Chasing Clean Air

Is Ignorance Bliss Or Potential Disease?

The road to clean air is paved with toxic footprints. Skipping along pesticide-laden farms to get a good photo, soaking in scenic beauty while breathing pulp mill exhaust, and drinking water contaminated by industrial waste, I wonder: Is ignorance bliss and knowledge disease? Or is ignorance bliss that can lead to disease.

At the Bioneers Conference, Andrew Weil spoke of the power of the mind, belief, and placebos. He underscored the impact of the unseen world on the seen world--and I wondered about those toxic footprints I've learned along the road to clean air.

Does thinking about toxins make us potentially sick?

Or is the knowledge of toxins lurking in our backyards and places where we travel a potential life-saver because we can make better decisions?

In the past week, my mind (and maybe body) was hit with the knowledge of three toxic footprints courtesy of industries that didn't tell all nearby residents and visitors like me what they were contaminating the water, air, and soil with.

If it weren't for the fact I read and talked to locals, I wouldn't be telling you about...

1. Driscoll Strawberry Fields

2. Hormone-interrupting pesticides placed throughout several California counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles to deal with the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM).

3. Fidalgo Bay in Anacortes. This is where you get the Washington State Ferries to San Juan Islands.

To get details on each toxic footprint, read on. If you feel ignorance is bliss, please stop reading now. 

My Pacific Northwest & N. Calif. Clean Air & Sustainable Life Trip Round-Up

 
As I reflect on my 5th Pacific Northwest trip in three years, I feel like Alice in Wonderland, falling through the looking glass. Fast! Much doesn't make sense. Care to join reflections on my fall from expectations?

While the Pacific Northwest is stunning!--big trees, lakes, rivers, and the percolating life of the wet Puget Sound and Strait de Juan de Fuca--I'm tumbling through my looking glass, over bridges, missing exits, stumbling by the Space Needle that touches the dazzling blue gray changing sky; that big sky--most alive!--in the city I thought I may call home.

Welcome to Eugene, Oregon! Things To Do

 

Air quality challenge: Pollen

Gem: Willamette River running through town framed by trees and an extensive bike path.

Eugene is a liberal college town with the University of Oregon centrally located. It's great for canoeing, kayaking, white water rafting, and biking.

How To Drive Mountain-Passes In Oregon & Calif. Find A Friend.

You've got mail! All good and well but no one emailed that they'd join me on the soul-gripping drive from Oregon to California, specifically over the mountain ranges.

I need help. SOS in a blog post.

Eugene & Oregon Air Quality

 
I spoke to Sally Markos, public affairs manager for Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, regarding air quality in Eugene and surrounding Oregon areas. I wrote notes as she spoke, and may have made a few minor errors but for the most part, I think I've got it right.

1) What are the air quality challenges in Eugene?

Pollen: The Willamette Valley (farmland, wineries) is approximately 125 miles between here and Portland, a 2 hour drive, and prevailing winds dump the pollens of the valley here in Eugene.

No! That's A Scary Cliff Road!

"No! That's a scary cliff road!"

That's what Mr. Scary Road Informant said when I explained how I'd avoid the scary Mount Shasta I-5 South Pass, after trembling on its windy cliff roads when I drove north from California to British Columbia.

I'd told Mr. Scary Road Informant,

"I'll simply take 1-5 South from Eugene to Grants Pass to 199 to Crescent City to 101, and avoid I-5 South that cuts through Shasta, and instead see the stunning Redwood National Forest. Sure, it'll make the trip longer but it will be worthwhile and not scary."

"No! No!," bellowed Mr. Scary Road Informant.

"That's a scary cliff road! You may have a heart-attack. You can't fit two cars in the narrow two lane road overlooking the steep cliff! You might fall over!"

Not the reaction I'd hoped for.

"I was told it's a safe beautiful drive," I said with hope. "There are no scary sections."

Mr. Scary Road Informant wasted no time in responding.

"I've been there and I'm never going back!"

Welcome to Eugene, Oregon! King of Sustainable Living

With so many smart kids running around the University of Oregon, it's no wonder Eugene is the king of sustainable living.

I arrived in the cloak of darkness because, shh! don't tell, I discovered Woodburn's tax-free outlet shopping!

Willamette Valley, Oregon

 

Warm Touchstones

When one feels kicked out of their favorite country due to a border custom agent, there's nothing like warm touchstones on the long road home. And it's a long road to California from British Columbia. Alone. Now with a cold. So two days ago, about an hour outside of Portland, I called Hotel Monaco but they were booked. Warm touchstone. So I was referred to their sister Kimpton hotel--Hotel Vintage Plaza. I got an excellent rate and was introduced to warm touchstone number two. Like Hotel Monaco they have a nightly wine bar, all amenities I could possibly want in my room, and most importantly, real customer service. People working here go out of their way to make you feel taken care of. Time to take a shower and look at a map but I know I can call downstairs and they'll do the work and print out mapquest for me. What I really want is a driver.

Synchronicity in the Olympic National Forest Part Two & Finding Clean Air

As I blogged yesterday, meeting Betty in Hoodsport--a tiny dot on the map in the Olympic National Forest--was like spiritually-speaking looking in the mirror. 

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, where's the cleanest air and most sustainable life for women escaping Los Angeles of them all?"

Betty rattled off Pacific Northwest towns with the speed and knowledge of someone, well, like me.