Carrie Sturrock will be on vacation until the week of September 5.... Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

City no longer routinely kills weeds in grass. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Reusable bags make a statement in our consumer society: Think before you throw it away. On the other hand, too many bags, defeats the purpose of a reusable bag. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Learn more about the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining through the eyes of artists who interviewed hundreds of people in the Appalachian region. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Why did Minneapolis win the distinction of being North America's #1 bicycling city? Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

A few thoughts on ratcheting down materialistic birthday parties Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

When children receive too many presents, they appreciate any single gift a lot less. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Oregon’s electronics recycling program is doing better in its second year, collecting 11.9 million pounds of old computers, TVs and monitors so far this year. State Department of Environmental Quality officials reported that the Oregon E-Cycles program has collected about 2.4 million pounds ...

Kristina Salmi Klotz was known as the Lavender Laundress back in Vermont, where she once earned a living as a craft soap-maker. Now happily ensconced in a modest North Portland home with her husband, 4-year-old daughter Beatrix, and a huge Newfoundland dog, Salmi Klotz saves money by making her ...

Every day, Jennifer Freda-Cowie dumps her family’s food scraps into a small covered bin in the kitchen of her Southeast Portland home. Later, the scraps are brought outside and deposited into a large yard-debris cart placed near the curb. Freda-Cowie’s household in Portland’s ...

Of course we’d like to wash our laundry in cold water. Between 80 and 90 percent of the energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water. So a typical Portland family washing four loads a week could save $50 a year on their electric bill simply by switching from warm-water to ...

Joan Ottinger set out to transform her featureless parking strip in Northeast Portland into a beautiful and productive vegetable garden, and discovered it can grow more than just plants. “This is good for knowing your neighbors,” Ottinger says of the hours she spends outside tending ...

It’s a dilemma whenever the economy sours: How do you choose between jobs and the environment, between pocketbook and sustainability concerns? Well, you don’t have to choose. Here’s a dozen ways to lighten your expenses while doing good for Mother ...

When Charles Fox visited Haiti in June – just six months after a devastating earthquake – he was struck by Haitians’ belief that they would rise from the rubble a stronger country. Fox, founder of a new local company called Pacific Green Innovations, shares this conviction. He ...

Sustainability is a logical goal at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the Wilsonville prison that houses Oregon’s entire population of female convicts. There, inmates help reduce costs by reusing materials and growing their own food. And, through environmental stewardship, they are gaining ...

A week of events aimed at helping support a vegan diet. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Portland does use a fungicide on its picture-perfect roses but never sprays insecticides. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Many of those cute character-themed plastic school supplies contain a nasty plastic Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

The objective of the ecoroof is to inspire fresh ideas for economic opportunity, social equity and environmental well-being. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html

Green neighborhoods make for a green city. Carrie Sturrock, Special to The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/carriesturrock/index.html