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1. Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West
On the side of a mountain on the outskirts of Montana’s capital city, loggers are racing against a beetle grub the size of a grain of rice. From New Mexico to British Columbia, the region’s signature pine forests are succumbing to a huge infestation of mountain pine beetles that are turning a blanket of green forest into a blanket of rust red. New York Times 11/17/2008
2. Oregon’s Jobless Rate Spikes to Four Year High
Consumers slapped shut their wallets in October, helping drive the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in Oregon, which lost 14,100 jobs since September — the worst seasonally adjusted monthly decline since February 1981. Oregonian 11/18/2008
3. Jobless Statistics Boil Down to this: Struggling Families
The number of Oregonians seeking state help in the form of food stamps or cash assistance jumped again last month, prompting those who work with needy families and seniors to say they’re worried about the winter. Oregonian 11/18/2008
4. 50 Percent More US Children Went Hungry in 2007
Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year’s sharp economic downtown. The department’s annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006. Seattle Times 11/17/2008
5. National Forests see Fewer Visitors
National forests have long been prime recreation spots in the Pacific Northwest and around the nation, but new federal figures show far fewer people are visiting them since 2004 — especially in this region. Now researchers are trying to determine why people are staying away from the prized public playgrounds, including the nearby Mount Hood, Gifford Pinchot and Deschutes national forests. Their ideas include high gas prices, rising visitor fees, youths glued to television and video games and a busy, urban society with little time for outdoor pursuits. Oregonian 11/18/2008
6. Study: Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site Can Save $20 Million
Vancouver’s supervised drug injection site can save the Canadian health-care system as much as $20 million and substantially increase a population’s life span over a 10-year period, according to a study to be published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Vancouver Sun 11/17/2008
7. Political Temperature May be Just Right for Healthcare Overhaul
When Barack Obama steps into the Oval Office in January, healthcare reform will join a list of priorities crowded with two wars, a ballooning budget deficit and an economy mired in one of the worst slowdowns since the Great Depression. But the bleak environment may paradoxically spur the kind of costly, sweeping overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system that has eluded policymakers in Washington for decades. Los Angeles Times 11/18/2008
8. Frontier Dreams of Gold Clash with Fish Habitat
To protect fish and fish eggs during critical spawning periods, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is limiting the time when miners can dig or dredge for gold in certain creeks, streams and rivers using motorized equipment, including suction dredges that resemble shop vacs. Fish and wildlife officials say dredging in spawning areas can disrupt stream bottoms, disturb sediment and harm habitat for fish already on the brink of extinction, such as bull trout and Chinook salmon. Seattle Times 11/17/2008
9. Report: Pollution Levels Off, for Now
Emissions from industrialized countries plateaued in 2006 after six years of growth, the United Nations said Monday. But the countries have not yet reported emissions from the past two years, and the new report did not include large emerging economies like those of India and China. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/18/2008
10. Views: The Formerly Middle Class
Recessions are about more than material deprivation. They’re also about fear and diminished expectations. In this recession, maybe even more than other ones, the last ones to join the middle class will be the first ones out. And it won’t only be material deprivations that bites. It will be the loss of a social identity, the loss of social networks, the loss of the little status symbols that suggest an elevated place in the social order. New York Times 11/18/2008
Filed under: Community News, National and World News | Tagged: bark beetle, basic needs, climate change, economics, emissions, employment, environment, forestry, green, health care, hunger, middle class, National Forest visitation rates, pollution, quality of life, recession, seattleDIRT, Sightline Daily, Sightline Institute, sustainability, trees
