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New Report Ranks Portland As The Best Food City In America
It’s nice to see Oregon ranking up there in the “Best Of” polls and #backyardbend has some pretty good food and a thriving organic farming community that is pretty cool too.
From KATU News
PORTLAND, Ore. – It’s hard to run out of options when it comes to dining in the Rose City, and most of the time, dining out won’t break the bank either. Now, Portland is getting the recognition it deserves as the city with the best and cheapest local food scene in the country, according to WalletHub. Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
In a new report, Portland ranked first in the country – ahead of New York, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other…
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The Strange Link Between The Human Mind And Quantum Physics
From the BBC by Philip Ball
“I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.” Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
The American physicist Richard Feynman said this about the notorious puzzles and paradoxes of quantum mechanics, the theory physicists use to describe the tiniest objects in the Universe. But he might as well have been talking about the equally knotty problem of consciousness.
Some scientists think we already understand what consciousness is, or that it is a mere illusion. But many others feel we have not grasped where consciousness comes from at all.
The perennial puzzle of consciousness has even led some researchers to invoke quantum physics…
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That's Not Marijuana You're Seeing. More Oregon Farms Growing Hemp
It’s a “growing” industry in Oregon and we certainly see it developing in Central Oregon and #backayrdbend. This development for farmers is expanding the positive evolution of hemp and CBD.
From KGW8 by Katherine Cook
PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s harvest time on Sauvie Island. Across the patchwork quilt of farm plots you’ll see the land’s bounty: acres upon acres of pumpkins, corn and hemp. Read the FULL ARTICLE and SEE THE VIDEO HERE.
Yes, hemp. “I’m growing it straight up for CBD!” assures Don Kruger, owner of Kruger’s Farm. Kruger is growing 22 acres of hemp and leasing space for another 35-acre hemp grow. It’s nestled right between his wildly popular pumpkin patch and corn maze.
“It’s a new…
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Germany Unveils Zero-Emissions Train That Only Emits Steam
From The Independent by Tom Embury-Dennis
Germany is set to introduce the world’s first zero-emission passenger train to be powered by hydrogen. Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
The Coradia iLint only emits excess steam into the atmosphere, and provides an alternative to the country’s 4,000 diesel trains.
Lower Saxony has already ordered 14 of them from French company Alstom, and more are likely to be seen around the country if they are judged a success, reports Die Welt.
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Salmon Return To Oregon River By The Hundreds To Spawn After $2M Restoration Project
From KATU2 by Kelsey Christensen
BLUE RIVER, Ore. – A threatened fish species is starting to make a comeback in parts of the McKenzie River.
For the first time in nearly half of a century, fish experts have counted hundreds of spring Chinook salmon nests in the Lower South Fork McKenzie River in Blue River. Read the FULL ARTICLE and SEE THE VIDEO HERE.
The good news comes after the U.S. Forest Service, McKenzie Watershed Council and other agencies took on about a $2 million restoration project to the area.
After two years of restoration, it’s seeing big results. Johan Hogervorst is part of the team that recently restored the Lower South Fork back to its natural habitat. For…
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New Power Plant Turns Waste Into Energy—And Doubles As A Ski Slope And Climbing Wall
Seriously! This is an amazing example of finding economically viable ways to tackle big issues like waste and energy. Is one of these in #backyardbend’s future?
From The Good News Network.
In a country where 600,000 skiers always had to travel to practice carving their turns, to be able to finally ski in their backyard—and, all year-round—is, as one skier said, “EXTRAORDINARY.” Read the FULL ARTICLE and SEE VIDEO HERE.
Visitors can relax in the restaurant and bar at the highest point of the building, or meander on the steep hiking and running trails. It even features the tallest climbing wall in the world— 270-feet (85 meters) high, designed with overhangs and ledges of white, like an icy mountain.…
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Kids Are Hailed As ‘Junior Detectives’ After They Successfully Track Down Missing 97-Year-Old With Dementia
From The Good News Network
This rescue story from Roseville, California sounds like something straight out of a Nancy Drew novel.
This tenacious team of kids is responsible for the rescue of 97-year-old Glenneta Belford, a non-verbal woman with dementia who went missing from her home on Monday evening. Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
Upon learning about her disappearance, the Roseville Police Department made a social media post about Belford in hopes that community members may be able to find the missing senior. To their surprise, Belford was found by none other than five “junior detectives” who had spent their evening searching for the woman on their bicycles after they learned of her disappearance.
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The Massive Plastic-Cleaning Device Invented By a 25-Year-Old Is Finally Catching Trash In The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Humans have figured out amazing things and we can and will figure out how to clean up our planet. In fact, it’s already happening.
From Business Insider by Aria Bendix
It’s been six years since entrepreneur Boyan Slat began developing a system to rid the world’s oceans of harmful plastic. In 2013, Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit that aims to remove plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a trash-filled vortex in the Pacific Ocean that’s more than twice the of Texas. Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
The group designed a device that passively collects plastic in its fold like a giant arm. But the system has hit several snags, including a design and manufacturing flaw that…
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U.S. EPA To Eliminate All Mammal Testing By 2035
From Science Magazine by David Grimm
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., announced today that it will stop conducting or funding studies on mammals by 2035. The move, which is already eliciting strong reactions from groups supporting or opposing experiments on animals, makes EPA the first federal agency to put a hard deadline on phasing out animal research. Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.
EPA’s decision “is a decisive win for taxpayers, animals, and the environment,” says Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, a Washington, D.C.–based animal activist group that has slammed such research as a waste of taxpayer money. “Animal tests are unreliable and misleading,” he asserts.
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Costa Rica Produces 98.84% Of Its Power From Renewables In 2019
Okay this is amazing and shows it really is possible to move away from fossil fuels and toward the goal of 100% renewable energy. Our region is blessed with hydro, wind and solar renewable energy sources that are reducing the need for fossil fuels in #backyardbend. Author: U.S. Army Corps of Engine. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.September 27, 2019 (Renewables Now) – The share of renewables in Costa Rica’s power generation system reached 98.84% so far in 2019, Costa Rican government-run power company Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) said Tuesday.
According to data from the National Centre for Energy Control (CENCE) cited by ICE, the Central American country has maintained the trend of keeping the annual share of…