Greenpeace

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