Photo of high prairie with Mt. Adams in background
Two years ago today: One of biggest climate wins in Oregon history
Today is a significant milestone for Oregon’s climate progress, but it requires a little time traveling to the cusp of the pre-COVID times to fully appreciate how far we’ve come.
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“Transition is inevitable.  Justice is not.”- Quinton Sankofa, Movement Generation 

Climate disruption isn’t an “environmental” issue in the usual sense.  It’s a basic matter of social and economic justice. 

The impacts of climate change generally hit first and worst on those who do the least to cause it and are the most vulnerable to the consequences.  And the primary cause of climate change–fossil fuel extraction, transportation and combustion–takes a heavy toll on the health and well-being of communities of color, indigenous people, and low-income communities.

So addressing the climate challenge means more than emission reduction, more than simply mitigating environmental impacts of our economic and energy systems. It means rebuilding those systems to deliver sustainable prosperity–economic health that works for a long time and a lot more people.

A clean energy economy can offer that promise. It can produce economic vitality in the present without destroying the future. It can produce shared prosperity, by reducing the concentrated economic power of fossil fuel suppliers, investing in communities, and increasing reliance on abundant local resources.

But this transition won’t be easy or quick. It’s a huge social and economic shift, and that always poses challenges, particularly for those who live closest to the economic margins and those who rely on fossil fuel industries for work. The clean energy transition is about shrinking carbon footprints, but it won’t work unless it’s also about growing:

  • Economic security
  • Opportunities for all – good work, strong local economies, shared prosperity
  • Affordable energy and transportation services
  • Healthier communities

 

chimney smog pollution

Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission chooses industry over communities to develop air pollution regulations

The EQC has decided to stack the cap-and-reduce rulemaking advisory committee with fossil fuel and big business interests.

Biden's climate and clean energy nominees

Here's your clean energy team for 2021

Biden's climate picks bring experience, grit and a focus on environmental justice. Plus: Who the gas industry is targeting now, and climate book recommendations for the holidays!

Photo of smoky sky

It doesn't have to feel like Life on Mars

Our climate movement is more unified than ever, but we're reaching a critical point where we must change a lot of things all at once. Let's do this together.

Red skies above smoke stacks and pollution, indicative of the hellscape fortold from runaway climate change

Cap-and-reduce: What’s at stake as DEQ kicks off program design

One major component of the Oregon Climate Action Plan is a directive for the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to set up a new program to “cap and reduce” climate-harming pollution from Oregon’s large polluters.

Groups of people in a park are clustered inside marked circles to demonstrate the changes in public spaces during COVID19

Why solving the climate crisis is more urgent than ever

Does it sometimes seem like we're now living in a permanent state of emergency? Because we are. And our need for climate action is anything but a distraction.

Two workers installing a solar panel on a roof

Stop Cuts to Oregon’s Rooftop Solar Rebate Program

Oregon legislators have proposed cutting the state’s only support for many rural and low-income communities to access solar and energy storage for their own roofs.

house with solar panels

Clean, climate-friendly buildings can help Oregon build back better

We can rebuild and recover in a more just, clean, healthy, and smart way—while creating lots of high quality green jobs along the way. One of those climate-smart and equitable solutions to build back better than before is right in front of us, and all around us: our homes and other buildings.

Sunrise at Pilot Rock, Oregon

Oregon’s Climate Action Plan crosses first milestone

Last month, twelve state agencies delivered their plans to carry out the Governor’s Executive Order on climate. Here's what we know so far.

100% Electric! BYD Bus

EQUITY: our first milepost on the road to a clean transportation system

Shifting to electric vehicles economy-wide is one of the fastest ways we can clean our air. However, we do not experience harmful air pollution equally, so we must ensure that communities facing disproportionate toxic air pollution are prioritized for transportation programs and infrastructure that improve air quality.

It's go-time for the Oregon Legislature to pass cap-and-invest

As we head into the 2020 session, we’re doing everything we can to ensure the Legislature passes a strong cap and invest policy. We’re also working on a number of other complementary bills to move the ball forward on climate – some of which are also unfinished business from last session.

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