The city of Oak Harbor revived its Adopt-A-Street Program with 25 designated streets within city limits. Picking up litter along the road isn’t what some people think of as a good time. If people show interest it is usually for a one time event like Earth Day or clean up the fireworks after July 4. Still, I was hoping I could generate some interest while staffing the city information table at the Oak Harbor Public Market.
What do Sweet Rice Thai, Zorba’s and Frasers have in common? Besides the fact that all these Oak Harbor eateries serve good food, they now serve drinks on special coasters along with hundreds of other restaurants and coffee shops from Olympia to Bellingham. These coasters won’t be around for long. There are four different coaster designs and no Oak Harbor restaurant has more than three. So to collect all four, you must visit more than one business.
Are you a user? I’m happy to say I am. I “use” almost every work day along with almost 1,000 others here in Island County. That’s nearly double the number of “users” registered on Rideshareonline since January 2011.
“Users” leave the car at home and take the bus, bike, walk, carpool or vanpool and use Rideshareonline to track their progress and register for prizes.
It reminds me of the children’s story of the Three Little Pigs. One built a house out of bricks, one built a home out of sticks and one built a house out of straw. If you delve into techniques for green building you find lots of different options, just like they did. But you wonder if the Big Bad Wolf will be able to huff and puff and blow your house down!
I hate to be compared to the Grinch, but I share his sentiments about all the commotion generated around the holidays. I don’t spend much time shopping. I cringe when I hear the latest celebrity singing “Santa got run over by a reindeer.” I’m easily overwhelmed so tend to stay away from the malls and crowded department stores. Just the pile of ads in the local newspaper seems a bit much.
With over 4 million people living around Puget Sound, it adds up to approximately 140,000 pounds of toxins a day in open water. Polluted waters already impact the region’s $147 million annual commercial and recreation fishing industry and the $9.5 million tourism industry. But there are things that can be done to prevent it.
A recent report from the Puget Sound Partnership estimates that 140,000 pounds of toxins enter Puget Sound every day through storm water systems. That’s why they say, “Puget Sound starts here.”
In third century Turkey, a young man heard of a family in dire need. One night he snuck to their house, dropped a bag of gold inside a window and slipped away.
How many Whidbey Islanders does it take to change a light bulb? We’ll find out soon. Three exciting events are coming to Oak Harbor this month that will save us money, energy and cut our carbon footprint.
Recently, I attended a family reunion in North Carolina. Under the oak tree in front of my great grandma’s house my uncle Jimbo prepared breakfast for the men. I got up early and crashed the party. Jimbo fried eggs, bacon, sausage patties and links with biscuits for anyone who came by. He went on to prepare masses of pulled pork for dinner.
It’s amazing to see in this modern era of texts and twitters, DVDs, MP3s and HDTVs, that there’s also an apparent revival of several technologies from a simpler age. I’ve been noticing a heightened interest in rain barrels, clotheslines, rotary mowers, hunting, fishing, gardening, biking, yes, even walking! Yet some of this, in certain areas, is considered criminal.
I read recently that Lancaster County, Penn., has over 2,000 homes and businesses who have installed renewable energy systems. Yes, the Amish are going solar, but not in a big way. They tend to buy the small units that run one machine or appliance, a washing machine, a water pump or to charge the batteries for LED headlamps on their horse drawn carriage. Solar panel companies in that area say their business has increased 20 to 30 percent in the last couple of years and they think it may double in the next year or two. Could it be that the Amish are leading the way to our nation’s energy future?
Every year new words enter our vocabulary. Sometimes the words aren’t exactly new, but the way we use them is entirely different. Take the word carbon. How many times did I use that word in casual conversation say in 2001? Maybe none. Now it seems to crop up all over the place. There’s carbon counting, carbon footprint, carbon neutral, carbon impacts. The list goes on.
