| Portland welcomes Rudy Fernandez |
Video is from the Blazer Blog.
There more:
- Blazer’s Edge: Hola Rudy
- Behind the Blazer Beat: Rudy’s rousing arrival
- And some great photos at the Wild Weird World of Sports: Rudy
Archives for September 2008
Portland retains sustainability title in 2008
SustainLane.com has released it’s 2008 sustainable city rankings. Portland remains at the top, where it has been ensconced since the list’s inception in 2005.
How exactly is “sustainability” ranked? From the press release:
Based on 16 economic, environmental and green/clean tech categories, the SustainLane U.S. City Rankings factor in each city’s ability to maintain healthy air, drinking water, parks and public transit systems, as well as a robust, sustainable local economy with green building, farmers markets, renewable energy and alternative fuels. Introduced in 2005, the City Rankings have been a catalyst for change. In fact, both the median and average scores have increased significantly across all cities surveyed since 2005.
A full explanation of the methodology can be found here.
Here are the top 10, with 2006’s rankings in parenthesis:
1- Portland (1)
2- San Francisco (2)
3- Seattle (3)
4- Chicago (4)
5- New York (6)
6- Boston (7)
7- Minneapolis (10)
8- Philadelphia (8)
9- Oakland (5)
10- Baltimore (11)
The New York Time’s Dot Earth blog covers the story: Portland Again Tops a Sustainable Cities List.
And here’s a related story, from Kaid Benfield’s Blog at the NRDC website: Portland’s shrinking carbon footprint: revitalization and walkable neighborhoods make the difference
Witnessing the Chapman Vaux’s Swifts
I’m a native Portlander in my late late-mid thirties. Of course I’d heard of the Chapman Swifts (not the band, but rather the phenomenon), but the impetus was never great enough to make me actually head up to Northwest Portland and witness the spectacle. Until last night. Another Vaux’s Swift virgin, Mile73.com‘s Heather, provided the impetus.
We arrived at Chapman Elementary School (1445 NW 26th) around 7pm. The first thing that struck us was the size of the crowd; hundreds of people on blankets, plenty of dogs too, and scores of children running around making child noises and throwing pine cones. Most sat on the hill on the Pettygrove side of the school, but where ever there was a line of site to the chimney people were sprawled out watching the sky. The birds had already started circling when we arrived. According to the Audubon Society of Portland‘s FAQ:
The swifts begin gathering in the sky above the Chapman School neighborhood in large numbers 40 to 60 minutes before sunset. Closer to sunset the swifts begin circling directly above the school chimney in a large flock – this is a dramatic sight and ideally you will be there before it begins. They begin to enter the chimney within 10 to 30 minutes after sunset. Time between first and last bird entering the chimney varies from 10 to 30 minutes.
Next time we plan on arriving a bit earlier, to experience the full scope of the spectacle, and to find a choice place on the grass to sit. And we will be going back. The swifts look like swirling pepper against the white clouds. There’s something simultaneously soothing and exciting about watching then simultaneously flitting and circling, swooping. Near the end last night a peregrine falcon interrupted the flock; one moment chased away by hundreds of tiny birds, the next launching a counter attack near the chimney. I don’t believe he got one last night, but on occasion they do; from the Audubon Society’s Swift Watch:
September 12 update: Two Peregrine Falcons joined approximately 10,500 swifts and 1,500 spectators at Chapman School. On Sept 13, a Peregrine nabbed a swift on two separate passes as the swifts spiraled into the school’s chimney.
The crowd was solidly behind the swifts, oohing when the falcon dived at the smaller birds, but cheering when the swarm seemed to chase him off (a friend’s comment on Heather’s blog post suggests that next time we should start a chant: when I root I root for the swifts . . . – I think it’s a grand idea!).
Heather got some footage of the birds entering the chimney:
Chapman Swifts 9.18.08 from Mile73 on Vimeo.
Heather also blogged about the experience, much more pithily than I.
Jalpuna blogged about the little birds a little over a week ago, with some great photos.
And there’s a film: On the Wing
And an Oregon Field Guide segment: Vaux Swift
September 19-22: Bier, clean dogs and beer, pirates and beer
Friday-Sunday
The Oaks Park Oktoberfest begins today and runs through Sunday.
German food and beer, oom pah bands, and the always enjoyable sausage eating, pretzel kissing, and chicken dancing contests. And new this year, wiener dog races Saturday! Only the upcoming Polish Festival, is more anticipated (by me) than this festival. The setting by the river is beautiful, and the huge festhallen keep the rain off you, or the sun out of your eyes, as the case may be. Accordions!
Saturday
Bring your filthy dog to the Hawthorne Lucky Lab (915 SE Hawthorne) Saturday, 11am-5pm, for Dogtoberfest.
You can get stinky Fido washed ($5 suggested donation, all proceeds go to DoveLewis Blood Bank) and then you and your clean companion can stay for the music, beer (Dogtoberfest Pale Ale brewed especially for this occasion), and street fair!
Saturday-Sunday
Cathedral Park hosts the Third Annual Portland Pirate Festival Saturday and Sunday.
There will be beer!
Come experience the region’s best musicians and entertainers, a vast marauder’s market of pirate treasures, children’s rides and activities, and international cuisine worthy of Blackbeard himself. It all takes place in historic Cathedral park alongside the clear waters of the Willamette, and framed by the majestic St. John’s Bridge.
Virtuous scrounging at Reed College
Update: Jonathan Bloom’s book is now available! American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do about It)
According to Jonathan Bloom, a journalist who writes about food waste, forty percent of the food produced in the USA for consumption ends up as waste, at an annual cost of more than $100 billion. Bloom’s writings include articles on composting, food waste law, and everyday ways for households to stop wasting food. And he is writing a book on wasted food in America.
He also maintains a blog called, naturally, Wasted Food.
Today’s post, Scrounging for Answers, examines a unique way Portland’s Reed College avoids wasted food: the practice of scrounging.
What, exactly, is scrounging? As Bloom explains:
The small college has a well-established tradition (dating back to the 1960s) where “scroungers” eat the leftovers of those with meal plans.
Students with board points drop off their uneaten food at the scrounge tables on their way to the dish return in cafeteria, the Commons. Scroungers gradually fill up by eating some of this and some of that.
He wrote about scrounging last year too, but this time he traveled to Portland to give it a shot for himself.
After trying it, my first reaction was, ‘Only at college.’ My second was, ‘This ain’t so bad.’ You get to taste a variety of items and, knowing you’re preventing food from going to waste, the eating feels virtuous.
When I attended Reed my financial aid covered board, so I did not see any particular reason to scrounge, but I dutifully shared my leftover germs with many scroungers over the years (and the irony that many scroungers came from families wealthy enough to not need financial aid was not lost on me). I never begrudged the lifestyle of the scrounger though, but I also never thought of scrounging as a possibly virtuous activity. But Bloom makes some good points.
Avoiding waste is an unintended (and happy) byproduct of scrounging. Most participants’ primary motivation is saving money. Yet, it’s not that all scroungers couldn’t afford to buy food. After all, a spartan bowl of rice and beans in the Commons goes for $1.05. Still, this being college, some students opt to save their means for…more recreational ends. And who can blame them for that?