The Widmer Brothers of brewing fame engaged in a bike.car commuter challenge - Rob biking and Kurt driving - to launch a month of events designed to encourage people to get out of their cars and onto bikes.

Other events include a "Bike to Work Breakfast" in Pioneer Square on Wednesday, May 7th, a series of Bike Commute workshops (including several just for women), and "Mocktails on the Bridge, served at the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge during the afternoon commute.

More info on bike month events can be found on the Bicycle Transportation Alliance web site.

Meanwhile, some companies are rewarding their employees who go green with a little extra green in their pocket. Alex Dupey is among those whose companies are actually paying them for each trip made by bike instead of car. Now that's "Going Green."

Last June, three Portland Metro families competed in the "Drive Less/Save More Challenge" and KGW followed their progress.

The families also kept blogs where they described the challenges and successes of reducing driving.

This year, all participating families receive an incentive package, and coaching from experts on how to reduce their driving.

Last year's winning family shaved 538 miles from their weekly average, and won a laptop computer and a $400 McMenamin's gift card.

Families interested in being considered can email name and phone number to henry@pacwest.com.

For more details: www.drivelesssavemore.com/driving/challenge

One thing to consider - fertilizers can wreak havoc on the environment. Nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer often end up in our surface water, like rivers, lakes, and streams. And once it gets there, it can help steal oxygen from that water, and lead to fish kills. Nitrogen can also get into our drinking water, and pose health problems for some.

One alternative is to use compost to give your garden the nutrients it may need. It's a natural solution to the fertilizer concern.

Another thing to do - water your garden sparingly. Of course, over-watering can be a waste of water - and your plants may not like all the excess water, either.

And if you're in the market for lawn furniture - buy recycled lawn furniture. Some companies actually make lawn furniture that is made from 100% recycled materials.

Have fun working that green thumb. I'm planning on planting a few new things myself - if the weather holds out. =)

Joe

I have to say, I am a sucker for flowers. And roses on Valentine's Day... well that's the perfect gift (especially if some sort of chocolate is involved). Yesterday my co-worker forwarded me the following link from Salon.com.

Needless to say, I'll be taking a trip to Trader Joe's to take a look. And, for my next big flower order (don't forget Mom's birthday), I think I'll be checking out organic bouquet or www.veriflora.org.

As for today... I'm still counting on the chocolates.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Or, maybe you bought gas recently in northwest Oregon. If you have, then you've actually purchased something called E-10. It's 10% ethanol, and 90% gasoline. And ethanol...and other biofuels...have been considered to be a big part of the push to go green. Biofuels have been thought to emit a lot less carbon dioxide than petroleum fuels...and so would help in the fight against global warming.

But two startling reports were published late last week in the respected journal Science. Those reports were clear and concise. And what they said can not be ignored.

I'm going to break down what those reports said. It's a lot of information to swallow. But if you care about our environment...and addressing climate change and global warming...you want to understand this. Trust me.

Previously, most studies analyzing the life cycle of ethanol have determined that it's a cleaner fuel than gasoline or diesel. Okay, so what's "the life cycle of ethanol?" Essentially, all the steps in the life of ethanol - from growing corn or other feedstocks, to then refining that feedstock, and finally burning the product - ethanol - in your car. But there's one step missing in the life cycle I just mentioned, and that step has been ignored by most analyses - up until now.

The critical step that has been ignored is the land-use changes that have been happening because of ethanol production. For example, some farms in the Midwest that have previously grown soybeans are now growing corn - for ethanol. But people still need soybeans. So those soybeans are being grown elsewhere - in places like Brazil. And in Brazil, they're clearing new land for these soybean crops. Sometimes they clear and burn a chunk of the Amazon, and start growing these soybeans there. Clearing the rainforest is called a land-use change.

