Whilst Christmas is bound to look very different this year, the festive countdown is officially on. Cue the turkey, advent calendars and Christmas crackers. But our much-loved celebrations are costing us more than we realise, with experts linking festive mass consumption to long-term environmental damage in previous years. It’s estimated that an extra 30 per cent of rubbish is produced and discarded during the festive period, which amounts to around three million tonnes of waste. But how do we go about doing better, without saying goodbye to all that festive magic? Here are a few ideas because a wasteful Christmas just won’t cut it any longer… Eco-friendly Christmas trees…
Author: Tony Cooper
Urban Fit opened in November as one of Southern Oregon’s newest gyms. It truly encompasses the phrase “family business.” Steve Adams Sr. and Jr. are both world-class powerlifters that call Medford home. The younger Steve was a former stand out football player at South Medford and Oregon Duck. After college, he joined his dad in the world of powerlifting. Steve Sr., or “Pops” as he’s known around Urban Fit, has been a powerlifter for about 42 years. He still competes in events and is one of the best in the nation. Both he and his son own state titles in…
Jackson County public health officials are asking people who test positive to inform all of their close contacts right away. At the start of the pandemic, contact tracers from the county would immediately identify and inform people who came in contact with the infected person. Nichole Brickey manages the contact tracers in Jackson County, and she says that because timing is so important, it’s best to leave some responsibility up to the public. “There’s such a backlog of people that tested positive that by the time that the investigation was done and we found out who the contacts were, we…
After another close loss, this past week to Stanford, Oregon State has one final game of the 2020 season. This week the Beavers will remain home and host the Arizona State Sun Devils in a 7:30 pm game at Reser Stadium. Here is a look what the Beavers expect to have ready for Saturday night’s game against ASU. Not a subscriber? Sign up now to get all the great coverage that BeaverBlitz and the 247Sports team produces all season long, including access to The Lodge and all of the premium stories on BeaverBlitz.com! Members also receive a complementary CBS All Access account as well.…
The volume of traffic that passes through the I-5 freeway could be dangerous as winter storms are expected to come in. Oregon department of transportation spokesperson Gary Leaming said it’s important to chain up your tires, especially in the case of a conditional closure when you would be required to have chained tires on dangerously snowy roads. Leaming said, “We get whiteout conditions that kind of thing that before we can put a chain requirement on or start metering vehicles that you may be sitting in traffic for just a short period of time and hopefully we can get people…
There’s no reason why the art gallery as we know it, a 19th century invention, should last forever. But there’s also no sign of an alternative on the horizon. As with other small New York businesses that’ve been closed since mid-March, it’s not clear how many galleries will be able to hold out long enough to reopen. (When I began writing this, galleries had begun to reopen in Berlin, Paris, and elsewhere with proper protection, but no clear date for reopening had been set for those in New York; now the latter have started reopening, still mostly, it seems, by…
A sixth Nigerian citizen will serve prison for his role in a tax fraud case that cost the government more than $11 million. Oluwole Oluwaseun Odunowo, 37, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Medford to 4-1/2 years in prison for mail fraud and aggravated theft for his role in an elaborate scheme to use a cache of stolen identities — largely belonging to Oregonians — to file false tax returns in the victims’ names, intercept their Internal Revenue Service refunds onto prepaid debit cards then wire the money to Nigeria. Odunowo’s sentence marks the apparent end to an investigation that U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon…
Rogue Valley Habitat for Humanity is providing fire victims with furniture. It was first providing them with sifting kits to recover what they could from the ashes. Today it has shifted its mission to now supply the displaced victims with what many could not recover- furniture. When Habitat for Humanity first started accepting donations the director said the community was quick to help. Their store and it’s storage areas quickly filled up. Now they are only accepting the “must have” items that make a house a home. “We’re stocked except for a few items that we’re a little bit low on,”…
Oregon Coast Aquarium is offering the chance to start 2020 on a positive note by volunteering to speak on behalf of Oregon’s marine animals and their environments. The aquarium will hold its New Volunteer Information Session and tour this Saturday, Jan. 11, starting at 10 am. Anyone interested in joining the aquarium’s dedicated interpreter volunteer team is encouraged to attend. “The connection that volunteers develop with the aquarium’s animals, staff, fellow volunteers and guests continues to be the energy that brings us all together as a close-knit community,” said Volunteer Services Manager Beth Hawkyard. Interpreter volunteers are an integral part…
Jackson County Public Health reports 82 new COVID-19 cases as of 12:01 am on December 11, 2020. Additionally, two cases were removed from the total case count that had a previous reporting date. These updates bring the total reported COVID-19 cases in Jackson County to 4,704. Jackson County reports three new COVID-19 death; this update brings the total COVID-19 deaths to 48. Jackson County’s 46th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old male who tested positive on November 17 and died on December 3 at his residence. He had underlying conditions. Jackson County’s 47th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old male who tested positive on November 21…