environment

So which candidate are you supporting in the Democratic primary? Or are you for a Green Party candidate like McKinney?

Are you still on the fence and undecided? Many of Oregon's superdelegates may have decided, but they aren't saying until after Oregon's primary.

Earl Blumenauer has endorsed Obama while Gov, Ted Kulongoski and Darlene Hooley are superdelegates endorsing Clinton. Sen. Ron Wyden hasn’t endorsed yet, but Josh Kardon, his chief of staff, chairs Clinton’s campaign.

Also in the “waiting til after the primary camp” are Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, Reps. David Wu and Peter DeFazio, Democratic Party of Oregon Chair Meredith Wood-Smith, and Vice-Chair Frank Dixon, Democratic National Committeewoman Jenny Greenleaf, DNC Committeeman Wayne Kinney and the Oregon Education Association’s Gail Rasmussen (OEA endorsed Obama, but Rasmussen has not committed). Former Portland Commissioner Erik Sten appears to be for Clinton.

According to a recent scientific study the use of a "beer fridge" has a direct link to a lack of energy savings. The study, entitled: "Who Pays for the 'Beer' Fridge?: Evidence from Canada"" explores the energy waste generated by households that when purchasing a new refrigerator, turn their older "vintage" one into a "beer fridge."

"Beer fridge" would be terminology employed by University of Alberta economist Denise Young. I didn't make it up.

"Older vintage ‘beer fridges’ are costly for households to run and impose costs on the environment," writes Young in her study published in the journal Energy Policy.

Also in breaking eco-news is the study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that says divorce is bad for the environment. The increasing numbers of divorces world wide has led to more houses with fewer people in them.

The researchers found that divorce causes an increase in the number of houses constructed, which takes up energy and space. The new homes also use energy in heating and cooling.

The researchers' 2005 data showed that divorced households used an extra 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water when compared to married households.

All of this energy consumption leads, as everyone seems to agree these days, to greenhouse gases and global warming.

Now, if you just add "beer fridges" into the equation -- and I'm assuming here that a certain percentage of newly single divorced guys may want to indulge in the "beer fridge" practice -- then you're talking about a lot of polar bears sliding into the sea off of the melting polar ice.

I'm just not sure what the logical conclusions of these studies are: Save the earth by staying together and drinking warm beer?

Yes, I do know what day it is. No, I'm not linking to stories about it. Those won't be hard for you to find. (Nor are these, I'm sure.)

1. Green schools mean no snoozing! Weirdest result of "green building" ever.

2. Jonathan Franzen sticks foot in mouth again. Though actually I fully understood his Oprah thing (but I wasn't blown away by The Corrections, which is too bad). This time, he's putting the smackdown on Broadway. Money quote: I’m loath to criticize any spark of excitement anywhere.

3. Come on, U.S. women! Show the world why we have "soccer moms"!
A 2-2 draw with NORTH KOREA? That's not very patriotic. Um, or impressive. I love soccer. Soccer is, like, the best sport ever. What's that you say? Why yes, I did destroy the cartilage in my knees playing soccer as a child. I never even got to play in high school. But! I know someone who knows Mia Hamm's sister! So that's awesome. ANYWAY, I want this year's team to Step. It. Up.

4. Anita Roddick, energetic environmentalist, part II. I guess I was a bit unfair yesterday. Warm white wine, though? Really? (Also, I'm listening right now to the Guardian podcast: "She did sort of inspire a whole range of people do compassionate kind of businesses, didn't she?" "She did; she was one of the first so-called social entrepreneurs, and she gave away most of her profit.")

5. You really, really don't want to be a kid in Liberia. At least, not one accused of a crime. The war's been over for four years, and what progress is there? (Liberia is neighbor to Sierra Leone, and I'm reading Ishmael Beah's heartrending A Long Way Gone for our Winter Reading issue, and my god, the things we do to children in this world.)

On to other topics.
6. Local: good or bad? Wrong question, says this writer.
It's actually local: promotes community! (I felt the community last night when we were making strawberry jam [strawberries from Berg's]--the community of people who would want to eat the jam!)

7. Say it ain't so, John Edwards! Maybe my horse isn't as green as I thought.

8. No way! The GOP is hurting government? OK, this guy apparently missed that bit.
You know, the Grover Norquist bit? The bit about drowning government in the bathtub? If you don't know that bit, you should. It explains a lot of things about incompetence and the response to Katrina and the No Child Left Behind Act and oh, so many other things.
Things like the Justice Department, he says:
It is not an exaggeration to say that the Bush administration has made the Justice Department a political extension of the White House in the area of law enforcement, which is unprecedented and seriously dilutes the credibility of the government when it goes to court.

9. How much technology do students need? I swear, this writer is writing for a time-warped paper that published years ago. OMG, the kids, they want the iPods!

10. Is Jude Law really any worse than Mel Gibson? Hamlet can survive a lot. Even pathetic high school productions. But this theater critic says, Law's callowness, his shallowness, his sheer maddening inanity ... that might be a bit of a problem.

BONUS: How Do I Tell my Wife I Had A Sex Party While She Was Away?

Planet News!

1. The BBC — THE BBC! — wimps out. Is Rupert Murdoch planning to buy them too? Is nothing sacred?

2. Me, I hated that scene in American Beauty with the "pretty" plastic bags. And here's why.
I like the idea of a 15-cent tax on plastic bags. (From the article: In 2002, Ireland imposed a 15-cent tax on bags, which led to a rapid 90 percent reduction in use.)

3. What, Lillis isn't enough to make the list? That's right, UO, you gotta do more than build new buildings with LEED certification to be green. (We didn't even make the runner-up list. Sad.)

4. Update on Hurricane Felix. Why do they make such nice names for such dangerous storms? Why don't they call them "Hurricane FUCK YOU, CENTRAL AMERICA!" I mean, I wouldn't want to be named Katrina in the South anymore, you know?

5. Pack out your poop! Awesome story, and preeeeeeetty picture too.

6. You can be a foodie and eat local and not break the bank! Well, sort of.

7. Megadrought. If that doesn't scare you, what will?

8. Oh, how about this? (I know, I shouldn't link to them. But this one's interesting!)

9. Furniture can be environmentally friendly? I mean, isn't IKEA like the throwaway stuff people go through quickly? Apparently, they're making lots of money on being "green" though.

10. Balkans (and Hungary) reunite. This is great news ... I wonder how far it will get?

Monday. Sigh.

1. Cecilia, you're not breaking my heart. Wife of French president skips lunch with G.W.B. to go shopping.

2. Christ. Is any country safe? First Poland freaks out, then Ahmadinejad of Iran starts putting the hurt on ministers, and now? Turd Blossom leaves the White House. Calling all rats! Get off the ship!

3. What will happen when all of the water's gone? Aquifer woes.

4. Just in case you hadn't noticed, Barack Obama is one lucky hottie. (With narrated slideshow too!)

5. Uh-oh, Australia. U.S. airlines aren't the only ones in trouble.

6. Emmy-worthy? Doogie Howser can play a straight man on T.V. even though he's really gay! Wow.

7. Is your kid worth less than your dog? Barbara Ehrenreich explains children should get pet health care.

8. Marin Alsop, former Eugene Symphony conductor/artistic director, is a goddess of contemporary music. As Brett Campbell, our longtime classical freelancer always writes, the Eugene Symphony isn't really into new music. Should the Symphony (and artistic director Giancarlo Guerrero) get on it? Hmmmmmm.