Help Parsons give PJs to deserving foster kids November 5, 2009

Every child deserves to be warm at night in their own cuddly pajamas, which is why Parsons Public Relations is helping Treehouse with their pajama drive this year.

Treehouse provides unparalleled services to over 4,300 foster kids in the Seattle community.  Wouldn’t it be great if every kid served by Treehouse had pajamas to call their own this winter?  It’s a lofty goal, but with your help, we can reach it.  If you feel as inclined as we do to help these children stay warm this holiday season, please donate money and/or new or slightly used pajamas.

Make checks out to Treehouse.  Donations can be sent to/dropped off at the Parsons office:  6517 Phinney Ave. North, Seattle, WA 98103.

For additional information about Treehouse, visit www.treehouseforkids.org.

Happy (green) Halloween! October 30, 2009

I recently received Washington Toxics Coalition’s monthly “Growing Up Green” newsletter.  This issue was about how to help kids have a fun and safe Halloween — free from the scary toxins that are found in many costumes and candy.  They had some great tips that I wanted to pass along:

• Avoid PVC costumes and masks.  Costumes made of PVC are dangerous because they have been found to contain lead and phthalates.  These two chemicals are known to harm children’s learning and behavior, and have also been linked to birth defects and asthma.  The Green Halloween website — which I wrote about last year — has some great ideas and also has links for purchasing toddler and baby costumes.
• Make your own face paint.  The danger with most face paints is that manufacturers are not required to list out ingredients for consumers.  How do you know if a paint is safe or not?  There is no way to know for sure.  That’s why you should check out Smart Mama’s website for some great homemade recipes to make your wounds, warts and blood — all safe enough to eat!
• Avoid costume jewelry.  This goes for kids big and small…  Costume jewelry is another dangerous place that dangerous chemicals can be found.  Recent testing has found lead in a high percentage of costume jewelry.  Instead, accessorize with materials that you know are safe, like paper or fabric.
• Choose treats wisely.  The FDA issued a warning on some candies imported from Mexico that have been found to contain lead — ewww.  Watch for certain ingredients, such as chili powder and tamarind, as these have been identified as possible sources of exposure.

Have a happy, fun and safe Halloween!

Phabulous Phinney Pig Out is next week September 23, 2009

I would try to run with the ‘p’ alliteration but that might get old pretty quickly.  October 1st (one week away!) marks the annual Phabulous Phinney Pig Out:  twenty Phinney/Greenwood restaurants, bars and coffeehouses are teaming up to help raise funds for the Phinney Neighborhood Association Soup Kitchens.

Dine at one of the restaurants listed below and a portion of their proceeds will be donated.  Eat early.  Eat late.  Whether you do breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert (or all of the above!), the more you pig out, the more good you do.  Just don’t watch “The Biggest Loser” when you get home…

Here are the phabulous establishments to choose from:

• 74th St. Ale House, 7401 Greenwood
• Barking Dog Alehouse, 705 NW 70th St.
• Bleacher’s Pub, 8118 Greenwood
• Carmelita, 7314 Greenwood
• Fresh Flours, 6015 Phinney
• Gaspare Ristorante, 6705 Greenwood
• Kouzina, 8403 Greenwood
• Mae’s Phinney Ridge Cafe, 6412 Phinney
• Oliver’s Twist, 6820 Greenwood
• Park Pub, 6114 Phinney
• Pete’s Egg Nest, 7717 Greenwood
• Picnic, 6801 Greenwood
• Pig ‘N’ Whistle, 8412 Greenwood
• Prost!, 7311 Greenwood
• Red Mill Burgers, 312 N 67th
• Santa Fe Cafe, 5910 Phinney
• Stumbling Goat Bistro, 6722 Greenwood
• The Dray, 708 NW 65th
• Wingdome, 7818 Greenwood
• Yanni’s Greek Restaurant, 7419 Greenwood

Seattle: Bag fee or no bag fee, don’t forget to vote August 17, 2009

Tuesday, August 18th is primary election day, so don’t forget to vote!  Your ballot needs to be postmarked by Tuesday or put in a drop box by 8pm.  If you’re like me and have been filling out absentee ballots for years now, then you should know the drill.  If not, the Seattle Times has a quick reference guide for you.