That clearing and burning of a chunk of the rainforest has detrimental effects on the environment. Simply burning all that bio-material - trees, brush, grass - releases a tremendous amount of carbon into the air. But that's not all. The rainforests actually act as sponges - sucking carbon dioxide out of the air. If they're gone, they can't do that. So you get hit twice, in a sense.

When you factor land-use changes into the life-cycle of ethanol, suddenly the analysis shows that producing and burning ethanol - it actually ends up putting more carbon dioxide into our air than petroleum fuel sources do. And in some cases, by a very large margin.

This is the synopsis of the two reports that came out late last week. Wow.

I spoke with the state, and it says that the major producer of ethanol here in Oregon is getting most of its feedstock - the thing that's refined into ethanol - from the Midwest. So, chances are, some of our ethanol is indirectly contributing to the problem that these two studies examined.

So, you're asking, some of the ethanol I'm burning in my car right now may be polluting the environment worse than petroleum? Yes.

But, some biofuels are actually still considered to be clean. SeQuential Biofuels makes 95% of its fuel from used cooking oil. So cooking oil - that would otherwise be wasted - is being turned into biofuel. Great! In this case, the life cycle of this biofuel shows less carbon emissions than the life cycle of petroleum fuels. But that's only because used cooking oil is the source. If the source were corn - then there would be more carbon emissions - it would be worse than using 100% gasoline.

Of course, these are just two studies - but they are pretty convincing. I've read them both.

It should be mentioned that, over time, technological improvements may address the problems these studies brought up. But for now, according to these reports, large amounts of ethanol are polluting our planet worse than petroleum fuels.

Feel free to e-mail me any questions you have. I'm more than happy to help.

A locally-based company called Biokleen makes everything from laundry detergents to dishwasher soaps - and they are green, in a sense. These environmentally friendly products don't contain chlorine or phosphates, ingredients in traditional cleaners that can cause problems for the environment. All of Biokleen's products are made with the hope that they'll not only get your cleaning job done...but also leave a small footprint on our environment.

Photo Courtesy Biokleenhome.com

You can check out their website by clicking here. You can also take a look at Dry Cleaning Station by pointing and clicking here.

Just two seemingly good, green companies that I've discovered. Hope it helps you "go green."

Joe

At the time of publication Joe Michaels had no commercial interests in either of these two companies

Goodbyes are hard for me. Not this time.

He was reliable, safe and always available. But it had become painfully clear lately that we weren't meant to stay together.

We started getting sideways glances from people we passed. Portlanders really didn't approve our relationship. Besides, he was costing way too much money.

So we parted ways. Oh, we might still get together for special occasions, maybe skiing with the whole family, but
other than that I'll be spending a lot more time with a new traveling companion.

By now you are probably wondering who "he" is. "He" is my big, blue SUV, the one I've been driving since 2000.

It's parked until we need it to carry four kids and a dog again.

In my life now is a new Toyota hybrid. I'm in love. I am not a big car person and have never really loved a car.

But this car makes me feel "green." Doing some research here on kgw.com I found out that my new car has an EPA air pollution score of 8 with 10 being the best.

It emits 5.4 tons of co2 a year - one of the best ratings on the road. That still seems like an awful lot. But I don't even want to know
how big my Ford Expedition's carbon footrpint was.

I have seen people driving Expeditions with bumper stickers that say, "I'm contributing to global warming."
I knew I was, too. But I didn't want to be.

At KGW NewsChannel 8 we recently started a station campaign called "Going Green." We do Going Green stories nearly every night. I felt I needed to "Go Green" myself.
After all, if you're "going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk."
So, hello hybrid and bye-bye ol' blue SUV.

I still have a long way to go in reducing my carbon footprint. I am so impressed and inspired by one of the bloggers
here on kgw.com who delivers 240 Oregonian newspapers every day on his bike. Now, that's "Going Green."

But getting a hybrid is a start.

Oh, by the way, we did change our Christmas lights to LED.

So here's to a "Green" Christmas - and a Merry one, too.

