Reflections on the Recent IPCC Reports
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released two reports in the past eight months, both with dire warnings about the future of our planet and the need for immediate global action. If you are a concerned citizen who follows these headlines, you can probably relate that each time a flurry of articles swarms your feed there is a gut-punch feeling that may consume the rest of your day – or leave you feeling numb. You are not alone.
We have reached a point where scientific reports and collective emotional wellbeing are reciprocal. The most recent ...
Strengthening Oregon’s Climate Protection Program
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is getting closer to finalizing rules for a new Climate Protection Program. Over the past year, DEQ has made a number of positive changes to strengthen the rules; however, a few key policy design features still hang in the balance.
The Climate Protection Program aims to address the effects of climate change by capping and cutting greenhouse gas emissions from Oregon’s top polluting sources: transportation fuels, natural gas, and large industrial emitters. A well-designed Climate Protection Program provides ...
Centering Frontline Voices: Oregon OSHA Enacts Heat & Smoke Rules
In a summer already marked by unprecedented temperatures and a devastating wildfire season, OEC and its partners pressed Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to adopt a health-first standard when it comes to protecting vulnerable workers from climate hazards. As part of EO-20-04 (OCAP), Governor Kate Brown directed Oregon OSHA to develop standards in order to protect frontline workers from excessive heat caused by climate change and wildfire smoke exposure.
We know that not everyone is equally impacted by climate change. Frontline essential ...
OEC & Partners Advocate to Strengthen the Climate Protection Program
July 16, 2021
Governor Kate Brown
Office of the Governor
900 Court Street NE, Suite 254
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Director Richard Whitman
Department of Environmental Quality
700 NE Multnomah St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97232
Cc: Chair George and Members of the Environmental Quality Commission
Governor Brown and Director Whitman,
On behalf of the undersigned groups representing environmental justice, business, culturally-specific and climate advocacy organizations from across Oregon, we write to reiterate our concerns--and suggest...
Advancing Equity in Transportation Systems
We know that our transportation system is not equitable. A system centered on moving vehicles, not people and goods, is not equitable.
Most of us don’t think about “transportation” as an issue. We think about our commute, our errands, our trip to drop the kids off at school. Transportation is so completely woven into our lives that we don’t think about it separately. We also don’t question whether the way we get around could be different, or should be different. It just is the way it is, right?
Because of this, we often can’t see how the way it is ...
