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.”
Herbert Rothschild: We aren’t appreciably safer now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What else can we conclude but that nuclear policy simply mustn’t be left in the hands of the warmakers? Either we give peace a chance or we continue to chance self-immolation.
Despite early forecasts of a punishing 2025 wildfire season, Oregon escaped relatively unscathed. Less than 400,000 acres burned in 2025, only one-fifth of the 2 million acres ravaged the year before and well below the 10-year average of 680,000.
Former Ashland City Councilor and Trails Advisory Committee member Stefani Seffinger has filed ethics complaints with both the city and the state, arguing the committee acted unlawfully when it voted Nov. 19 to recommend a new beginner bike trail on the uphill side of Lithia Park. The city issued a 50-page rebuttal Monday, disputing her claims and forwarding the response to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The proposed 1-mile Dormouse Trail would be the first designated bike trail through the park.
Obituary: Christine Charlotte Carpenter passed away at home after a long illness surrounded by loving friends from hermultiple circles of interest. Her artistry extended to personal expression beyond the theater, exploring surface embellishments on fabric and sculpture with a variety of mediums. Her work was exhibited nationally and internationally.
Men’s basketball: Southern Oregon will be eager to come home for the first time after failing to find its shooting touch on the road in non-conference play, a seven-game slate that concluded with Tuesday’s 73-69 loss to The Master’s (California) at Darling Pavilion
Pepper Trail: As we celebrate Thanksgiving, let us imagine the world we share with every living thing. Let us give thanks for this planet, this blue and green ball spinning in a lifeless void, holding us all and making possible our every heartbeat, our every breath.
(It’s free)