When it comes to light bulbs, a change that’s been underway for years will accelerate this summer, as new federal rules require consumers and retailers to make a switch to LED light bulbs.
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An international collaboration led by Oregon State University scientists has identified 27 global warming accelerators known as amplifying feedback loops, including some that the researchers say may not be fully accounted for in climate models.
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The gate to the popular Phil’s Trail recreational area west of Bend is sparking a “petition debate” of sorts online, as one gathering signatures to urge that the gate be closed year-round has prompted a second one, urging that the Forest Service keep it open seasonally, as it has been for years.
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SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — “I named this one Daisy and that one there Lucy,” said high school student Laura Hernandez, pointing to two Douglas-fir seedlings she had just planted. “I am for sure going to come back here in 20 years and see how big they get.” Hernandez and 70 of her junior and senior
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Soil is the Earth’s second-biggest carbon storage locker after the ocean, and a research collaboration has shown that it’s moisture, not temperature or mineral content, that’s the key to how well the soil carbon warehouse works.
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Oregon Department of Forestry staff recently completed an unprecedented effort to collect seeds from populations of Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia) trees throughout the Oregon portion of the species range, before they are wiped out by an invasive pest.
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TC Energy is a Canadian company looking to expand a 60-year-old natural gas pipeline that passes just east of Bend, but climate activists are mobilizing to oppose those plans.
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Many Central Oregon farmers and rangers are still feeling the impacts of the ongoing drought, despite a fair amount of winter snow and rain on the High Desert.
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Destination resorts have been a controversial topic for decades in Central Oregon, and now that Bend has officially topped 100,000 residents, a land-use watchdog group is proposing a new step that could challenge, perhaps thwart future plans for new resorts in a broad area around the city.
Continue ReadingBy SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A U.S. judge has ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a lithium mine planned in Nevada, but denied opponents’ efforts to block it in a ruling the developer says clears the way for construction at the nation’s largest known deposit of
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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The city of Eugene, Oregon, will join other local governments throughout the country in phasing out gas appliances in some types of new construction in an effort to cut climate pollution. The Eugene City Council passed the measure by a 5-3 vote Monday night. The ordinance, believed to be the first
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By Eric Tegethoff, Oregon News Service PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A new bill in Congress would add greater protections to the Smith River and its watersheds in southern Oregon. Oregon Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have introduced legislation to expand the Smith River National Recreation Area by 58,000 acres. Owner of the Northwest Rafting Company Zach Collier
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CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows. The findings align with a growing body
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CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Widespread tree scorch in the Pacific Northwest that became visible shortly after multiple days of record-setting, triple-digit temperatures in June 2021 was more attributable to heat than to drought conditions, Oregon State University researchers say. In a paper published in Tree Physiology, a team led by Christopher Still of the OSU College of
Continue ReadingBy Hilary Whiteman, CNN The world is producing a record amount of single-use plastic waste, mostly made from polymers created from fossil fuels, despite global efforts to reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions, according to a new report released Monday. The second Plastic Waste Makers Index, compiled by the philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found the world
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A Bend business known for sustainability has a new venture: It’s making furniture from the plastic handles that hold your six-pack together.
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CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – While microplastics have received significant attention in recent years for their negative environmental impacts, a new study from Oregon State University scientists found microfibers from synthetic materials as well as cotton impacted the behavior and growth of water organisms. “We’re trying to shift the narrative a little bit because so much
Continue ReadingBy Ella Nilsen, CNN The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday advanced the controversial Willow oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, releasing the final environmental impact statement before the project can be approved. The ConocoPhillips proposed Willow drilling plan is a massive and decadeslong project that the state’s bipartisan Congressional delegation says
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CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – On Jan. 16, 2016, beachgoers up and down the Washington, Oregon and northern California coasts were surprised by multiple “sneaker” waves that inundated beaches, caused injuries and swamped a vehicle. Sneaker waves, also known as wave runup events, can be perceived as a mini-tsunami because the waves surge much farther up
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tuesday to protect streaked horned larks, once-numerous birds found in Washington and Oregon, as endangered. In April 2022, the Service listed streaked horned larks as threatened instead of endangered, granting the birds fewer protections and leaving
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