58 results for tag: climate change
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 ...
Climate Change is Impacting Youth Mental Health
Do you find yourself or the youth in your life feeling anxious or depressed over the idea of climate change? A new study shows this is a problem sweeping Oregon and beyond. The Oregon Health Authority just released a report, Climate Change and Youth Mental Health in Oregon, documenting the impacts of climate change on the mental health of youth (ages 15-25). This study was completed under the direction of Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-04, also known as the Oregon Climate Action Plan.
The study, one of the largest in the nation to date, documents a growing youth mental health crisis in Oregon. Climate stressors, including climate anxiety, ...
Building for a Better Future
Right now, there is an important conversation happening in Oregon, and around the country, about buildings. The buildings in which we live and work are a critical piece of the climate puzzle. They are both vital to reducing climate change causing fossil fuels and our first line of defense against climate harms like extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and air pollution.
Buildings are the second largest–and growing–source of climate pollution in Oregon, responsible for 34 percent of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to the fossil fuels used for electricity to power our homes and buildings, and the fossil gas piped in for heating ...
Oregon adopts permanent worker protections for heat and smoke just in time for this summer’s extreme weather events
Victory! OEC and our coalition of environmental, health and science, small business, and labor partners have spent the last year and a half staunchly advocating for the most protective workplace regulations possible in Oregon.
We’re happy to announce that the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded with new, permanent rules that will hopefully set the tone for a new national standard. The heat and smoke rulemakings are a response to Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-04, which mandated Oregon OSHA to develop these standards in order to protect workers on the job from excessive heat and smoke.
It is no ...
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 IPCC report defines what is at stake. The answer is, “a liveable and sustainable ...