As for who to vote for, I am going to leave that up to you.  If you want to read up on where the various candidates stand on the issues, the Seattle Times has a collection of articles.  But seeing as its late Monday night, lets get down to endorsements.  Love the Stranger or hate it, it has a great list of endorsements based on one-on-one interviews with the candidates – click here for the rundown.  Fair warning:  This is the Stranger, so the language can be, well, a little rough (read: swear words in the first paragraph).  Shock and awe aside, I have found my new election resource in Seattle’s alternative newspaper.

The clock is ticking.  Go buy a stamp already!

Mike McGinn is a pretty cool guy.

Rent a bike, Power a bus July 16, 2009

We like bikes – for commuting, exercise, travel and enjoyment.  The thought of creating energy by riding our bike?  Genius!  We’ve written about this concept before, and I’m sure there are some other creative and exciting ideas out there (better than Ed Begley Jr. powering his toaster by bike – among other things), but I think this one has great potential: Hybrid2.

Designer Chiyu Chen has thought up an integrated transit system that credits people for riding bicycles.  His Hybrid2 concept consists of a fleet of rentable bikes that generate and store kinetic energy, which is then used to power a city’s hybrid electric buses – perfect for Seattle!  Rent a bike, charge it up via pedal power, then return it to a kiosk – where the station feeds energy into the city’s smart grid and you receive a credit towards your next bus pass.

How does this work?  Well, it’s all about a regenerative braking system on the bikes that allows riders to generate and store energy by pedaling and braking in an ultracapacitor (totally makes me think of the flux capacitor from the Back to the Future movies!).  The designer has also proposed a solar-powered bike stand outfitted with an RFID card reader that would unlock the bikes for use and store your bus credit information – kind of like Zipcar for bicycles.

This would be the perfect complement to a bicycle master plan and integrated transporation system.  Hint, hint Mayor Nickels…

Bike to the future!  Via Inhabitat

The silence of the hybrids July 15, 2009

As I have mentioned before, I drive a Prius, the king of super stealthy hybrids, and I love it.  If you haven’t been in a hybrid, chances are you have been near one when it is driving – it is super quiet, especially at slow speeds, with a sound a little louder than a hum.  There is a great VW commercial that pokes fun at this lack of vroom vroom.

Now I will admit that there is some frustration when I get stuck behind someone walking through a parking lot who can’t hear me creeping along behind them, or when I have to slow to a crawl through my neighborhood to keep from hitting one of the many kids who fly out in front of my car because it is so quiet.  But I have never felt the need some sort of sound-making function that alerts others of my presence, which was the focus of an article in the New York Times Green Inc. column this Monday.

In the article, the silence of hybrids is a cause for concern and is seen as a potential hazard, especially for blind people, bicyclists and children – and I would like to add, those of us out there who text while walking.  Legislation as been introduced to Congress that would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study the issue and establish a minimal decibel level.  Of course, there are a crop of entrepreneurs who are jumping on this as an opportunity to create their own lines of noisemakers – what one refers to as “drivetones.”

To be honest, I really wouldn’t want my Prius to sound like a Harley.  An ice cream truck? Maybe.  Seriously though, I don’t think this is a matter of adding sound to hybrids.  The responsibility is on the Hybrid owner to be aware that his/her car can catch people off-guard because it is so quiet, and drive with extra awareness.  It’s called defensive driving.

Get Bike Smart July 7, 2009

Want a map of all the bike routes in Seattle? Want to know what bicycle events are happening in your community? Need a little bike maintenance 101 before you (finally) dust off the cruiser for the summer?

There is an answer: Bike Smart Seattle. Sponsored by the City of Seattle and part of the Mayor’s Climate Action Now initiative (lets be greener than Portland!), you can request a free kit complete with bike map, coupons, calendar of events and more. Even better, a Seattle Bicycle Ambassador will drop off your free info kit. I was intrigued when I received the mailer and have signed up for my free kit. To the Ambassador who has to do the giant hillclimb up to my place, I am sorry.

