This week, I moved into my dorm room at Pacific University, where I am working on my Environmental Studies degree.  School is, of course, first and foremost about classes, homework assignments, and working toward your degree.  For me, however, school is also about activism.  Living on-campus at a university is a great way to interact with dozens of other people who share an interest in conserving the planet's riches.  I expect to make progress on the Cool Washington County campaign here, and also hope to start a movement aimed at making Forest Grove (the hometown of Pacific University) a Cool City.  This really is the time to pitch in and do your bit for the Earth - environmental initiatives are springing up everywhere, and it has seldom been so easy to find other people who are worried about the state of things on this planet.

Like many places across the country, Forest Grove, Washington County, and the entire Portland Metropolitan Area are already taking strides toward sustainability.  Yesterday, walking the streets of Forest Grove, I saw a couple of buses (line 57, which I myself often ride) with "powered by biodiesel" labels on the back; it's the first time I've seen this on ordinary buses in the Portland Area, and I hope it means that biodiesel buses are being phased in, to eventually replace gasoline-powered public transportation vehicles altogether.  Granted, biodiesel is not without its environmental problems (should the United States ever start importing large quantities of biodiesel crops from tropical countries, where rainforests are burned and bulldozed to make way for fuel plants such as sugarcane, the environmental implications would be devastating).  However, if biodiesel is produced locally, using production methods that are not too energy-intensive, they can make a great alternative fuel that is less polluting, and less damaging to the environment in general, than oil is.  So let's have a cheer for Tri-Met (the entity in charge of public transportation in the Portland Area), and hope that more biodiesel buses are on the way!

Partly due to increased awareness of global warming and other environmental problems, Washington County residents will soon also find that they can recycle more materials using curbside recycling.  Formerly, the only plastic containers that could be recycled at the curbside were thin-necked plastic bottles.  Soon, though, WA County residents will be supplied with recycling cans into which you can put any plastic bottle or tub numbered 1 through 7 on the bottom (paper, cardboard, and metals will also go in these containers).  The improved recycling system has yet to infiltrate Hillsboro, but I noticed some of the new cans on my walk yesterday, so it has arrived in Forest Grove. 

Washington County, and the cities within it, are taking steps toward sustainability and environmental protection.  Want to make sure this kind of thing continues?  If so, please sign the PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, asking them to pass the US Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration in WA County.

-Nick