People
We’ve moved!
After 18 years of being in our downtown office space, we have moved east of the river into the East Bank Lofts! The move is bittersweet as we transition from a loved and familiar space to a new and exciting chapter in OEC history.
We made so many beautiful memories in our old office space from strategizing new partnerships and alliances to celebrating our policy victories in Salem, building coalitions throughout Oregon, engaging youth climate activists, and so much more. Not to mention, playing cornhole during staff retreats, putting googly eyes on all our plant friends, ...
A Supercharged EV Road Trip
Ava
During Covid, when schools shut down, my teenage daughter’s life was suddenly all online. So it didn’t surprise me when she started telling me about a new group of friends she met on an online forum dedicated to One Direction, an English-Irish pop boy band. Aware of the dangers of the internet, I was more than a little wary. I asked her a million questions and was pleasantly surprised to find that she was just chatting daily with a group of fourteen to sixteen-year-old girls infatuated with One Direction.
Over the next year, these six girls met religiou...
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 ...
E-Bike Q&A: You have Questions, We have Answers!
E-Bikes are growing in popularity, yet many people still are hesitant to purchase one. In this Q&A, current and former OEC staff answer questions about their recent E-Bike purchases. OEC Summer Intern Juliáe Riva sat down with former OEC staff member Jonathan Lin and OEC’s Rural Partnerships and Water Policy Director Karen Lewotsky to learn more about their personal experiences with recently owning e-bikes.
JR: What e-bike do you own?
JL: Specialized Turbo Vado SL 4.0 EQ. Specialized uses a smaller motor [than most other brands] that they developed to fit ...
OEC Adds to the Team
OEC is growing, again!
We are excited to introduce new members of our team that will support our communications, development, and programs teams. We welcome Juliáe Riva, our 2021 Emerging Leaders Intern, Meagan Golec, our new Major Gifts Officer, and Xanthia Wolland our new Marketing and Communications Coordinator. Learn more about each of them below or get acquainted with OEC’s whole staff here.
Juliáe Riva joins us for the summer through the Emerging Leaders Intern Program. Juliáe will support outreach and state wide engagement efforts for electric bicycles ...
SB 289: Addressing a safety disparity in the outdoors
OEC was excited to see that the Oregon Legislature passed, with broad support from both republicans and democrats, SB 289, the Safety in the Outdoors bill. This bill is an important step to make public spaces safer for everyone, and to ensure more equitable access to Oregon state parks and resources that are critical to health and well-being.
Board Member Profile: OEC Board Chair Phil Wu
“Equity and environmental justice are now, rightfully, front and center in OEC’s work because we recognize the impact of generations of overt and covert discrimination and the resulting disparities across all dimensions of daily life experienced by communities of color.”
A Warm Welcome and a Fond Farewell
In the spirit of spring renewal, we have some exciting announcements about changes to the OEC Team in communications, operations and development.
First, we wish a deep, and very fond farewell to Karen Roberti, Operations and Events Manager for OEC for the last 12 and a half years. Karen’s was the first smile friends, family, and partners saw when they visited our office. She pulled off Herculean feats arranging events that showcased our work and collaborations. She did a million and one things behind the scenes that contributed to our successes and made our work ...
