CS Blog
CS Journal
Guest blog: What about water?
I see a future where water resources are integrated as part of the smart grid, where smart water technology is distributed throughout the world and where more rational models are imposed by managers of large water assets to improve the economics of water.
Inspired by the carbon-rich soils of Amazonia
Transforming plant matter into biochar and using it as a soil amendment could store that carbon for hundreds if not thousands of years, and is a path to actually reducing atmospheric carbon. New standards for sustainable biochar production have just been approved.
This is why we do what we do
Working to stop climate change seems so daunting and our lives busy, that we forget about why we're working so hard in the first place. Mother's Day seems like a good day to pause and remember.
PDX and .xls: What my spreadsheets tell me about coal in the Northwest
I decided to look up from my spreadsheets on Monday and attend the Power Past Coal rally in downtown Portland. With my hippie, street vendor burrito in hand (filled with things that only rabbits should eat), I arrived to join a crowd of 600 folks in Pioneer Square.
Guest blog: Partnering with Nature: How one city’s growth could be greened
Practices and frameworks for working with nature to improve ecosystem functions, increase flows of services, and bolster the resilience of coupled human-natural systems include permaculture, agroecology, ecological forest management, ecological design, and green infrastructure.
What happens when the choir won’t sing?
Have climate campaigners learned the art of political communication too well?
Guest blog: Cedar Grove’s solution story is composting and energy
Putting compost out into the environment sequesters carbon in the soil, creates more robust plants that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and significantly decrease our regional carbon footprint by diverting the material from landfill.
On the road with the Northwest Biocarbon Intiative team
Climate Solutions' Northwest Biocarbon Initiative team is taking it on the road with presentations to groups around the Northwest. Patrick Mazza's latest talk was to educators assembled at Washington State University-Vancouver on April 20. Check it out.
More Northwest aviation biofuel leadership
Two announcements of recent days highlight the Northwest’s leadership in making aviation biofuels a reality.
Creating markets for nature's goods and services
The recent BioCycle Conference in Portland focused on the new economics of materials and natural services – harnessing organic wastes with processes that make valuable goods, and valuing ecological services to send the right signals on the use of nature in general.
Disrupting the ecosystem of denial and building a culture of responsibility – Part 1
How can climate science denial continue to exist, in the face of so much evidence? To get to the answer, I think we have to ask a different question: How can the rest of us – the majority who accept the reality of climate science – continue to act as though we don’t believe it?
Talking waters
With very little resources, the city of Albany-Millersburg, OR developed a fantastic example of a successful biocarbon project that is helping a local ecosystem thrive.
We are at a crossroads in Washington State
There is no way around it; this legislative session was the hardest one I can remember. We won some very important victories, but there was too little progress on climate change and clean energy
Green military marches on
While partisan battles have been raging in the other Washington over Department of Defense efforts to use clean energy as a major weapon in the fight to keep America safe and secure, military leaders, in cooperation with businesses and clean energy advocates, are moving forward to address the worldwide and domestic threats posed by our dependence on fossil fuels.
Guest Blog: Cleantech trip to China: From Beijing to Shanghai
The nation has ambitious plans to develop wind and solar energy. Building efficiency will play a large role. There is a goal to put one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Carbon trading plans are being considered.
Puppies Instead of Climate Change
Climate Solutions is launching a campaign to get everyone to say "puppies" when referring to climate change.
Organic residues provide a vital link to solving the climate crisis
Ultimately, the concept of “organic wastes” must be rendered obsolete. Organic residues are too valuable not to re-use, and the climate crisis makes it imperative we make the most out of organic carbon streams.
Reality TV may be unreal, but these innovators tackle a bigger problem with bona fide zeal
I want to draw your attention to a handful of them now. The Northwest Biocarbon Initiative is unveiling our first set of Innovation Partners: companies and non-profit agencies whose projects increase the capacity of the planet to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in plant life and soils.
Congressman Reichert helps build our clean energy future
While fossil fuel industries and some of their friends in Congress are trying to pull the rug out from under the clean energy economy, Dave Reichert is trying to put it on a solid foundation.
U.S. EPA announces proposal to limit carbon pollution from new power plants
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration answered the call, releasing a proposal to limit industrial carbon pollution from new power plants. The proposal builds on successful laws in California, Oregon, and Washington
