Sustainable Life - December 19th 2013

The Portland area’s guide to green living

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Sustainable Life section
thursday, december 19, 2013 • www.portlandtribune.com

James Beard
Public Market director Ron
Paul checks out
locally sourced apples at his
neighborhood grocery store,
Food Front in
Northwest Portland.
What’s ripe
PAMPLIN MEDIA
GROUP PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE

to sell at James P
op quiz: Which is local?
farmers, chefs, artisan food and beverage
a) A Portland craft distiller uses grain from Kentucky that is
makers must heed.
The board will write it into policy and
distilled in Indiana and bottled and branded here.
expects to issue a call for vendors in about 18 months. The process is starting
Beard market?
b) A Portland cheesemonger opens a early because a public jury will help cu-
shop with cheeses he hand-selects from all over the world.
rate the market’s vendors based on these standards.
c) A Portland chocolate maker visits Ecuador to hand-select cacao beans, Forty to 60 vendors will get three- to ive-year leases at the year-round mar-
which he brings here to
ket, which will occupy
hand-grind, roast and
temper into a dark choco- Story by
three blocks that are now surface parking lots. Mel-
■ Stall selection latebar.
Whatislocal?Depends Jennifer Anderson
vin Mark Development, whichisplanninga resi-
on who you ask.
dential, hotel or office
will take broader None of these artisan entrepreneurs would it the requirements to be a regu- tower above the market, is pursuing
LEED Gold status for the complex.
lar vendor at the Portland Farmers Mar- Local rules more lexible
view of what’s ket, since their ingredients are not grown by hand on their own land within 400 So how will the James Beard Market
miles from Portland.
But they could be candidates for space deine local?
Paul says that as long as vendors fully
at the future James Beard Public Market. disclose their products’ points of origin,
locally sourced
Twelve years in the making, the mar- ket — which aims to be a major icon and it’s about “the foodshed that supports Portland’s appetite.” That foodshed ex-
economic boost for the city — won’t open at the west end of the Morrison Bridge tends into Eastern Oregon and Washing- ton and down into Northern California. It
for another four or ive years, pending won’t include Seattle, a major metropoli-
the outcome of a major fundraising drive. But Ron Paul, its founder and execu- tan area with its own foodshed.
Alaskan salmon would be OK because
tive director, has been wrestling with the all-important question, “What is local,”
they migrate. Lemons, limes and oranges can come from California, Florida and
Ron Paul greets Food Front produce buyer and for a long time.
Mexico, because they’re not grown here.
merchandiser Josh Alsberg at the store’s Northwest location.
He and the market’s board of directors
are about to set their own deinition that
See MARKET / Page 2

Think outside the gift

box this holiday season
Cyclists and
pedestrians head
for home during
an evening
commute along
Ten tips for giving
the Willamette
waterfront.
City planners
green presents, and
propose a new
north-south
saving some green
biking route
By SHASTA KEARNS MOORE
a few blocks
to the west.
For Pamplin Media Group
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: Living the sustainable life
JONATHAN HOUSE
City seeks full network can get even more dificult
during the
holiday sea-
“I like the idea of giving son. Be- tween all
of downtown bike routes
a gift to the extra food, pres-
someone, but ents, gift
also giving
wrapping and other
a gift to the consump- tion, the New green loop for same about driving downtown — especially with so many bi- plan designed to accommodate the next 20 years of growth in
community.”
Environ- PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JONATHAN HOUSE It’s not so hard to ind green-oriented gifts. Portland’s Conscious Box
bicyclists proposed cyclists on the roads nowadays.
the city.
— Katrina Scotto di Carlo, mental Pro- tection sends out boxes illed with sustainably-oriented products to several along Park Blocks
But downtown is in line for $6.6 million worth of bicycling “As we grow, we want to add life and vitality to the city,
Supportland Agency says thousand customers each month.
and pedestrian improvements not congestion,” says Portland
co-founder
the average household families for 20 years to help thoughtful about the holidays By STEVE LAW
in the next few years, thanks to a recent award from Metro, Bureau of Transportation spokeswoman Diane Dulken.
generates
25 percent more waste than them make sense of the holiday season and live out their val- takes planning and early dis- cussions with friends and fam- Pamplin Media Group
and safety improvements will be a top priority. City planners The central city’s residential population is projected to more
usual between Thanksgiving ues. Often, families ind them- ily, she says.
Bicycling in downtown also are drawing up plans for a than double by 2035, and the
and New Year’s Day.
Portland-based consultant selves in the trap of consumer- ism, Collins says, even when “You don’t have to change
Portland isn’t for the weak- hearted.
complete network of downtown biking routes, as part of an up- number of downtown jobs
Lynn Collins has worked with
they swore to avoid it. Being
See GIFTS / Page 4
And some might say the
dated comprehensive land-use
See BIKING / Page 5