13 results for tag: #LovingOregon


Don’t Let Winter Weather Limit Your Transportation Options

Getting around by bike, foot and transit is great for your health, your community’s health and safety, and the long-term prognosis for the livability of the planet. However, it can feel more difficult when the weather turns dark, cold and wet. Here are a few ways you can get through the long dark months without reaching for the car keys! Plan ahead. Set out your bike gear the night before. Make sure you know which bus you’re going to catch when, and plan your morning accordingly. This may feel like a hassle, but the fact is that your bike ride and your walk (and your transit ride, if you’re lucky enough to have some good bus-only lanes ...

Sponsored content: Celebrating 50 years Innovation: Intel & Oregon Environmental Council

Our state motto, “she flies with her own wings,” has long been reflected in the spirit of the people of Oregon, with a readiness to embrace new ideas and look towards the possibilities of tomorrow.

Curbside Recycling: Four Love Stories and a Kitchen Table

by Kevin Kasowski The idea for one of the rituals at the heart of being an Oregonian – taking the recycling bin out to the curb each week – was conceived at a kitchen table, and born thanks to a little “pillow talk.” If you’re over 40, you may remember hauling tied up bundles of newspaper to a local recycling depot back in the day. For most other household “leftovers” there was nowhere else to go, except the garbage can and then the landfill. Our Bottle Bill, enacted in 1971, with Oregon Environmental Council’s (OEC)  help, began to change that (at least with respect to glass and aluminum), but in the early 1980s, a small ...

Corinne Handelman

Corrine first started working with Oregon Environmental Council back in 2012, collecting signatures for the Toxic Free Kids Act. More recently, she served on the Emerging Leaders Board...

The art of collaboration: working together for conservation

It seems so rare now, Democrats and Republicans working together towards shared conservation goals. But in the 1970s, Oregon was an epicenter of bipartisan cooperation that established important, groundbreaking environmental policy that has shaped our state to this day.

Larry Williams

In January, 1970, Larry Williams became the first Executive Director and staff member of Oregon Environmental Council, following President Maradel Gale who served as a volunteer. Williams served as Executive Director during a time of change and growth in Oregon’s environmental movement. As he writes in this memoir, many organizations, such as Oregon League of Conservation Voters, SOLVE and others, were sparked in the months following the founding of Oregon Environmental Council. Larry is now retired, living in Washington, D.C. and is excited to return to Oregon for OEC's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Memories of an Oregon Conservationi...

2001: Mercury Reduction Act

In 2001, we helped pass the Mercury Reduction Act, including a first-in-the-nation phase out of mercurycontaining thermostats, as well as phase out of mercury-containing thermometers, auto switches and novelty products. Oregon became a leader in cutting harmful mercury from our waste stream. This act was a major step in Oregon Environmental Council’s efforts to protect children’s health, as well as Oregon’s rivers and fish.

1998: Assisted in the launch of the first U.S. car sharing operation.

With two cars, an old gas station on SE Division Street in Portland, and the ingenuity and support of people committed to new ideas, car sharing in the United States became a reality, first in Oregon. https://oeconline.org/carsharing-turns-20/  

1973: Land Use Planning

https://oeconline.org/land-use-bill/ https://oeconline.org/the-art-of-collaboration-working-together-for-conservation/ #DYK Oregon’s beautiful farmland and forests were once at risk of being haphazardly paved over? In 1973, Oregon Environmental Council helped pass Oregon’s unparalleled statewide land-use planning laws, Senate Bill 100. It was a remarkable collaboration of bipartisan support to protect Oregon’s vibrant farms and forests and created an institutional structure for statewide planning still in use today. It’s what sparked the organization of our partners at 1000 Friends of Oregon. @1000Oregon #TBT Read more about this ...

1972: Recycling Hotline

#DYK Before there was curbside recycling in #Oregon, you had to call a hotline to find out where to take your stuff? #TBT In 1972, Oregon Environmental Council created the state’s first recycling hotline. We wanted to help #Portland residents figure out how and where to recycle their materials. At the time, Oregon had just passed the Bottle Bill, but there were no city recycling programs (yet…). One year after we started the recycling hotline, we handed the switchboard over to Oregon DEQ, and eventually @oregonmetro where today you can call 503-234-3000 and talk to a real human about your recycling, disposal and waste prevention questi...