Sunset Hills Funeral Home of Eugene offers natural burials with bamboo coffins and a bike ride to the grave for $3,500. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Transportation, Bicycles

A new pilot project will attempt to clean the wastewater from Widmer Brothers Brewing so it can be recycled into more beer using a fuel cell that simultaneously generates electricity. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Water, wastewater, Recycling

It's not unusual for Far West Fibers to find trash in the recycling material collected from Portland's curbside bins. But the piles of dirty diapers – about 120 pounds per day – are new. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Composting, Recycling

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided that it is not going to continue killing gulls that have been preying on baby Caspian terns at a nesting colony at the mouth of the Columbia River. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Fish & Wildlife, Caspian terns

Portlanders who have endured the stench of rotting food and the pinch of every other week trash pickups may take heart from this bit of news: The food scraps collected from curbside bins are coming back to the city as compost for community gardens. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Composting

Walk into Gary and Michelle Hogue's downtown Portland micro-loft, and you're immediately standing in the kitchen, living room and bedroom. It's like a studio apartment, only smaller. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Tiny homes

Forests soak up a lot of carbon dioxide that would otherwise contribute to climate change. But a new study by the U.S. Forest Service shows cities can store carbon too, as long as they maintain their urban tree canopy. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Forestry, Urban trees

Oregon recyclers have stopped accepting certain kinds of plastic because China has stopped buying them. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Recycling

A new Portland City Club report has found that older, more polluting diesel trucks that don't meet environmental regulations in California and Washington are being used in Oregon instead. Continue reading →

Filed under: Transportation, Environment

A Beaverton start-up has created a floating "lily pad" that uses solar-activated nanotechnology to break down water contaminants. It could be deployed to clean up polluted storm water in retention ponds or ditches alongside roads and parking lots. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Water, Stormwater