Greenpeace

It's been more than a year since the "new" congressional majority was elected in this country - since the Democrats, who were supposed to change the disastrous path our federal government is following, took over both the House and the Senate.  One year since the 2006 elections, and I can still remember the renewed hope that seemed to take hold of so many activists after that election.  It seemed, to the environmental movement, to the peace movement, as if real change might be about to occur.

In the past year, however, those hopes have crumbled.  The new Congress has yet to do anything substantial about global warming - despite the overwhelming need to take serious action in the next few years.  Right now, major environmental groups like the Sierra Club are fighting a desperate battle just to get some basic anti-fossil fuel provisions into this year's Energy Bill.  The goal is to ensure that the bill will raise average fuel economy standards for vehicles to 35 mpg, and assures that 15% of US electricity comes from renewable energy - both by the year 2020.  In light of the fact that we have until 2015 to stabilize global greenhouse emissions, these small steps seem fairly pathetic.  Yet it is not at all clear that the final Energy Bill will include even those - I personally will be rather surprised if both the increased fuel economy standards and the renewable energy standard become law.  We'll find out very soon, for the final vote is supposed to occur in the next few days.  I can't emphasize enough though, that even if both provisions make it into the final bill, they will not be sufficient to save us from catastrophic climate change.  The federal government is failing us; if we depend on it to get us out of the fossil fuel mess, we do so at our own peril. 

I can't help but wonder if the tremendous effort being spent trying to whip the federal government into shape wouldn't be better directed toward making change in other places.  I don't know; what do you do in a country where urgent action is needed NOW to prevent disaster, but where the effectiveness of the federal government is crumbling?  It's imperative that we focus our energies in the places where they'll be most effective - but it's hard to know where that is.  All I can say is, get out there and do something.  Make your local government stand up to fossil fuels; stop a coal plant from being built, anything.  It's up to us - the ordinary people - to get ourselves out of this mess.  The federal government is not going to do it for us.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, ASKING THEM TO COMMIT TO A GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS-REDUCTION PLAN!

-Nick

 It's important to keep in mind that government action will be needed to banish global warming and the other environmental threats we face.  However, while individual actions can not completely solve the crisis, they do make some difference.  Hence, the new "Green Tip of the Week" feature on this blog will suggest ways that you can slightly alter your lifestyle to help keep this planet cool and livable.

So, Green Tip #1: stop using disposable facial tissue.  Though many people will find this hard to believe, the human species did, in fact, get along for thousand of years without Kleenex.  And today, the facial tissue industry is one of the most wasteful and environmentally destructive of paper industries.

At least, if you can't bear to give up facial tissues completely, stop using the Kleenex brand itself.  Kleenex makes its tissues by clear-cutting ancient forests in Canada - trees that took hundreds of years to grow are converted into products which are used once and then thrown away.  Many other manufacturers use similar methods.  It is possible to find more sustainable producers, but it's not easy.  Information on how many producers' tissues are made is not readily available.  And besides, it's so much more "green" to just stop using these wasteful products altogether, and make due with a simple cloth handkerchief.  Do your part to stop the destruction of our last great forests - the obliteration of which is a major contributor to global warming.  Stop using disposable facial tissues.

 The Washington County Board of Commissioners is still not taking much interest in passing the Cool Counties Declaration, and ramping up its commitment to reducing greenhouse emissions.  And so, it seemed like a good time to do some detective work.  What exactly is the impact of using dirty energy in Washington County?  As it turns out, it's very bad indeed.  Portland General Electric - the utility that supplies electricity to most homes and buildings in this area - sources some coal from the mountains of West Virginia, where it is extracted using one of the most environmentally destructive methods imaginable - mountaintop-removal mining.  The process is exactly what it sounds like: the tops of mountains are literally blasted away with explosives to expose coal seams deep in the ground.  More than 470 mountains, along with thousands of acres of forests and streams, have been destroyed through mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains.  Using a handy website that allows you to find out if the energy in your area comes partly from mountaintop-removal coal, I discovered that there is indeed a relationship between dirty energy in Washington County, and horrendously destructive mining practices on the other side of the continent (amazing what you can find out, through the Internet!)

Though Portland General Electric does contribute to mountaintop removal, some of the energy on its grid also comes from wind and other cleaner energy sources.  By signing up for "green energy" through PGE, consumers can, for a small additional cost, ensure that their energy bill payments go toward funding clean energy, rather than coal and other fossil fuels.  The City of Beaverton has provided an example for other local governments to follow, by committing to purchase green energy for city buildings, and implementing a program to encourage city residents to do the same.  Washington County, on the other hand, has made no such commitment.

PLEASE ASK THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO MAKE COMMITMENT TO CUTTING DIRTY ENERGY!

