Portland is much the same way, although to a lesser extent.  One thing that is for certain is that bikes get a lot of attention here, which is quite evident when you consider the $620 million Portland Bike plan.  Another really awesome aspect of Portland is the Providence Bridge Pedal, which celebrates both the city’s bike culture as well as it’s many iconic bridges.  One Sunday morning in August, the city shuts down all the bridges – including the highway bridges – and 20,000 people on bikes ride around on them for hours.  This year the route took us up and over the I-5 (Marquam) bridge, down onto the 405, and up onto the top deck of the Fremont Bridge, which reconnects the 405 with I-5 to the north of the city.  It was awesome!   And it looked something like this:

On the 405

Atop the I-5 Bridge

On the St. John's Bridge

Which is not to say that Portland does not also love other forms of transportation as well.  There’s the MAX, which is our extensive light rail system; the Street Car, which has hosted many groups from my hometown of Cincinnati for explorations of its success; the REAL train, aka Amtrak, which is an excellent option for going to and from Eugene all the way to Seattle; and of course, cars, which people don’t really drive that well here.  However, if people do have a car, and they are lucky enough to have a diesel car, they can go to this local garage that I just heard about called Green Drop Garage for a biodiesel conversion.  Apparently they are also in the habit of exchanging oil changes for vinyl records or craft brewed beer.  Or perhaps that was a one-time offer?  Nevertheless, it’s so Portland.

I’m still waiting for the Subaru I thought I was going to get for moving here!  Oh well, I still have Dorothy…

BTW, I think this picture represents the last time Dorothy was truly clean

All is not necessarily lost though… Abu Dhabi, as the article states, is in fact, loaded, so where there is not a way, there is a bank account to make a way.   Still, will the richest Emirate find tenants to actually move into Masdar?  I hope so, for the sake of this grand experiment, because I would like to see if it’s actually possible.  And since Abu Dhabi seems to be the only ones with enough money to make it happen, I’m rooting for them.

1. I was engulfed by “all-hands” company meetings. Although it was a mad rush to get ready for the meetings, I loved it and it was neat to see all the people that I work with in one place.   It was also great to hear that the things that I think are so important are important to the people that I work with as well.  300+ people working towards a higher cause is a pretty powerful thing.  (Net Gain:  Emily + Western U.S.)
2. I found an apartment and I’m moving.  It all happened very quickly but it took me about 5 minutes to decide that I wanted the place… it’s lovely and spacious and has so much character.   I feel really lucky to have found such a great apartment just in time for summer – it’s effectively been 3 years since I had a home in a neighborhood of my choosing, in a city that I feel comfortable in.  So obviously, that’s been a process.  (Net Gain: Emily)
3. I’m house-sitting for some very attention-starved animals, one of which I am allergic to. I love animals and for the past year I have lived in an apartment in a house with a dog and two cats.  I am house-sitting in this same house while the owners are away.  One of the cats got attacked a few weeks ago, so he is recovered at an undisclosed location;  as a result, the dog and the other cat have been following almost my every move in the house.  And as much as I like the cat, I am allergic to him!  So it is hard, especially considering the move.  But I am really going to miss the dog.  (Net Loss:  Emily’s 4-legged roommates)
4. Which brings me to the oily, ruined Gulf of Mexico. Referring, of course, to my love of animals as stated above, what really gets me about this mess is the animals that are being killed as a result.  Not just turtles anymore, but birds, fish, the entire ecosystem.  And as a result of the loss of part of the food chain, people’s livelihoods are being completely obliterated.  I am so disgusted and saddened by the situation, that I have – frighteningly – been rendered numb.  After all, what can I do?  What can YOU do?  We can only sit back and watch as the oil keeps coming out, and beaches keep closing, and more and more ecosystems are destroyed.   It’s totally overwhelming.   I feel, truly, that the best thing I can do is to keep doing my job, and to do the best job I can, so that I can help improve energy efficiency in buildings and hopefully reduce our dependence on oil.    (Net Loss:  Humanity, The Earth, dolphins, etc.)
5. “Privatize the Losses, Socialize the Gains”. Speaking of losses and gains, someone recently told me that there was a movement afoot to push this type of economic system in our country.  And I have to express how dispiriting I think this is.  I am overcome lately with the sheer number of people who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, so many of whom are trying to take advantage of others, game the system, or flat out cause this country to fail.   BP, Goldman Sachs, Halliburton, nearly every politician running for office this year…. It’s exhausting.  I am amazed that anyone can even watch the news anymore.  I can only watch fake news on Comedy Central and even there, I sometimes can’t handle it.  So, that’s a little bit of where I’m at right now.  (Net Loss:  my sanity)

I'd like to think this dog will miss me when I'm gone

Anyway.  That’s where I’m at.  I will try to get back to you sooner, rather than later.   Good luck everyone…

I thought about posting something, and then this happened.

