OLCV Talk

Fun vs. Power: Does it have to be a choice?

OLCV’s new Legislative Affairs Director, Evan Manvel, coordinates the Oregon Conservation Network (OCN), a consortium of environmental groups who work to pass laws to protect Oregon’s air, water, and land. The OCN is currently developing its priorities for the 2009 Legislative session. Here is Evan’s take on the process:

"Day-long meetings. Seemingly unending discussions. Coordinating the efforts of fifty different environmental organizations, each with its own mission, from all across Oregon. Finding a way to reach common agreement on shared priorities.

Perhaps “fun” is not the first word I would use to describe the Oregon Conservation Network. But here’s a word I would use: Power."

Back in the mid-1990s, when OCN was first formed, I was working at the Corvallis Environmental Center. After watching us lose battle after battle in the state Legislature, I was thrilled by the idea of a unified environmental movement working together.

For several legislative sessions, OCN organized lobby days and distributed action alerts to help build a groundswell of support for good bills. But it wasn’t enough. In 2005, OCN agreed on a set of shared environmental priorities in the Legislature and hired a full-time lobbyist to work on behalf of these priorities. Since then, our effectiveness has grown dramatically.

During the 2007 session, thanks to our efforts and strong legislative leadership, all of our Priorities for a Healthy Oregon passed, including a progressive renewable energy standard requiring Oregon to get 25% of our power from renewable sources by 2025, and bills requiring computers and televisions to be recycled, and to reduce toxic pollution in the Willamette River. And we helped get a fix of the land-use debacle Measure 37 to the voters, which (as Measure 49) passed last fall, cutting unchecked sprawl by 90%.

And now, once again, we’re having those big meetings and long discussions, developing an ambitious agenda for the 2009 session that will take on big problems. While our opponents are regrouping and learning to coordinate their efforts, we have the combined knowledge and skills of fifty organizations, the power of our grassroots membership, and a unified environmental lobby.

United, as a movement, we can make great strides to protect Oregon’s natural heritage for generations to come.

And that, my friends, is fun.

The Great Elk-horn debate continues!

There will be a Marion County Board of Commissioners hearing on the Elkhorn project at 6 PM, Wednesday, June 18 in the first floor hearing room at the county office bldg, 555 Court Street N.E., in Salem (same location as the previous hearings).

At the hearing next Wednesday, testimony will be limited to 3 minutes per person, but you can submit unlimited written testimony. 

What is up for debate?

Whether or not protecting a beautiful rural canyon from urban development is more important than the "goal exceptions" the developers want them to adopt. 

Learn how you can save the Elkhorn at OLCV's website.

More joy, less consumption.

Alison Wiley created and writes for the blog The Diamond-Cut Life in order to create awareness about the need to reduce "our consumption down to the core of happiness."

Alison's message? More joy, less consumption. That's definitely a message that OLCV agrees with.

Alison recently hosted a table and joined a record crowd of 870 guests, including 82 elected officials and candidates, joined OLCV Staff and Board members at OLCV's 11th Annual Dinner (AKA Eco Prom) last Friday night.

Rep. Ben Cannon stellar MC, OLCV Executive Director Jonathan Poisner got everyone on their feet at the start with a stirring speech, and keynote speaker Christine Ervin deliver thought-provoking address on the green building movement. And of course, lots of hobnobbing and campaigning  during the preceding reception and dinner.
 
Another program highlight: Debra Higbee received OLCV's 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award - congrats, Debra!

 

OLCV enthusiastically thanks everyone who helped make this dinner a success - table sponsors, volunteers, wine donors, who attended. We are already looking forward to an even better event next year, and hope you are too!
 

Check out photos of this year's event on OLCV's website.
 

Find out why Alison Wiley hosts a table of ten each year at OLCV's EcoProm and check out her great photos of some of Portland's finest movers & shakers over on her blog, The Diamond-Cut Life.

San Francisco City Council votes to ban plastic bags

A little over a week ago, the San Francisco City Council voted to ban petroleum-based plastic bags from large supermarkets.  Mayor Newsom is expected to sign the ban, making San Francisco the first American City with such a ban.  If the ban does take effect, paper bags and corn-based plastic bags will be used instead of petroleum-based plastic bags.   Paper and corn-based plastic bags can be recycled through San Francisco's city-wide curbside compost program. Similar bans already exist in South Africa, Taiwan, and Bangladesh. 

See this link

I wonder if the Portland City Council will one day take on this issue.  Certainly, such a ban would be politically feasible with the current Council.  Perhaps Portland would have to expand curbside composting to food products (and not just yard clippings) in order to make it as effective as San Francisco?

God, Christ, and the Environment.

Hello Everyone,

You may have heard Robert F. Kennedy today on KINK FM, speaking about the environment and the need for People of Faith to be involved.   He'll be at Muddy Boots, the organic festival,this weekend, and I urge you all to drop by.  Members of the Oregon Center for Christian Values will also be there.  OCCV is a Christ-Centered group of predominantly conservative Christians, who believe in following the Gospel.  The Bible instructs us to care for the Earth.  Earth is a creation of God, and so we know that the Earth has sacred value. We know that the first commission in Genesis is for humanity to practice Edenic Stewardship –caring for God’s creation.  We realize that the destruction of the environment is a desecration of the work of God, which is sin. We seek to share this Biblical Truth with other Christians across the political spectrum. 

Come Join us! Next Saturday, the 16th of September, we will be hosting a Faith and Advocacy Summit, which includes speakers and small groups focused on the Environment.  We will facilitate involving Christians with environmental organizations. Check out our website, OCCV.ORG for more info.  With your help, we will take “Christian Environmentalist” from an oxymoron to a social movement. See you at Muddy Boots this Saturday!