Cool Stuff

Maybe it’s because my mind is fried from all the research I’m working on today, but this video from Oregon Wild is pretty amusing. It’s done Jib Jab style, with cartoon figures of Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio hiking through the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness. Wyden and DeFazio introduced legislation to protect the area last year, but...
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If you want to see who’s making things happen in Oregon’s environmental community, then check out this list from 1000 Friends of Oregon. To celebrate the group’s 35th anniversary, it’s naming 35 Innovators Under 35, a list of “young, emerging leaders”. They all have some kind of tie to environmentalism or sustainability.
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Here’s one of the more interesting campaigns to raise awareness about overpopulation. The Center For Biological Diversity is handing out 100,000 free Endangered Species condoms for Valentine’s Day. The Center has lined up about 3,000 volunteers to start handing out the condoms at bars, supermarkets, schools and pretty much any kind of public event. And if they...
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Thanks to Notice Software of Portland, we’re now able to offer a free iPhone application for Natural Oregon. To download it, follow this link or from the Follow Us section in the column to the right of this story.
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Here’s one of the more “interesting” stories I found today. It’s not about Oregon. But the news comes from the University of Washington, which is sort of nearby. UW Professor Ted Pietsch has documented a newly discovered tropical fish that not only looks strange, but doesn’t even swim. It sort of hops...
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I went to college in the late 70’s, a few years too late to be part of the big protest era that swept campuses during the Vietnam war. Back then, student power meant the power to influence policy and university administrators.  Today has a whole new green meaning. When students at Oregon State University climb aboard...
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By Dennis Newman Ever wonder where the seafood you eat comes from? I mean, where it really comes from? More information than you can possibly imagine about that tuna fillet will soon be available thanks to a new program called Pacific Fish Trax. Here’s how it works. Later this month, two New Seasons Markets in...
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By Dennis Newman For the first time, researchers at Oregon State University have developed a tracking device that’s so small, it can be attached to a hummingbird. What’s at stake here is not just tiny technology, but rather serious science to find the cause, or causes, of the world’s pollination crisis. Green Hermit Hummingbird with transmitter held...
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It’s not the same as taking a helicopter ride over Mt. St. Helens, but three new videos posted on the National Volcanic Monument’s website are the next best thing. The videos take you on a tour of the crater, the crater rim, and the blast zone. They were produced by Immersive Media of Portland. What...
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The writers at Oregon State are having a little too much fun this week with a warning that we may soon face a worldwide “stubborn shortage of sewage”. That’s their clever way of telling us about some serious research into generating electricity from biowastes, including the stuff you flush down the toilet. Hong Liu, an Associate...
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