Laural

Of course, the company has been the source of thousands of those plastic bags that end up in landfills every year. Fred Meyer will continue to offer recycling of plastic bags but hopes to shift consumers toward the reusable bags, which hold the same amount as three of the plastic bags.

Customers have bought 200,000 bags since the company first started selling them in March.

Some cities, including San Francisco, have actually moved to BAN plastic bags altogether but that hasn't yet been proposed in Portland.

During September, our two-wheeled commuters will share their ride experiences. Here's the fourth, from Special Projects Producer Rich Kurz.

Change in the making
by Rich Kurz

With a commute that's only 10 minutes longer by bike than by car, and a route that's almost entirely along roads boasting bicycle lanes, who wouldn't ride to work every day? Well, me, unfortunately. But on days like today when I get my act together early enough to roll the bike out of the garage and leave the car in the driveway, I get the chance to see a city in almost constant change.

From my home in inner Northeast Portland, it's a short jaunt to Ainsworth Avenue. Wide and tree-lined, I still have to keep it in high gear to keep up with the commuters in cars heading out towards their jobs. That leaves me little time and little attention to check out which house just sold and which is getting a new coat of paint to go with the new owners. Here, just across MLK Boulevard, comes another of the more noticeable changes - the coffee shop that's gone from locally owned to Coffee People to Starbucks in a matter of just a few short years. And it's here, too, that I need to stay on my toes, watching out for those drivers whose caffeine hasn't kicked in before they turn into traffic.

Not much further along, change presents itself even more starkly once I cross Killingsworth, safely in the bike lanes of Vancouver Avenue. To my right, stretching across a massive plot of dirt, rises the beginnings of the Humboldt Gardens housing complex. It's a redevelopment in the truest sense - taking the dilapidated remains of the Iris Court Cluster and rebuilding them to offer low- and middle-income Oregonians homes in an area that's quickly becoming one of the hottest areas to live in Portland.

And just how hot it is becomes apparent riding home that same stretch of neighborhood. Northbound, the commute trades North Vancouver for North Williams. It seems almost every week that I ride, a new storefront opens up. First came the New Old Lompoc and Pix Patisserie at Williams & Failing, then popped up the so-cool-it-doesn't-even-need-a-sign Vendetta bar, followed in the last few months by a yoga studio and a hipster coffee shop. It's impossible to talk about the changes here without mentioning one of the most significant impacts. Long the centerpoint of Portland's African-American community, many of the new store owners and homeowners are white, taking advantage of the close-in location and relatively low property costs to change their own lives.

There are no such concerns once you dodge car traffic on Broadway and bike traffic on the Broadway Bridge. Building continues almost unchecked in the Pearl District, displacing only empty warehouses. And now, nearly ten years after the building boom kicked off in the neighborhood, you can still see the pace of progress almost every day. A crane lifting giant beams into the air for yet another condo or apartment building and construction trucks blocking off part of a street while workers take a shell of a building and turn it into more high-priced real estate.

It's a fitting end to my ride - and a fitting reminder of how much Portland changes every day, every week, every month. And it's a reminder that I don't get on days I take advantage of I-5's traffic lanes instead of Portland's bike lanes.

by Rich Kurz

Unlike a lucky co-worker who had "the perfect commute" this week, my Monday bike ride to work was quite a different experience.

I started out on my normal route in Northeast Portland down NE 53rd, which is a bike route. I crossed Halsey into a quiet neighborhood without a lot of traffic, expecting an uneventful ride, at least until I reached the busier streets.

That's when I came close to becoming roadkill! There are no stop signs on this section of 53rd between Halsey & Glisan, but there are stop signs for most of the intersecting side streets. So when I saw that a large yellow school bus was approaching an intersection and would get there at about the same time as little old me on my bike, I wasn't worried. The driver had a stop sign, there were no cars parked on the street that could have blocked the bus driver's view of me, and I was pretty confident the bus would stop. I was wrong.

