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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2021)
A6 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021 Eugene man helps save unwanted items from landfi lls By ADAM DUVERNAY The Register-Guard If it didn’t end up in Ward Ricker’s storage unit, it would have just been junk. Instead, he’s hauling away the things others don’t want and giving it away to people who do. Much of it isn’t good enough to donate to thrift stores. But Ricker sees fi nd- ing a home — other than the dump — for the furniture, household items and all the odds and ends he gathers as a way to reduce overall waste. He’s hoping giving away stuff catches on. Ricker is trying to start a free store, where every- thing costs shoppers exactly nothing. Just about every Sunday since April, Ricker has been opening a storage unit in Eugene to anyone who wants some free stuff . Ricker’s main objective is to inter- cept items otherwise bound for the landfi ll by giving it all away to people who want and need them. “I’m concerned about waste issues,” Ricker said. “We’re using up all our resources, wasting them so future generations won’t have them. We’re putting all our waste in these horrible, toxic piles we call landfi lls, and it’s just not right. We shouldn’t be doing that to our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It’s just wrong.” Ricker stocks his free stuff storage locker with the things he’s hauled away since he started a junk removal busi- ness last December, a ven- ture he said began as a way to learn more about waste. Adam Duvernay/The Register-Guard No Waste Eugene volunteer Shannon Wellborn, left, and founder Ward Ricker pause on a recent Sunday outside the storage unit that’s being used as a free store to rehouse items Ricker hopes to keep out of dumps and landfi lls. By April, he was giving the items he hauls away for free and hoping to spark the development of a nonprofi t organization dedicated to cost-free shopping. Ricker gets paid to haul away junk, but he said cli- ents are often pleased to learn their old things won’t just be tossed in the dump. Now he wants to take it to the next step. Ricker is thinking about calling the future organiza- tion “No Waste Eugene.” “Furniture, houseware, dishes, there’s electronic stuff , tools, hardware, books. Most of the stuff I haul off I think is reusable,” Ricker said. “Let’s have a place where people can take it rather than the dump, what I’m calling ‘in-between waste’ good enough peo- ple will use it if you give it to them but that thrift stores don’t want and ends up in the dump.” Danielle Sirota visited Ricker’s weekly giveaways for a simple reason. “I like free stuff ,” Sirota said. Sirota said she takes only a few things, such as an alarm clock or a new push cart. She said it’s no sur- prise the unwanted items get scooped up quick — she sees it all the time. “People throw away so much. Even at my apartment building, they will put it out by the dumpster and then it will all just disappear,” Sirota said. “Free stores,” where donated items are given away cost-free, have been around for decades, sometimes as occasional pop-up events and sometimes inside a storefront. They can be charity-driven or focused on creating social or environmental solutions. Everyone is invited to Ricker’s giveaways, though the fi rst hour is reserved for shoppers of limited fi nancial means, he said. The events are held between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sundays. Those seek- ing early entry are asked to Consult a PROFESSIONAL LEO FINZI Astoria’s Best State’s summer heat a warning of what’s to come By MONICA SAMAYOA Oregon Public Broadcasting The Pacifi c Northwest endured some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded last June, with some areas in Oregon reaching as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit. On June 28, Portland saw an all-time record high tem- perature of 116 degrees. Other areas nearby in the state also hit all-time record highs and felt the excessive heat. The cause? A high pressure sys- tem settled over the region, forming a “heat dome” that trapped hot air over the region from June 24 to June 29. June’s unprecedented heat didn’t just send people into a frenzy to buy portable AC units. It also delivered a bru- tal wake-up call that climate change is here. For more than two centu- ries the global burning of fos- sil fuels like coal and petro- leum has released carbon into the atmosphere, trapping heat and warming the planet. Gla- ciers are melting, sea levels are rising, storms are becom- ing more extreme. And the types of once in a lifetime extreme heat events that occurred in the Northwest last summer are expected to become more common. That’s according to Ore- gon State University profes- sor and climatologist Chris Daly, among others. He called the heat dome frightening and unexpected — not just because of the extreme tem- peratures, but also because it hit the region just as summer was arriving. Residents had no time to get acclimated to the warmer summer months. Overnight temperatures were