Phoenix needs Green Bag Day volunteers

Gentle readers, Saturday, Oct. 14, is Green Bag Day. It’s so simple. NeighborhoodFoodProject.org started in Ashland, caught on in Talent, then Phoenix, spreading to more than 60 cities around the country. Green Bag Days are always the second Saturdays of the even months of the year. Join us.

Phoenix Food Project lost more than 100 donors due to the Almeda Fire. Rising from the ashes, we need new Phoenix neighbors to help us stock our shelves. To help us feed quadrupled numbers of needy neighbors, you buy a can or bottle every time you shop. Your neighborhood coordinator will remind or coordinate with you when to put your bag out, and then pick up your green bag on Green Bag Day. Cash, checks, PayPal: it’s so easy to participate in your community.

Phoenix residents, please go to phoenixfoodproject.org to sign up.

Helpers also are always needed for Pantry and Clothing Closet, too, at 1st Phoenix Community Center/First Presbyterian Church, Church and Second streets in Phoenix.

Karen Jones / Phoenix

A closer look at CO2 numbers

Henry Plouse is right about the amounts of CO2 produced by various types of electrical generation, but not so right as his numbers seem to indicate.

In Oregon, we are fortunate to have available a lot of water power. In 2022, hydroelectric power accounted for 51% of Oregon’s total electricity net generation, and all renewable sources combined produced 70% of the state’s total electricity net generation.

Considering the amount of CO2 produced by using electricity, Mr. Plouse’s numbers should be knocked down by about 70%, because in Oregon only about 30% of our power comes from combustion-powered generation.

But he’s still right. Using natural gas, for instance, directly, ultimately produces less polluting byproducts than does converting it to electricity first. In Oregon’s case, that’s still true to a degree even after accounting for the proportion of our electric power that comes from renewable sources.

Nick Tennant / Ashland