Climate Spotlight
Climate Spotlight: Recycle your mattress for the environment
Climate Spotlight: Recology now offers a new service to residents of Jackson County — mattress recycling. The program is the first in the region.
April 26, 2023
Climate Spotlight: Recology now offers a new service to residents of Jackson County — mattress recycling. The program is the first in the region.
Climate Spotlight: It’s possible to avoid volatile gas prices while still keeping your home cozy. Heat pump heating-and-cooling systems run on electricity rather than methane — and thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, these appliances are increasingly affordable.
New local survey data is available for policymakers on how residents think about household energy and climate change. The bottom line: Residents support equitable policies to implement energy efficiency measures, expand solar options, and reduce our use of “natural” gas.
Barbara Cervone: “Reports of our inadequate response to the climate emergency roll in as regularly as the tides. The latest came from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), telling us that the crisis is getting worse even faster than we’d imagined. It’s hard to envision a louder alarm, and yet we seem able to sleep through it.”
Alan Journet: “If global warming and its climate change consequences continue unchecked, they are likely to destroy our natural ecosystem (forests, woodlands, grasslands, deserts, etc.) by the end of the century, along with our agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. It’s difficult to imagine how the economic impact of this could be overestimated or ignored.”
Climate Spotlight: “Using ‘natural’ gas is one of the biggest sources of emissions in Ashland. The city needs a concrete plan to phase it out — and so do all the rest of us.”
“It’s mostly methane. It’s bad for our health. It warms the planet way more than carbon dioxide. And it’s flowing into a kitchen near you. Electrification is the best solution.”
Oregon House Rep. Pam Marsh sits in a good spot to drive state-level climate action in Salem. She provided a climate action recap for Ashland.news readers from the just-inked 2022 session.
“Electric school buses mean cleaner air and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Ashlanders should support the Ashland School District in applying for federal funding for its first electric school bus.”
“If we think of climate change as strictly an environmental problem, we may feel that we don’t have the right skills or knowledge to take action. Yet we all have experience as humans, community members, family members and caretakers.”
Barbara Shor: I first met Jane Goodall in 1987 at a lecture she gave at the Sacramento Zoo, where I was working as veterinarian as part of my residency program in non-domestic animal medicine at UC Davis.
Ashland, long celebrated for its Shakespearean drama, is about to trade soliloquies for sarcasm. From Dec. 5 to 7, the city will host the inaugural Ashland Sarcasm Festival (ASF!), a comedy takeover designed to fill theaters, bars and restaurants with sharp wit, satire and laughter.
Tickets are selling fast for “Mass for the Endangered,” described as a multi-sensory film experience of music and animated artwork being presented Sunday at the ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland.
Ashland Scout Troop 112 will honor local veterans with a free Veterans Day breakfast on Tuesday, Nov. 11, from 7 to 11:30 a.m., or until food runs out, at Elks Lodge No. 944. Scouts will take orders, serve meals and visit with veterans as part of the local troop’s tradition of showing gratitude to those who served.
A proposal to improve safety along Lithia Park’s received a tepid response from the Ashland Parks & Recreation Commission on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Although commissioners supported adding disability parking near the Japanese Garden and created a designated pedestrian walkway, many questioned whether the cost would lead to meaningful safety improvements.
Medford voters appear to have approved a 2% increase to the city’s transient lodging tax, which will help partially pay for the construction of a downtown conference center and minor-league ballpark.
(It’s free)