There’s more urgency for climate action in Oregon than ever before

Statewide coalition urges more action to reduce climate pollution and transition to clean energy 

We’re living in a climate emergency. The unprecedented outbreak of climate change-fueled wildfires across Oregon this summer brings a fierce urgency to the movement for climate action at every level of government, as our state faces lost lives and communities, and the fallout from weeks of hazardous smoke.

Marking a year since #FridaysForFuture climate action demonstrations filled the streets in at least 19 cities and towns across Oregon, bringing out more than 20,000 Oregonians from Seaside to Roseberg, Portland to La Grande, members of the Renew Oregon coalition demand to know how state leaders will continue to answer the call, especially in the legislature, which has failed to pass significant climate protection laws through four sessions.

100% Clean Economy: What does it look like?

There is a lot wrong with how we currently power our lives and economy, and a lot of people are suffering the consequences. Our elected leaders and big businesses have failed for a generation to listen to science and deal head-on with the leading cause of the climate crisis-- burning fossil fuels. 

There’s hope, because we’re not waiting on some big breakthrough. We can build a 100% clean economy with technology available to us today. The Oregon Climate Action Plan was adopted earlier this year. If it lives up to its ambitions, it will propel us toward a 100% Clean Economy. 

We have a basic responsibility to leave our kids and grandkids a healthy future, but the climate crisis and unchecked air and water pollution from dirty energy are putting that at risk. Whether it’s the coronavirus or climate change, we’ve seen what happens when people in power ignore science, delay action, and pass off their responsibility.

The health and economic consequences of failing to follow the science are well known for Oregonians.

#ClimateCrisis

😷 🔥  more severe wildfires and smoke threatening communities

👩🏽‍🌾 🌾 farmers struggling to grow enough food to feed us

👷 🧒🏿 👵 outdoor workers, children and elders suffering from heatwaves, lung & heart disease, and cancer 

💧 🚰 endangering clean drinking water 

🌲 🐟 🦀 our forest trees, river fish, and ocean crabs dying.

Is your stove making you sick? What do four walls and a roof have to do with the climate crisis? How are utility bills and racism connected?

All of these questions are linked to climate action! Oregon is undertaking its biggest climate action yet: The Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP). Years of Oregonians pushing our state to do more to stop the climate crisis have resulted in a sweeping set of climate actions getting underway in the next year and a half. 

We want you to know more about OCAP and what it does so you are empowered to defend it against polluting industries with us, when they try to rollback or weaken this major protection for our health and future. 

This installment is about Clean Buildings, a critical climate solution. If you think of the Oregon Climate Action Plan like a house, we’re actually passed the blueprint stage. The executive order putting OCAP into place is like having the foundation and the frame of the house already built! Over the next 16 months will be a series of rulemakings by the state, which is like putting all the wiring, plumbing and drywall in our Climate Action house. It’s the nitty gritty work of protecting our children’s future.

Corporate lobbyists will try to sell the rulemakers shoddy wires, poisonous pipes, and flimsy materials or try to convince them now is no time to build a house at all. We have to be ready to fight back and demand the strongest, most equitable climate action possible, built from the best stuff out there. 

Will you take the pledge to defend OCAP together?

For too long, Oregon hasn’t done enough to address the threat of the climate crisis, while every year wildfires burn hotter and longer, clean water is endangered and the temperatures rise. These impacts threatened our health and families, our farms, forests, and fisheries. 

Inaction ends in the year 2020! Whether through the legislature, governor’s office, or at the ballot, Oregonians refuse to let another year pass without significant climate action in our state. 

Oregon's largest climate protection campaign has a "you-sized" hole in it. Join here!

These next years are critical in determining what kind of world we leave our children -- with scientists only giving us about ten more years to basically cut our climate pollution in half. Oregon’s legislature has failed for three years in a row to pass bold climate legislation. Some young climate advocates have gone all the way through middle school and are now in high school waiting for our state’s leaders to step up. We don’t have any more time.

Give us that #ClimateHope

Everyone's favorite swashbuckling Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, shocked the world with an unexpected announcement that Canada would become the first country in our hemisphere to put a price on carbon pollution nationwide -- and by 2018.

A top trending topic on Facebook: a pretty scary article about an undeniable threshold. Our atmosphere is above 400 ppm of carbon dioxide and it won't come down in our lifetime. It's a little science-y, but that's a dangerous mark. Still not too late to turn things around with a clean energy revolution, but the window is closing fast!

Out-of-state oil companies and their allies spend big money in Oregon politics, trying to influence lawmakers to defeat clean energy policies. These huge corporations are putting their profits ahead of the people who live here and the climate we need to protect to keep enjoying our way of life.

Common Cause Oregon, along with many helpful partners, has put together a report on exactly which politicians in Oregon raked in the most money from polluters and how those same politicians voted on clean energy.

All this week, Common Cause is naming names and connecting the dots to follow the money.

You're invited to see who is on their list and what tactics out-of-state oil companies are using to stop progress toward a clean energy economy in Oregon.

First Agreement Spotlights New Collaboration with Mayors; Second Agreement Serves to Step Up Previous Efforts in Light of COP21 Global Climate Accord 

SAN FRANCISCO – On behalf of a region of 53 million residents, three U.S. governors and the B.C environment minister joined the mayors of six major West Coast cities to announce the Pacific North America Climate Leadership Agreement at the Clean 

Energy Ministerial (CEM7) today. Leaders from the Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC)—a partnership between California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia—teamed up with mayors from Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Oakland, and Vancouver—all members of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance—to approve the pact to move the region’s clean energy economy forward. With a combined GDP of USD $2.8 trillion, the Pacific North America region represents the world’s fifth largest economy.

The West Coast leaders announced the state-cities agreement as a part of the subnational portion of the Ministerial. Today andtomorrow, energy ministers, elected officials, business leaders, and other high-level delegates from 23 countries and the European Commission are working to fulfill the pledges they made last December at the COP21 global climate change talks in Paris with clean energy policy commitments.

We did it, Oregon! We're on our way to being rid of power from polluting coal and we're building a clean energy economy.

The Clean Electricity and Coal Transition bill makes Oregon the first state in the nation with legislation to go coal-free. And it is the first state-level renewable energy victory following the Paris climate agreement.

The bill has a lot of great stuff built in and will have historic effect on cutting climate pollution in Oregon and helping our state shift to a clean energy economy.

Here's our TOP TEN LIST of what's to love about the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition bill:

For the past quarter, I’ve been the Clean Energy Campaign Coordinator for OSPIRG at the University of Oregon.  My fellow students and I know that climate change is the greatest threat of our time. Globally we’re already experiencing the symptoms of climate change, which include more severe storms, ocean acidification, and drought. Here in Oregon, last summer wildfires devastated property and led to huge consequences for our health and economy. This is the issue of our generation, and that’s why we decided to take action.