also the highest lows ever recorded during this time, leaving little to no relief from the excessive heat during the day. “Back then in the 1990s, it was pretty common knowl- edge that summer didn’t start until after the 4th of July,” Daly said. “What I’m seeing in the last few years, not every year … summer has started early.” Daly, who has created 30-year climate model maps to predict weather forecasts, said new models show there has been a 1-degree Fahren- heit increase in the Pacifi c Northwest during the months of July and August. He also ‘BACK THEN IN THE 1990S, IT WAS PRETTY COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT SUMMER DIDN’T START UNTIL AFTER THE 4TH OF JULY. WHAT I’M SEEING IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, NOT EVERY YEAR … SUMMER HAS STARTED EARLY.’ Chris Daly | Oregon State University professor and climatologist said the climate models also show a 30% to 50% decrease in summer rain. “That’s pretty substan- tial,” Daly said. “We don’t get much in the summer anyway, so the actual numbers are kind of small. But if you fi gure that we were getting maybe an inch and a half in precipita- tion in July and August, that’s maybe cut by a half or by a third.” The warming temperatures and drier weather are a dou- ble whammy for plants, trees and animals that depend on that water during those sum- mer months, Daly said. But he doesn’t expect the region will experience the heat intensity every year. “I think that what we’re seeing are warning signs of things to come and we need to start preparing to deal with these events that we call unusual now becoming more and more commonplace,” he said. The Northwest’s lack of readiness brought deadly con- sequences. According to the Oregon State Medical Exam- iner’s Offi ce’s offi cial count, 96 people died from heat related illnesses during that time, with 69 of those deaths occurring in Multnomah County. More than half of those who died in Multnomah County were older adults. Many of them were found alone in their homes. None of those who died had central air and only eight had a portable air conditioning unit, accord- ing to the county. Recent data also shows a drastic increase in the amount of people seeking emergency help. According to Mult- nomah County’s Healthy Homes and Communities Supervisor Brendon Hag- gerty, during a normal sum- mer in Multnomah county about 100 people visit emer- gency rooms for heat related illnesses. During just the few days of the heat dome event, he said hospitals saw more than 150 heat-related visits. Earlier in the year, Ore- gon Occupational Safety and Health Division, or Oregon OSHA, started working on rules to protect people who work outside of climate-con- trolled settings during a heat wave or a wildfi re smoke event. When the heat wave hit the region, advocates called on the agency to adopt tempo- rary rules after a farmworker died from heat-related illness on a farm north of Salem on June 26. At least three work- ers died of heat related ill- nesses while on the job due to the June heat wave. In August, Oregon OSHA adopted two new temporary rules that include providing and ensuring workers have access to shade, cool drink- ing water, and providing extra breaks to cool down if tem- peratures exceed 90 degrees. Thanks to all our customers for your support. Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year AstoriasBest.com ASTORIA CHIROPRACTIC To Export: click More passwords. Export upper- & lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. 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Wishing all the best for 2022 Chrome Password Check Up Mon-Fri 10-6 Sat/Sun Closed duplicate passwords you may have 77 11th Street, Suite H set up. Employ passwords with 8 or Astoria, OR more characters and combinations of 503-325-2300 JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR DMD, FAGD We Care About Our Community! call Ricker at 541-650-4662 to schedule beforehand. Ricker hopes the weekly giveaways generate enough interest and attention that others see the value in set- ting up a free store as a non- profi t with a physical loca- tion. But that idea is in its infancy, Ricker said, and for now it’s just him and, some- times, volunteers. Shannon Wellborn, one of those volunteers, said she always has visited sharing and giveaway events as a cheap alternative to buying items like books new or even used. But after her fi st visit to Ricker’s storage unit, she said she was eager to help out. “I was just so enamored,” Wellborn said. “It might just look like a storage unit full of trash to you, but when you don’t have any means for anything it’s a wonderful resource.” Ricker recently moved the location of his free give- aways. He now hosts them Sundays at Quail’s Nest Mini Storage in Eugene. business and inform readers about the types of services you provide. All you need to do is come up with a question that a customer might ask about your line of expertise and then give a detailed answer to help educate them before they even walk through your door. We are offering great rates and package deals that help save you money!