And now I pretty much just don’t know what to say.  I mean, a lot of thoughts have crossed my mind since the “Great BP Oil Faucet” turned on at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico (I’ll admit that one of them was “I drink your milkshake“), but generally speaking, about all I can come up with is the following:

Good luck to everyone that’s trying to clean this up, especially to the folks trying to help clean up the animals, and to everyone whose livelihoods are being obliterated by this disaster.  I cannot even imagine.

Oh and good luck to BP … maybe you should start making more solar panels now?  Last time I checked solar panels didn’t destroy entire ecosystems?  Just saying.

I think that Daphne (my bike, above) and Ruby (Erin’s bike, below) would get along well, should they ever have the opportunity to cruise together in person.

Soooo, I know I said that LILAWAC was retired before… consider this post my official passing of the torch and an un-retirement party 

Please visit Erin’s first post here to wish her luck, and don’t forget to add LILAWAC to your RSS feeds!

Enter Senator John Kerry and Senator Lindsey Graham.  I have always had respect for both of these men, and fortunately I do not think they fall into the category I just mentioned, but they have really stepped up today, with a joint Op-ed in the New York Times about how they can see a path to a bi-partisan compromise on climate change legislation by the end of the year.

WOW.  I mean, here I am writing blog posts about 2015 and how I doubt we’re capable of hitting that target, and these guys step up to my challenge, and the challenge of the international community, and they say, “we can do this.”  I am impressed.  And I am not normally impressed by legislators in the Federal Government.

And I realize that many people think it’s comical, even undeserved, that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.  (I, myself, thought it was an Onion article when I first saw the news.)  But whether the President’s political enemies accept it or not, I think this type of collaboration and cooperation is a direct result of the change in tone and requests for responsibility that the President brought to the office with him.  He needs this type of initiative from the lawmakers in the Legislative Branch if he is to go to Copenhagen in December and make a real case for how the U.S. can go from ignoring climate change (under President Bush) to leading the charge on it.

So, here’s the thing: despite my blogging about it, and them writing about it, I don’t see Senator Kerry’s and Senator Graham’s Op-ed getting much attention because the mainstream media (MSM) has way too many scandalous things they can talk about instead.  But I am serious about thanking them, and if you think they had some good things to say, you can thank them too.  See here:

Click here to email Senator John Kerry and thank him for his initiative on climate change legislation.

Click here to email Senator Lindsey Graham and thank him for his initiative on climate change legislation.

…And when it comes time to get the job done, let’s not let the Senators forget what they said in this Op-ed!

The LAGI did this using some big math.  For those of you who might be scared off by numbers, I will simplify it as much as possible:  LAGI determined that the total energy usage of all the people on Earth in the year 2030 will be approximately 678 quadrillion Btus.

That’s 678,000,000,000,000,000 Btu.  (!!!)

Through a series of somewhat complicated equations (which you can view on the original post), they convert the Btus to kilowatt hours and determine how many kW-h would be produced in a single year on a square meter of land (400 kW-h).  This yielded a total of 496,804,500,000 square meters required for total energy production – which is 496,805 square kilometers, or 191,817 square miles.  They then divide up this total number into chunks and place them strategically onto each continent.  And when you look at it in this way, it not only seems possible to achieve solar power for the whole world in 2030, it seems practically easy.

The LAGI goes on to examine the same thought experiment with wind power to similarly manageable results.  Check that out, with other statistical comparisons, here.  As an extension, I’d like to see how much silicone – or other relevant materials – would need to be harvested from the Earth to produce all of those solar panels, and ultimately how many millions of pounds of greenhouse gases would be emitted in the process.   Hey – it’s a great idea!  So we may as well have all the facts in front of us, right?

So if anyone has any numbers on how much silicone we’d need to harvest to achieve solar power for all in 2030, please let me know, thanks 

Soooo… if you are looking to run out and get in on the Cash for Clunkers this weekend, go as an informed consumer!  Take a look at Treehugger’s Top 10 Most Fuel Efficient Cars to Buy with your government rebate.  I bet you can’t guess what number one is!  Ok you probably can.    But the rest of the list is worth looking at!

Image courtesy of Treehugger: Oh Prius, why must you be so good at everything?

That said, I’ve arrived safely at the first stop on my Unemployment Tour, Palo Alto.  Situated conveniently in the southern part of the Bay Area, it’s within spitting distance of Silicon Valley and just a short drive from San Francisco.  One of my favorite parts of Northern California is the air, which smells of redwoods and general freshness.  I’ve missed it.

Sadly, however close Palo Alto is to the awesomeness that is Silicon Valley, it is not immune from the unemployment woes that the design industry is experiencing right now…I’m staying with another friend who was recently laid off!

Soon, I’ll be trying a new challenge – it’s tongue in cheek, but I’m going to attempt this Top Ten list of things every green blogger must do.  Number one is “create some sort of green top ten list”.  LOL.  Stay tuned!