Environment Oregon

Environment Oregon strives for environmental responsibility – taking important measures to protect Oregon’s environment while fighting powerful special interest. The organization has 25,000 members throughout Oregon, and works under the umbrella of Environment America. The new home of OSPIRG’s environmental work, Environment Oregon has 30 years of success on the statewide and national arena.

Initially, OSPIRG started at the University of Oregon in the 1970′s, sparked by a speaking tour from Ralph Nader. OSPIRG continued to grow and in August 2007 OSPIRG split into Environment Oregon. Today, OSPIRG is a still a dominant force in social justice – focusing primary on health care initiatives.

Environment Oregon gains support from the Fund for Public Interest – employing primarily young students to canvass door to door, as well as schools and busy public areas.

Environment Oregon found recent success when they launched a successful campaign to officially protect 750,000 acres of forest and farms. The group also worked to reduce mercury levels in local lakes and rivers by 90%. Finally, Environment Oregon spearheaded an aggressive project to reduce river pollution in the Willamette and other local rivers.

Currently, Environment Oregon is working to reduce global warming and promote statewide and national legislation that prioritizes clean air, energy efficiency and public transportation.

Board of Directors Jeremiah Baumann states, “Together we can harness the wind and the sun to repower Oregon and repower America, solve the climate crisis, and build a greener future for families and for generations to come.”

Environment Oregon is also working to gain support for a historical piece of legislation in congress. If passed, the law would require 25 percent of power energy companies sell come from renewable sources. This is the first major piece of legislation in history to address global warming pollution.

Environment Oregon is, “working to cut global warming pollution by 35 percent by 2020, make big polluters pay for their mess, and [for] clean energy, efficiency, and our future.” More information regarding these issues and Environmental Oregon can be found at Environment Oregon’s website www.environmentoregon.org

Article by Zak Weinberg