I don’t really like doing fundraisers, so I haven’t officially signed up. But I am, somewhat anxiously, taking on the two-mile challenge: biking or walking anywhere I need to go that is within a two mile radius of home.

I do this some of the time already, but not all the time. I can do better.  So, from October 1 to October 15, I’m committed to biking or walking almost everywhere (I don’t venture much farther most of the time anyway).

Join me? You can follow along here whether you try it or not. You can also get more information about the various suggested challenges by downloading the participant booklet (PDF) from NWEI. Let me know if you decide to take on a challenge, too.

The shift we’re observing begins at 10:00 p.m., because electricity rates are lower at night.  The plant manager explains that the steel-making furnace uses the same amount of electricity as 8000 households each night.

That’s one of the reasons why recycling is not enough.  Recycling is good, but we can’t pat ourselves on the back and consider ourselves green just because we recycle.  Even recycling uses up energy.  The other two R’s are more important:  reduce and re-use.  We need to reduce what we consume, and re-use what we have.  Many people add a fourth R for repair — instead of buying something new, repair the one you have (even if it does cost about the same in terms of money).

Think about that next time you buy a can of tomatoes.  Could you use fresh tomatoes instead?  Grow your own?  Can or freeze some for the winter, so you won’t have to buy canned tomatoes?  Or, if you want to get bigger, do you really need another car?

The packaging consists of a plastic container enclosed in a colorful cardboard sleeve.  My first thought was “excessive packaging!” but I bought it anyway.

Portland’s recycling system does accept plastic tubs (unlike many), so when the first container of cottage cheese was empty, I washed it.  The cardboard sleeve came right off, which was a surprise, as most labels want to stick around.  There was a message on the back:  “Fred Meyer has redesigned this packaging to make it friendlier to the environment.”

There’s a long explanation, too.  “The dairy cups are manufactured utilizing the thinnest possible grade of polypropylene that still ensures our products preserve their freshness and excellent quality.”  OK, less plastic.  Good.

What about the cardboard?  “The cup itself would not be rigid enough, so we have added extra strength by designing our new full color card label/sleeve, which wraps around the cup.”  And the cardboard, of course, is recyclable, too.

Is it really environmentally friendly?  Perhaps slightly more than the previous cups.  Less plastic used “means less crude oil in the manufacturing of this package.”  That makes sense.  But it’s still another piece of packaging that’s got to go through the recycling process, or that will just end up in a landfill.

As for the sleeve, I wonder about the environmental impact of the full color printing process for all those labels.

It’s a nice idea, but I’m not sure it really makes that much difference.  Maybe it makes a few customers feel better about what they’re buying, but it’s a false sense of well-being.

Will I stop buying cottage cheese?  Probably not.  I may think about my choices more next time.  The really environmentally friendly choice might be to make my own, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go there yet.

From the Oregonian:  Sure, you want it, but do you need it? This article profiles several households living simply and buying less — and still sounding like they have great lives.

Renee from Enviromom is making the move to growing food in the front yard!  They’re actually converting part of the lawn for this purpose.

Colin Beavan, AKA No Impact Man, is planning to expand his blog to include other writers.  He’s looking for writers who are “interested in individual and societal approaches to improving our lives and our habitat through novel ideas in the management of trash and materials, food production, transportation and land use, consumption, spiritual and humanist approaches to environmentalism, water use, energy production and efficiency, and offline and virtual activism.”

Crunchy Chicken is starting a new Freeze Yer Buns Challenge for 2008.  Participants are challenged to turn the thermostat down, or to use less fuel to heat their homes.  The Chicken herself is planning to set the thermostat for only 62 during the day and 55 at night.  How low can you go?  I’m not having much luck with this so far.  My husband cannot deal with keeping the thermostat down, and insists it really doesn’t matter.  We do have programmable thermostats, though, so I can at least make sure he doesn’t leave the heat on all day when no one’s here.

If you’re a bus rider, you may want to find out more about the PDX Bus iPhone app over at TriMetiquette.

I agree with this, but still try to use the cloth bags.  I have a lot of them.  My problem is that I forget about them.  I don’t put them in the car, or I even forget that they are in the car and don’t take them inside.

I also tend to use them to carry or even store other items, so that they are not available for grocery use.  Right now, for instance, I have at least two Fred Meyer bags full of Girl Scout craft supplies.

Tonight I finally remembered to use a cloth bag.  I found one bag in the car when I arrived at the store, and took it in with me, fully expecting that I would also need to use plastic bags. I wasn’t buying that much, but I had enough to probably fill three plastic bags.  Luckily for me, I got a great cashier, who fitted everything into that one cloth bag.

Will I make it a habit?  We’ll see.

Summary of the situation:  I-5 crosses the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington.  The bridge there (actually two side-by-side spans) is in need of repair/replacement/expansion due to age and increased traffic. The current Locally Preferred proposal (so designated by six local partner agencies) would “replace the existing Interstate Bridges to carry I-5 traffic, light rail, pedestrians and bicyclists across the Columbia River. The new bridges will not have a bridge lift. They will carry three through-travel lanes and up to three auxiliary lanes for entering and exiting the highway in each direction. Like today, northbound and southbound traffic would be on separate bridges.”

Problem:  Naturally, not everyone agrees with this plan.  Some think it will just encourage more car traffic and urban sprawl.  Some think we shouldn’t bother with light rail, just cars.

Why am I thinking about this today? President Bush has just designated the I-5 bridge replacement as a high priority project, which will make it happen much faster.

What I think:  I’m strongly in favor of alternative transportation.  I think we need to get out of our cars — and yes, I need to do better with that, too.  However, we aren’t going to eliminate all car and truck traffic.  In fact, one of the main reasons for fixing the I-5 bridge problem is that I-5 is a major truck route, transporting goods up and down the west coast.

We also need to have a safe crossing for the cars, trucks and busses that are on the road.   We don’t need a bridge collapsing into the Columbia River.

So, I think we do need a new bridge, along with the promised pedestrian/bike/transit upgrades.  As far as preventing increased congestion and sprawl goes, I think that’s another matter entirely.  We do need major lifestyle changes — but we’ve got to convince people in some other way, not by bottlenecking traffic or by allowing a bridge to fall into disrepair.

However, the issue is even more complex than that.  Other potential problems include contamination of Vancouver, Washington’s drinking water resulting from bridge construction, air and noise pollution affecting residents near the construction site (many of them low income), and possible effects on endangered species of fish in the Columbia River.

After reading all of that today, I’m still somewhat reluctantly in favor of the current proposal.  I think it best balances the needs of area residents.  I do think the project managers should be required to take all possible measures to protect the environment and area residents, though.

http://www.cquestrate.com/