63 results for tag: climate change

Make Earth Month Count in 2025

Earth Day and OEC were formed just a year apart (1970 and 1969, respectively), and our collective missions have always been parallel. OEC's work has proven that strong, lasting environmental protections are possible when we work together. From the nation’s first Bottle Bill to the Clean Fuels Program (which has cut 10M tons of carbon emissions – and counting – from our atmosphere). Just as our movement has progressed, so has Earth Day. It evolved into Earth Month, and the celebration of all that’s beautiful about our planet continues to serve as a powerful reminder of our collective responsibility to protect the place we love.  As ...

The Clean Grid Explained: Key Terms for Understanding How Electricity Moves in Oregon

Clean energy is the backbone for reaching our climate goals and helping to cut climate pollution in buildings, transportation, and industry. In the upcoming 2025 legislative session, OEC will collaborate with partners to keep moving forward on our clean energy goals. As climate-fueled disasters like wildfires, scorching heat, and drought in our own backyard become increasingly hard to ignore, it’s more important than ever that we accelerate our progress. Enter: The electricity grid. You’ve probably heard the term – though you’re not alone if you don’t know what it really means. Broadly speaking, the grid is the entire ...

Oregon’s Climate Protection Program is Restored!

Oregon just scored a major environmental victory! In a unanimous vote, the Environmental Quality Commission (ECQ) adopted the newly revised Climate Protection Program, reinstating the landmark policy at a time when climate action is critical. This marks the most significant climate action taken in the wake of the federal election.  Now, Oregon’s most influential climate policy is back on the books thanks to the thoughtful work of Governor Kotek's office and the Department of Environmental Quality staff. It couldn’t have been done without collective dedication and grit. Thousands of Oregonians, including OEC members and action takers, stood up ...

Clean Tech: Greener, Richer, Freer

More and more people in Oregon and across the United States are embracing electric vehicles and efficient HVAC systems to heat and cool their homes. Individual decisions like these will help Oregon deliver on its climate goals, but is our state missing a big opportunity to create thousands of jobs building clean energy technologies? Hear from industry experts who spoke at our latest Business & Environment Forum about Oregon’s chance to be a leader in clean tech.

Update: OR OSHA publishes final rules governing the right to refuse dangerous work

Earlier this year, OEC and partners helped win a bill to give workers the right to refuse hazardous work (SB 907). We stayed at the table and provided information on how Oregon OSHA should carry out the intent of the law. While we are disappointed that the rules are missing some key points of clarity around extreme heat, smoke, and other environmental threats, OEC and our partners plan to ramp up education and outreach to ensure workers understand their rights.

Summer Heat, OR OSHA’s Heat and Smoke Rules, and the Right to Refuse Dangerous Work

OEC is advocating for the strong rollout of Oregon’s new Right to Refuse Dangerous Work law which was signed by the Governor in May of 2023.

Climate Champion: Governor Brown’s Legacy and the Path Ahead

Governor Brown delivered historic climate policy protections. Now it’s up to Governor Kotek to build on this progress.

NW Natural Wants to Raise Rates (Again). This is What You Need to Know.

NW Natural, a utility company that sells fossil “natural” gas (e.g. methane), wants to raise prices for Oregon customers for a second year in a row. What they are planning to do with the money is, quite frankly, jaw-dropping, which is why OEC and a group of environmental and community-based organizations, represented by the Green Energy Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School and Earthjustice, are pushing back as formal intervenors in an ongoing public “rate case” proceeding. To get to the bottom of it, I sat down with Nora Apter, OEC’s Climate Program Director, to learn more about what NW Natural is doing and why their customers–or ...

Climate Change and Agriculture: How are they connected and what’s to be done?

What is climate change and how does it work? We’ve all heard the phrase “climate change,” but what does that phrase mean? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines climate change as “a long-term (decades to centuries) change in any of a number of environmental conditions for a given place and time—such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, cloudiness, wind, and air circulation patterns.” So any shift in weather patterns lasting for a prolonged period of time can be called climate change. Today most people who say “climate change” are referring to the steady well-documented increases in Earth’s temperature ...

No time to burn: let’s keep the future of gas short in Oregon 

By: Nora Apter, the Climate Program Director for Oregon Environmental Council. Greer Ryan, Oregon Clean Buildings Policy Manager with Climate Solutions. When it comes to global warming pollution, we’ve heard a lot about the dangers of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But did you know that methane, the primary ingredient in so-called “natural” gas, is approximately 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 20 year timeframe? Fossil “natural” gas is far from being the safe, clean product that gas utilities and fossil fuel companies claim. In reality, gas is not good for you or the ...