The WA County government should lead our communities toward reliance on clean energy sources - not mountaintop-removal mining.  The county should pass the Cool Counties Declaration, and commit to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  Until steps like these are taken, the county government cannot be considered a true leader on sustainability.  Chairman Tom Brian has said the county is "well aware of our environmental footprint."  Well, let's see.  Members of the Board of Commissioners are about to find out exactly how the decisions they make affect people and the environment in places as far away as West Virginia.  This is the county's real environmental footprint: a blown-off mountaintop, and a once-forested slope now reduced to rubble and toxic sludge. 

Note: photos in this post are linked from the "End Mountaintop Removal" website, at http://www.ilovemountains.org/

  There's no doubt about it: the most environmentally friendly county in Oregon today is Multnomah County, which includes the greenhouse emission-cutting superstar, Portland.  The County's two largest cities - Portland and Gresham - have endorsed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.  Portland has become a national leader in the fight against climate change, having already reduced emissions to below their 1990 levels.  And, it now turns out, the county as a whole has cut emissions to just 0.1 percent above what they were in 1990; this despite a 15% increase in population since that year.

According to a recent, new report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have about seven more years to stabilize worldwide greenhouse emissions and prevent the worst effects of global warming.  If we don't meet this goal, we will be facing massive famines, epidemics, droughts and storms, and the extinction of up to 70% of all plant and animal species.  If you needed any more convincing that the time to act is NOW, then that should do it.  We have, literally, less than a decade to preserve life as we know it on this planet, and there is no time to spare.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD, ASKING THEM TO COMMIT TO CARBON-REDUCTION GOALS

As the saying goes, "Think globally, act locally."  The Cool Washington County Campaign is pressuring Washington County, Oregon, to pass the Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration, and commit to reductions in emissions of the sort that our entire country has to make to stave off disaster.  In the latest installment of the campaign, Pacific University's Students for Environmental Activism club teamed up with the grassroots organization Washington County Peak Oil, to hold a screening of "A Crude Awakening: the Oil Crash" at Pacific University last night.  Upwards of forty people attended - both from the school and the outside community.  The film laid out the evidence showing that the world's petroleum resources are running out; even without global warming, we would have a very compelling reason to start shifting away from fossil fuels as an energy source. 

The film was followed by a panel discussion on how our communities can start moving away from dependence on fossil fuels.  Panel members included Washington County Commissioner Dick Schouten - the only member of the County Board who has so far said he would support the Cool Counties Declaration; and Assistant City Manager Rob Dixon from the City of Hillsboro, who is working to coordinate many of that city's sustainability projects.  It was great to hear first-hand about the things Hillsboro is doing to become more energy efficient, and to learn about the possibilities for incorporating the same types of projects into the county as a whole.  Both Washington County and its many cities have a long ways to go before acheiving the types of reductions in energy use that we need to make.  However, Hillsboro is leading the march toward carbon neutrality and freedom from fossil fuels; we need that progress to continue, and for the county and other city governments to follow.  All of our local governments must rise to this challenge, and confront global warming head-on.  As an Oregonian headline said recently: "Climate Change - it's real, it's here."

 - Nick

 I don't know if Chairman Tom Brian, or anyone else from the Washington County Board of Commissioners, reads the Forest Grove News-Times.  If they do, however, they would have opened up the Sustainable Life section in yesterday's paper to an article about the Cool Washington County rally on November 3rd, which took place outside the County Administrative Building.  I had contacted the News-Times shortly before the date of the anti-global warming rally; they weren't able to spare any of their own reporters, but asked me to send them some pictures.  I did that, and also included a News Release about the event.  Apparently, the editors decided to publish the News Release as an article - thank you, News-Times!

Read the article at http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=119507276773569600

This is the best publicity that this campaign has received so far, and it just goes to show that small actions like our rally really can have an impact.  The article also drew attention to the film screening/panel discussion to take place at Pacific University this Sunday.  Chairman Brian, please take note.

If you haven't already, please SIGN THE PETITION TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONER, ASKING THEM TO MAKE THIS A COOL COUNTY!

"Global Warming is the greatest long-term threat facing humanity.  Peak Oil is the greatest short-term threat.  The solutions to both are virtually identical."          -Peter Lundsford, Washington County Peak Oil

 Climate change is not the only reason to shift our society away from fossil fuels - though it is the most pressing reason.  We also are running out of fossil fuels anyway, especially oil and natural gas, and our economy is going to have to prepare for the consequences of a world in which cheap energy, easily pumped out of the ground, is no longer available.  We can either wait for the oil crash to arrive without preparation, and then enter a period of mayhem and collapse, or we can prepare for the fossil fuel shortage, re-design our urban areas so we need to use less fuel in the first place, and shift to renewable sources for our remaining energy needs.  This is the idea behind Peak Oil, which assumes that oil and gas will only become harder to find, and more expensive in the future, and that we must begin a transition away from fossil fuels to save our civilization.