The bus slowed down and then rolled through the stop sign! I had to swerve and the driver had to slam on the breaks. I was quite shaken for a few more blocks and that's when the rage kicked in! That bus almost hit me! I almost died!

Maybe it's because school just started up again and the driver was out of practice, maybe it was a new route, or maybe it was early in the morning and he wasn't quite awake yet. Either way, I was appalled that someone who drives for a living could be so careless.

I wished I had written down a license plate or bus number so I could call someone and complain. I made it to work and told all my co-workers about my near-death experience on the way to work.

Then I remembered an incident from about 5 years ago when I first moved to Portland. I didn't own a bike, hadn't been on a bike in about 15 years, and had no interest in cycling. I was in my car, driving one mile to work (embarrassing, I know) and I almost hit a cyclist riding through the park blocks. I just didn't see her.

She yelled at me to watch out and I realized it was a co-worker. Oops! I felt horrible, admitted to her later that day that the driver was me, and apologized. She was very nice about it and swore that she didn't hate me.

It's funny how things change in 5 years... but the two incidents made me realize a few things. First of all, drivers have a lot of things going on, too and if they don’t see a cyclist, they aren’t necessarily a bad person. Everyone has a bad day, a morning when they are extra tired, or a drive when they have a lot on their mind.

Cycling to work has made me a better and more alert driver when I do get in my car.

Second, riding the streets of Portland isn't like other exercise where you can let your mind wander, make your grocery list in your head, or think about what you are doing later in the day. You really do have to pay attention every second you are on that bike.

Even though I have been bike commuting a few times a month for more than a year now (more frequently in the summer) I concentrate more than ever. I assume that every driver is going to roll through that stop sign, that every driver doesn't see me, and that every intersection is an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I'm paranoid, but with the number of near misses I have seen with my own eyes, and the number of stories we cover in the news, I'm OK with that.

I’m not scared of riding to work, just a little more cautious. There is something very liberating about leaving your car behind and just relying on you and your bike for transportation. In fact, I'm going to ride to work again tomorrow. Watch out school buses!

Gina Zandy

Entitled "A Silver Lining? The Connection between Gas Prices and Obesity," the study found that an additional $1 per gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15 percent after five years.

A Reuters story on the report notes that the report, a doctoral dissertation in health economics, concluded that the 13 percent rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to... falling pump prices!

Gas dipped to less than $1.50 per gallon in 2000 before climbing to a record high of $3.22 in May of 2007.

The dissertation concluded that higher gas prices reduce obesity by leading people to walk or cycle instead of drive, and eat leaner at home instead of rich food at restaurants.

So far, we've enrolled 13 employees who've committed to bike to work at least once this month. You're invited to sign up your own team at your company on the BTA web site...and you can even select "KGW" as the team you want to compete with - for fun, of course.

During the next few weeks, several of our bike commuters will share their stories here about what their commute experience is like. Here's the first account, written by KGW News Graphics Coordinator Dave Haneman, who actually commutes by bike every day:

I live just over two miles from the station in SE Portland, along a major bike route. I ride year 'round, rain or shine (I'll take a break if it's snowing).
Since I work swing shift, I don't have to worry about traffic too much.

The station has secure parking, showers and lockers. Add in the speed of the commute and the money saved by not owning a second car and riding to work is a no brainer for me.

When driving beyond the car's battery life, fuel consumption is projected at a minimum of 40 mpg or better, depending on the distance driven.

Volvo researchers say the ReCharge Concept can lower carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 66 percent compared to other hybrids. In addition to operating on battery energy, the ReCharge Concept can also accelerate from zero to 60 in 9 seconds and reach top speeds of about 100 mph. Who says a hybrid has to be pokey? And with Volvo behind the car, drivers can expect the usual commitment to safety.

The vehicle, which will debut in a specially-designed Volvo C30 at the IAA motor show in Frankfurt, was developed on the west coast at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in Camarillo, CA.