelous opportunity to buy unique gifts for the special people in your life. Sip and Shop – A recycled fashion show with emcee Jenn Jarred, local drag personality. $25 admission not only introduces you to recycled fashion, it also gives you exclusive access to over 50 artists’ tables. Come learn how artistic talent and expression uses upcycled items that many of us would toss into the trash and amazingly useful and beautiful objects are produced…
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13 Eco-Friendly RESOLUTIONS for Beginners
If you're just starting out on your zero waste journey or only recently started thinking about how sustainable your lifestyle is, then these ideas are for you
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Green Resolutions for a Green Revolution
I want to be able to look young people in the eye and say that their future was worth making some changes to my personal actions.
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Just Enough
“…..we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. ” — – Dwight D. Eisenhow One beneficial consequence that comes from things getting uncomfortable is that it forces change. That is true whether you get a cramp from sleeping in a funny position, or when the recycling market collapsed after China no longer accepted the world’s discarded plastics. As uncomfortable and distressing as it is not to be able to recycle as we did before, we are now forced to acknowledge all that stuff we bring into our homes.…
