Pacific University Students for Environmental Activism will be celebrating "Fossil Fools Day" on April 1st by reminding our Forest Grove community why investment in fossil fuels is a bad investment for everyone.  Read our news advisory for the event below!

-Nick

News Advisory

For April 1, 2008           
Contact: Nick Engelfried, 503-737-7666, enge5135@pacificu.edu                                         

Pacific University Students Call for a Clean Energy Future on “Fossil Fools Day”                          

Who: Pacific University Students for Environmental Activism                                                 

What: Fossil Fools Day is a national day of action against fossil fuel development, with over 100 actions planned nationwide.  For the Forest Grove event, &quoton't be a Fool: Say No to Fossil Fuels,” Pacific University students will parade through their campus, then into downtown Forest Grove with signs and creative costumes that bring attention to the “foolishness” of investing in dirty energy sources like coal, oil, and liquefied natural gas.                               

When: The parade will start at 12:00 pm, finishing with a news conference at 12:45 pm            

Where: The parade will circle the Pacific campus, then go down Pacific Avenue, onto B St, and back down 21^st Avenue.  Press conference will be at Trombely Square on-campus.

Why: Pacific students are utilizing this national day of action to draw attention to some of the dirty energy projects currently threatening western Washington County.  In keeping with our slogan, “Say No to Fossil Fuels,” we hope to encourage residents to take action against fossil fuel development in their community.  At the press conference, students will highlight a few of the major fossil fuel threats our area faces.
For more information on the national event, please see www.FossilFools08.org

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Pacific University, in Forest Grove, has become the 9th college in the Northwest to have its student government endorse the Cascade Climate Declaration - a document written by Northwest students, calling for strong action against global warming from all levels of government.  The student-run Cascade Climate Network, which put together the Declaration, has cited it when testifying before the state legislatures of both Oregon and Washington, and those of us at Pacific will be alerting our local and state elected officials that the student government which represents the undergraduate student body here has decided this issue is important enough to take a position.  I have already emailed the Washington County Board of Commissioners.  One by one, our colleges and universities in the Northwest are showing that students care about climate destabilization, and reducing the carbon footprint from our area.  Let's get every student government in the Northwest to endorse the Cascade Climate Declaration!

And if you live in Washington County, and haven't already, please SIGN THE PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD, and ask them to follow the lead students are taking!

-Nick

After much talk about becoming a "model of sustainability," the Forest Grove City Council showed Monday that they are genuinely willing to stand up against fossil fuel interests.  On Monday, the city council unanimously passed a resolution opposing a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal proposed for a site close to Astoria; one the pipelines running from the terminal would pass through Forest Grove's watershed, and the city would be within the "blast zone" of an explosion, should an accident at the pipeline occur.  Worst of all, among many environmental hazards surrounding LNG, the enormous energy project would significantly increase Oregon's carbon footprint and our reliance on foreign fossil fuels.

Proponents of LNG have been making a lot of enemies lately (Forest Grove's Pacific University was where Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury first came out against the project), but the City of Forest Grove is the first local government in this state to actually pass a resolution opposing an LNG terminal.  The fight's not over yet, but it's good to know we have the City Council's support.  And today, to show how much we appreciate their efforts, students at Pacific University collected signatures on a giant thank you-card, which will be delivered to the City Council on Monday.  We will also be hosting a local activist who will speak on the dangers of LNG on-campus, March 19th.  It's time to stop this destructive energy project in its carbon-filled tracks!

Now, if we can just get Forest Grove to sign onto the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement...

-Nick

Thanks to the student environmental group at Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus, the Cool Washington County petition is not over thirty signatures stronger - and the petition is fast-approaching the 300 mark.  PCC students set aside some of their valuable time during the past couple weeks to gather signatures from the many Washington County residents who attend the Rock Creek campus - and their efforts paid off!

The snatches of information I've been getting from the Washington County Board indicate that the Board is still working on their "Washington County Sustainability Plan - apparently some kind of progress is being made.  It won't be long now before its time to formally present the petition to the Board, as a way of helping to show how much support there is in our area for measures that reduce greenhouse emissions.  Stay tuned for more!

And if you haven't already, and you live in Washington County, please SIGN THE COOL WASHINGTON COUNTY PETITION YOURSELF!

The Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV) just released their 2006-2007 Environmental Scorecard for the Washington County Board of Commissioners, rating each commissioner on how often he or she voted to protect air and water quality, our area's natural ecosystems, and the climate.  OLCV reports that the Board's record is considerably improved since the last time they were assessed, in 2004-2005.  That's great; it's good to know that Board members are keeping the environment in mind more often.  Especially encouraging is Commissioner Dick Schouten's score - the only 100% of all the Board members.  And this was the second time in a row that Schouten achieved this perfect rating!

Click here for the most recent scorecards for the Washington County Board and several other local governments.

The Washington County Board is thinking more about the environment.  But why should Dick Schouten be the only one to achieve a 100% rating?  Maybe the next scorecard will see more than one member of the Board make this perfect score.

For now, you can urge the Board to build on their efforts by SIGNING THE COOL WASHINGTON COUNTY PETITION!

Epilogue:  I wrote this post last night, and have been thinking a lot about the OLCV scorecard since then.  My initial reaction to the scorecard was that it showed the Washington County Board was doing a pretty good job, and they deserved mostly praise.  Then, however, I got to thinking.  Chairman Tom Brian received a rating of 80% - the second highest after Dick Schouten's.  Not bad, I thought at first.  But put it in perspective: to those of us in college, 80% means a B-.  Commissioners Andy Duyck and Roy Rogers each received a 75% rating - otherwise known as a solid C.  Commissioner Desari Strader, who I've praised on other occassions for initiating the Washington County Sustainability Plan, got a 50% - that's, well, an F.  Granted, Strader was elected only part-way through OLCV's 2-year reporting period, and got the chance to vote on major environmental decisions only twice; I'm willing to believe her score would have been considerably better if averaged out over more than two votes.  But while the County Board deserves praise for doing better than last year time, in "Local Environmental Policy 101" they'd be a pretty average class - hardly quite prepared for "Advanced Climate Action 200," where every decision takes account of the dire threats posed by global warming and shortages of cheap fuel.  Luckily, the 101 course isn't graded on a bell-curve; there's nothing standing in the way of them getting more A's next time.

-Nick

 There's a green buzz going around Forest Grove, a city of 20,000 or so in western Washington County.  Community residents at a town meeting in January expressed their preferences that the city develop alternatives to car culture, and curb urban while at the same time working to maintain its small-town feel.  Word has it the mayor is talking about making Forest Grove a "model for sustainability."  It's a little unclear, so far, how much is just talk and how much is true commitment, but it seems as if local politicians are becoming genuinely concerned about transitioning to a sustainable future.  In the next couple of weeks, I hope, we'll find out just how far they are willing to go in their commitment.

The night of one of Pacific University's Focus the Nation events, I was able to talk to Suzanne Casaus of Oregon Environmental Council, about the green movement in Forest Grove.  We had just finished listening to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury describe the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement as one of the most hopeful climate initiatives in this country; we agreed that this is a movement Forest Grove should be a part of.  So this week, I am sending a letter to the Forest Grove City Council, accompanied by one from Oregon Environmental Council, asking them to sign onto the Climate Agreement.  Don't get me wrong: when all is said and done, signing a piece of paper endorsing the Agreement does not, in itself, do anything to reduce a city's carbon footprint.  However, here in Oregon this initiative has become a way for cities serious about reducing their carbon emissions to identify each other, and initiate cooperative efforts; this was made very clear at the first Oregon Local Sustainability Workshop.  Signing the Agreement is also a way for a city to publicly state their intention to go sustainable, and their willingness to be held accountable on this commitment.  I, for one, hope Forest Grove rises to this challenge.

-Nick

Well, its been more than a week since Pacific University students rallied outside the Washington County Administrative Building to show their support for a strong Washington County Sustainability Plan.  The weekend after that event, we flooded the Inboxes of the Board of Commissioners with emails in support of the demands we were making at the rally.  Commissioner Dick Schouten sent me a message saying he supported our efforts and wishing us well.  As for the rest of the Board of Commissioners; you guessed it - ever in tune with the communities they govern, they've given no sign of noticing our work.

I'm still trying to get in touch with Commissioner Desari Strader, who has been receptive to our efforts in the past, and who in fact initiated the sustainability plan in the first place.  I may still get in touch with her; but it's frustrating how little this County Board seems to care about citizen input.  Are such things really just for hippies ultra-liberals?  It's hard for me to believe.  Surely participatory democracy is supposed to be what our country is about; that, at least, is what I thought.

If you haven't already, and you live in Washington County, please SIGN THE PETITION TO THE COUNTY BOARD, asking for firm commitments on reducing greenhouse emissions!

-Nick