OLCV Talk

Countdown to 2009

Countdown to the 2009 Legislative Session that is...

The first day of session is January 12 and we can't wait to get to work.

We'll be working on critical environmental legislation as a member of the Oregon Conservation Network (OCN), a coalition of fifty of Oregon’s leading environmental groups. 

Implement Global Warming Solutions We must take action to reduce global warming pollution, which if left unchecked will lead to increased forest fires, water shortages, and major disruptions to our economy. The Legislature should place a mandatory, declining cap on global warming pollution.

Promote Water Conservation Farmers, fishermen, cities, businesses and local communities all need adequate water supplies to thrive. It’s our responsibility to ensure a legacy of healthy rivers for everyone and everything that depends on them

Preserve Oregon’s Coastal Legacy Global warming, pollution, increasing population, and coastal development are taking a toll – and our ocean’s future health is at risk. The Legislature should create a system of marine protected areas and reserves in Oregon’s Territorial Sea.

Increase Transportation Options As the Oregon Legislature considers new transportation investments, we must make sure to use more efficient land use planning and invest in transportation options. This will reduce the amount of time Oregonians spend in traffic, improve our health, and reduce the amount we spend on gas.

Ensure New Energy Supplies are Responsible Liquefied natural gas (LNG) emits 20-30% more global warming pollution than domestic natural gas. LNG terminals planned for Oregon would mainly send gas to California, which has rejected LNG because of safety and environmental concerns.

Stop the Spread of Invasive Species Oregon must take action to stop the spread of invasive plant, animal, and aquatic species. The Legislature should require boats entering the state be cleaned, to prevent the introduction of invasive snails and mussels into Oregon’s waterways.

Learn more about our Priorities for a Healthy Oregon.

To stay up to date on our priorities and other environmental bills during the session, sign up for SalemWatch, our legislative e-newsletter.

November Trivia

Queston:  At the start of 2009, Oregon will add water bottles to the state recycling program, adding a five-cent deposit to the price. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, roughly how many water bottles will this legislation keep out of our landfills?

Click here to submit your answer!

How many people does it take to bottle one bottle of wine?

Lane County OLCV worked extremely hard to help Rob Handy defeat Bobby Green and re-elect Kitty Piercy as Eugene Mayor. They'll be celebrating their accomplishments this fall at a wine bottling party!  

RainSong Vineyard will provide a barrel of 2006 Columbia Valley Cabernet to bottle. 

Suggested donations are a minimum of $100/case (12 bottles) or $60/half case.  Food and desserts will be provided. There will also be wine tasting offered by RainSong.
   

WHEN: Sunday, November 23, 2008, from 12:00 PM -2:00 PM.   

WHERE: RainSong is located about ½ hour outside of Cheshire. 

If you would like to participate, but are unable to attend, OLCV volunteers will bottle your wine and deliver it to you.  This would make a great gift just in time for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

 

If you're interested, please make a commitment for a full or half case by Tuesday, November 18.  We must guarantee the vineyard 25 cases in order for the event to move forward.  We need to sell another 17 cases to reach our goal!

 

To participate, email Meredith or call 503-224-4011 by Tuesday, November 18.

Friends don't let friends cast uninformed votes

We have a tremendous opportunity to reach out to the tens of thousands of new voters that have been inspired by Barack Obama to become involved in the political process. 

But we must make sure new voters vote the whole ballot (and not just for President) – with information about which local candidates they can trust to promote a healthy environmental legacy for Oregon.

Help your friends cast an informed vote in 5 minutes or less.

How to vote on Oregon's State Ballot Measures

As usual, there are some controversial ballot measures to vote on this November. Many of these measures will derail funding to protect Oregon. I urge NO votes on Measures 59, 61, 62, 63, and 64 and a YES vote on Measure 56.

      

 

Vote NO on Measure 64, Silencing our voice, unclear, unfair and unnecessary

Read more.

 

Vote NO on Measure 63, Unsafe Homes, Overriding Local Environmental Laws

Read more.

Vote NO on 62, Diverting Lottery Funds, Harming Environmental Programs

Read more.

Vote NO on Measure 61, Sentencing Gimmick Would Reduce Environmental Funding

Read more.

Vote NO on Measure 59, Sizemore's Latest Would Gut Natural Resource Funding

Read more.

Vote YES on Measure 56, because every vote should count equally.

Read more.

10 good reasons not to charge shoppers a fee for disposable grocery bags (paper or plastic)

During my morning news review I stumbled upon a post on PDX Green laying out 10 good reasons not to impose a fee on shoppers for disposable shopping bags.

Thanks for the great work Shelby!

Read the list here.

Will FreedomWorks Get Away With It?

I recently sent an email to OLCV supporters to alert them of a new deception campaign led by former Texas Congressman Dick Armey. I believe fighting these false claims is so critical, I thought I should share this call to action with the public.

FreedomWorks to launch Energy Misinformation Campaign in Oregon

Will Ordinary Oregonians Fight Back?

Oil-industry backed FreedomWorks, headed by former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, announced earlier this week they they're spending $1 million in Oregon in 2008 to combat “anti-energy extremists.” Of course, they define groups like OLCV as “anti-energy.”  They say the campaign will expose "how anti-energy radicals are opposed not just to energy development but to our modern way of life."

This is, of course, rubbish.  What threatens our way of life is the head-in-the-sand corporate shills at FreedomWorks who deny global warming is happening, fight against renewable energy, and thus threaten our children with potentially catastrophic global warming.

By contrast, the environmental community is helping generate thousands of jobs in the renewable energy sector and the number of those jobs will escalate rapidly over the next decade thanks to renewable energy policies that we spearheaded in 2007 over the opposition of groups like FreedomWorks.

Of course, OLCV and our allies can’t rely on a few big corporate donors to run a massive public education campaign.

But we do have you -- thousands of Oregonians across the state who care passionately about the planet's future, and this incredible corner of the planet called Oregon.  We need ordinary Oregonians like you to help us fight back.

1.    Donate $50 today to OLCV’s political action committee to help us run larger, more effective campaigns on behalf of candidates in tough races this fall who’ll be fighting for renewable energy and against candidates backed by FreedomWorks.

2.    Sign up to volunteer this fall on one of our many campaigns.  We’ll  have dozens of phone banks and canvasses across the state starting after Labor Day.  In close elections for local offices, we know that personal contacts from other voters makes a difference.

As Al Gore's group has shown, the nation can convert its electricity production to 100% renewable in 10 years if we have the political will.   We'll have the political will if the people rise up and demand it at every level of government.

9/1/08 Update:We now have evidence of just how misleading these ads are. The basic point appears to be to brand "environmental" groups as extremists.

Here's a sample.

Names aren't attached to these examples. I'm aware of one fight over a geothermal plant in the middle of a National Monument. I know that Surfrider has debunked Freedom Work's allegations that it opposes wave power. Freedom Works and their ilk have never let the facts get in the way of their stories. We may not have the budget to run radio ads like these. But we can defeat them where it matters most: the ballot box. If we can get 100 more donors to step forward with $50 donations, we can go deeper into one of the races where we have a chance to defeat incumbents who voted against renewable energy.

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!