Portland, Oregon, to expand its plastic bag ban

The Portland City Council has voted to expand the city's plastic bag ban to include all 5,000 restaurants and retailers.

The expansion of the existing ban on single-use plastic checkout bags will happen in two phases. The first phase goes into effect on March 1, 2013 and will cover retail stores and food providers over 10,000 square feet in size. Phase two will expand the ban to an estimated 5,000 restaurants and retailers, including farmers markets and corner stores, and even Portland’s hundreds of food carts.

15 Tips for a plastic-free holiday

Here, courtesy of the Goody Awards, are 15 tips for reducing your plastic footprint this holiday season:Parties

1. Encourage your company to have a Green Plastic-Free Holiday Party

2. BYO – Bring your own utensils, cups, containers, and straws to holiday parties and gatherings 3. Instead of plastic, use washable plates, cups and utensils or paper / bamboo products that are easy to recycle or reuse 4. Use candles for mood lighting versus plastic lights 5. Reuse food containers for holiday leftovers Gifts 1. Buy plastic-free gifts – You can buy gifts from local artists with more sentimental meaning. You can also knit, cook or paint your own gift. 2. Give away metal straws and reusable utensils as party favors/employee gifts to encourage everyday green habits 3. Give the gift of cash versus trash 4. Buy music gift certificates on iTunes vs. CDs 5. Make your own wrapping paper and use paper not synthetic ribbon Shopping 1. Take your own cotton bag shopping to the grocery store, Best Buy, and department stores 2. Buy juice in a box carton versus a plastic bottle or make your own fresh fruit drinks using the farmer’s market fruit in a blender. 3. Buy from bulk food bins at grocery stores like Whole Foods to avoid plastic packaging 4. Support local artists by buying gifts that are plastic-free. 5. Bake cookies for tree decorations and pass on the tinsel. The Goody Awards is launching their Have a Green Plastic-Free Holiday campaign in connection with the Golden Goody Award (aka Oscar for social good) presentation to Anna Cummins of 5 Gyres at a UN Women’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter event on December 8th. Congratulations, Anna! And if you can't be there in person, join in her spirit of saving marine fish and wildlife from the plastic pollution that is choking our planet's waterways. Your efforts to reduce plastic pollution  can make a difference this holiday season and year round. Oh, and the snow people? They're from a plastic-free Christmas blogpost by our friends at Life less Plastic. Check it out, and Happy Holidays!

Green Building Information Gateway unveiled by US Green Building Council

The Green Building Information Gateway (GBIG) is an impressive new database from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) that reveals a host of data about the nation's most sustainable buildings. Information on over 42,000 buildings can be searched according to geographic region, green building strategies, and building name.USGBC describes GBIG as "a global innovation platform for exploring and comparing the green dimensions of the built environment."

Green Building Information Gateway from U.S. Green Building Council on Vimeo.

But don't get too hopeful; it doesn't provide comprehensive energy use data or other info on building performance, except for select buildings and cities. It is, however, a good resource for learning which buildings are using which strategies (organized by LEED credit), and getting an overview of green building projects both nationwide and in specific cities and states.

It's a good framework for future development that will hopefully include more rigorous data on project performance--especially energy use--but it's a gateway, and that's a start.

100% of new U.S. power is from wind and solar

Nearly 500 megawatts of new electrical generating capacity was added in the U.S. in September, and ALL of it was from renewable sources. This is the first time in U.S. history that wind and solar have accounted for all of the capacity brought online in a month.

Overall, it’s been a very good year for renewables. This year, 44% of all new generating capacity came from wind and solar, while new natural gas capacity accounted for 37% and coal just 18%.

According to Clean Edge News, the new renewable projects brought online in September consisted of five wind projects totaling 300 MW and 18 solar projects totaling 133 MW. Renewable energy sources now account for almost 15% of all installed U.S. electrical generating capacity. Could it be that coal really is a “dead man walking”?

Goodbye glass Coke bottles

It's the end of an era. Coca-Cola has announced it is discontinuing the use of glass bottles. The familiar shape is a redesign created by Raymond Loewy in 1954. He humbly called it "the most perfectly designed package in the word," and many would agree.

But more important than its design pedigree is the fact that Coke will now offer its beverages in only plastic bottles and plastic-lined cans. Those can’t be reused the way the glass bottled could.

Coke does plan to increase use of PlantBottles, made from 30% plant material, and says it plans to offer 100% plant-based bioplastic bottles in the future.