Programs to reduce greenhouse emissions usually also help prepare us for the oil crash, and vice versa.  So it makes sense for groups concerned about the two issues to work together.  Accordingly, the Students for Environmental Activism Club at Pacific University will be collaborating with the grassroots citizen group, Washington County Peak Oil, to host a screening of the film "A Crude Awakening" on the Pacific campus.  "A Crude Awakening" discusses the coming oil crisis, and the measures that must be taken to avoid disaster.  The screening will be followed by a Question & Answer panel session, in which the audience will be able to ask such figures as Commissioner Dick Schouten from the Washington County Board of Commissioners, and Assistant City Manager Robert Dixon, from the City of Hillsboro, about what our local governments can do to prepare for Peak Oil while fighting climate change.  Pacific students and members of the public are invited to attend the event, which will be at 7pm, November 18th, in the Milky Way Gallery.

This should be truly inspiring; and it will be a critical part of the campaign to educate WA County residents about what their government officials should be doing to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.  Please support strong action from our local governments: SIGN THE PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD, ASKING THEM TO PASS THE COOL COUNTIES DECLARATION!

Last week, 110 mayors from across the country attended the Mayors' Climate Summit in Seattle, to exchange ideas for reducing greenhouse emissions, and show that local governments can take the lead in the fight against global warming.  All 110 mayors had signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and pledged to become Cool Cities.  In total, more than 700 mayors nation-wide have now signed the Agreement, and Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle referred to their 710 cities as "laboratories...where we are trying to find answers to this global problem."  It is to be hoped that even signatory cities that were not able to send a representative to the Summit will benefit from the gathering, as a result of new ideas generated there.  In addition to Mayor Nickels - the originator of the Mayors Climate Agreement - major speakers included Mayor Manuel Diaz of Miami, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, and Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore (via satellite).

From Oregon, the mayors of Ashland, Corvallis, Lake Oswego, and Lincoln City attended the Summit, representing four of this state's eleven Cool Cities to date.  Five of Oregon's six largest cities have signed onto the Mayors Climate Agreement, and the work these cities do has real potential to contribute to our state's leadership on global warming.

Speaking of leadership, the Mayors' Summit coincided nicely the national Step It Up II event, designed to focus the attention of our elected officials on global warming.  The theme of Step It Up II was "Who's a leader?"  In the next few years, we will truly find out who's willing to be a leader on global warming, and steer us safely through the climate crisis.  And judging from last week's event in Seattle, it seems plain that many of the true leaders are local officials - mayors, city councilors, and maybe even county commissioners. 

Many local governments have already made huge progress toward curbing greenhouse emissions; a few cities, like Seattle and Portland, have already cut local emissions below their 1990 levels.  However, it will still be up to ordinary people to make sure that this progress continues, and to keep pressuring new local governments to join the movement.  For one thing, now that so many cities are making real progress, it's time to get county governments involved.  If you haven't already, please SIGN THE PETITION TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS in Washington County, and ask them to pass the US Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration.

For more information about the Mayors' Climate Summit, go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003989301_climate02m.html

 We did it! This morning, three of us students from Pacific University set up in front of the Washington County Administrative Building in Hillsboro, to ask for the passage of the Cool Counties Declaration. We brought our 6-foot banner, hand-held signs, and signature sheets. Pretty soon we were joined by more people who had either heard about the event from us, or read about it on the Step It Up website. All-in-all, about 15 people attended, with 9-10 being the most we ever had at one time. Ours may not have been a very big rally, but we were on a busy street corner, and got many interested looks from passing drivers - as well as encouraging honks and waves, and at least one peace sign. Of course, a few people also shouted abuse at us as they drove past; but hey, we were out there broadcasting our message, and they weren't. We're the ones who got our point across.

I'm hoping that our little event will encourage the WA County Board of Commissioners to pay more attention to our request. Of course, our rally was only one of dozens taking place today all across the country, for the national Step It Up day. I'm look forward to hearing what those other events accomplished. It's been a day for people all over the nation to exercise their right to free speech, and demand that global warming be solved - now!

Support our efforts: sign the PETITION TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS!

Final note: a couple of technologically-adept activists made a video of our rally, complete with live guitar music. As soon as I get the YouTube address, I'll post it on this blog!

Well, the 6-foot banner is ready, the invitations have been sent out, and permission from the city to hold our Step It Up event is secure.  Tomorrow we will be meeting outside the Washington County building in Hillsboro, from 11am to 2pm, to spread awareness of our request to the county Board of Commissioners.  This will certainly not be the biggest, most important, or best-publicized Step It Up event in Oregon.  I hope that it will, however, help draw attention to one little corner of the state, and show how local governments can make a difference to global warming.  This event will not have any affect on the our national government's inaction on global warming; it is highly unlikely that it will even result in immediate action from the county government.  However, there are stirrings from within the County Board of Commissioners.  They may not answer emails about the Cool Counties Declaration, but they are beginning to pay attention to this movement - I know this from talking to folks at Washington County Peak Oil.  It's not just this little blog that they have to worry about, either - groups like WA County Peak Oil, and the Oregon Sierra Club, also have their sights focused on the WA County Board.  There is a movement brewing, here, and tomorrow's event will be just a small peice of it.  I truly hope it goes well.

If you haven't already, please sign the on-line petition to the Board of Commissioners