So, come on, sign up for your own kit at www.bikesmartseattle.org – you can’t beat free! And enjoy the summer by bike.

Water, water everywhere June 26, 2009

Here is some food – or actually water – for thought:

How many gallons of water is in a…

• Car:  Approx. 39,090 gallons of water go into making a car (whether or not that includes the 518 gallons it takes to make each tire is unclear).
• Pair of Jeans:  Approx 1,800 gallons of water are needed to grow enough cotton to produce your favorite denim.  How many pairs do you have in your closet?
• Cotton T-shirt:  400 gallons goes into growing the cotton for an ordinary tee.
• Barrel of Beer:  1,500 gallons of water are used to process 32 gallons of beer!
• To-Go Latte:  It takes 53 gallons to make your morning (or afternoon!) latte – and that’s just the drink itself.  Factor in any flavoring, sugar, lid, cup, sleeve, etc. and you could have yourself quite the water footprint.

And Treehugger has the skinny on how much water it takes to grow all of our food.  I guess we could all use to go on a water diet…  I know this is just one more thing to think about when you are at the grocery store, buying your tall-extra hot-no foam-blah blah blah latte or shopping for a new pair of jeans, but I hope the numbers inspire at least the smallest change.  It’s a drop in the bucket, but everything helps.

Pimpin’ the Prius June 5, 2009

I love my Prius.  I coast as much as possible – and try not to hold up traffic! – to watch my average MPGs creep up.  I get like 400-something miles on one tank of gas.  And it is stealthy quiet, which only really becomes a problem in parking lots…

I would like to share my love of the Prius with you.  A fun video for Friday, courtesy of the Casual Mafia YouTube channel:

News from the ‘hood May 29, 2009

The Parsons pad rests atop Seattle’s beautiful Phinney Ridge.  We love our neighborhood - with its diverse people, community organizations, boutique shops, coffee shops, restaurants (happy hour!) and an eclectic mix of homes.  We’ve raved about it before here.  We especially love it in the summertime, when everything (including the tree outside my desk window) is in bloom.  In case you need any more reason why the north end rocks, here is some news from the ‘hood:

• The Phinney Farmer’s Market opens today!  Time to get your fresh fruit and veggies, flowers, jam, pickles, cheese, hand-made pasta, baked goods, pizza and more in the parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center – every Friday from 3-7pm through Oct. 2nd.  Today’s market features live music from 4-6pm.  There is always a white board out front detailing what’s fresh that week, but you can also sign up for a weekly “Ripe and Ready Report” from the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance.  Send an email to nfma@seattlefarmersmarkets.org to be added to the list.
• The PNA Home & Garden Tour is coming up on June 7th, 11am-5pm ($12 for PNA members; $15 for nonmembers – tickets available online).  The Phinney Neighborhood Association Home & Garden Tour provides the opportunity to visit five neighborhood homes that have been remodeled and five urban gardens to inspire your summer projects.
• Get your art on the 2nd Friday of each month from 6-9pm at the Greenwood-Phinney Artwalk.  Each month a map with updated listing will be available for art walk attendees to download from the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber website.  Cruise the neighborhood and check out cool artists – and be sure to stop by the Greenwood Collective when you’re out and about.  They are always up to something creative and inspiring.  Their space – tiki room and all – is available for party rentals too.
• The penguins are on the march!  In anticipation of the new penguin exhibit, the Woodland Park Zoo and the Greenwood Collective are coordinating the decoration and adoption of 62 penguins (a la Pigs on Parade).  Keep your eye out for these colorful creatures that will be dotting the Greenwood, Phinney, Ballard and Fremont neigbhorhoods at area businesses.
• And it’s not Phinney, but our neighbor Ballard was named one of the country’s best neighborhoods.  Get the scoop on the MyBallard blog.  Ballard has seen a revival in recent years, though it retains its funky flavor.  I hope the same will be true for Piper Village.