Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is developing a new greenhouse gas reduction program they call the “Climate Protection Program.” At hearings on September 22nd and September 30th, DEQ will invite the public to submit comments on its plans for the program.

Currently, the program is not slated to live up to its lofty name: 

• It provides exemptions for fracked gas power plants and infrastructure.
• It includes loopholes for Oregon’s biggest polluters.
• It prioritizes polluters' profits over the health and safety of frontline communities experiencing the impacts of pollution every day.

Our community partners at Power Past Fracked Gas are hosting a webinar on Tuesday, September 21st at 6:00 PM to dig into the environmental justice issues at stake for Oregon in the drafting of this program. Oregon PSR Healthy Climate Action Team member Patsy Kullberg, MD will be one of the panelists for this webinar.

Learn more and message Oregon decision-makers to call on them to protect Oregonians from climate pollution.

Register to attend to learn from environmental justice leaders from across the state about how communities are being impacted by pollution and how we can all take action at the DEQ hearings to ensure that it develops a program that protects Oregon communities and our climate. A Climate Protection Program should do nothing less.

Register to attend this webinar.

(Spanish language translation below)

El Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), o Departamento de Calidad Ambiental, está desarrollando un nuevo programa de reducción de gases de efecto invernadero al que llaman "Programa de Protección del Clima.” En las audiencias del 22 y 30 de septiembre, el DEQ invitará al público a enviar comentarios sobre sus planes para el programa.

Ahorita, el programa no está diseñado para estar a la altura de su noble nombre:

• Proporciona exenciones para las plantas de energía e infraestructura de gas fracturado.
• Incluye escapatorias para los mayores contaminadores de Oregón.
• Da prioridad a las ganancias de los contaminadores sobre la salud y la seguridad de las comunidades más vulnerables que experimentan los impactos de la contaminación todos los días.

Nuestros socios comunitarios Power Past Fracked Gas están hospedando un seminario web el martes 21 de septiembre a las 6:00 PM para profundizar en los problemas de justicia ambiental que están en juego para Oregon en la redacción de este programa.

Registrarse para asistir para escuchar de los líderes de justicia ambiental a través del estado sobre cómo las comunidades están siendo afectadas por la contaminación y cómo todos podemos tomar acción en las audiencias del DEQ para asegurar que se desarrolle un programa que proteja a las comunidades de Oregon y nuestro clima. Un programa de protección del clima no debería hacer menos.

Registrarse para asistir a este seminario web.

Native American activist Winona LaDuke (pictured above) will deliver the 32nd Annual Salem Peace Lecture. The topic will be Indigenous Strategies to Address Climate Change. Oregon PSR is a proud sponsor of the annual Salem Peace Lecture, and we're excited to hear from this year's keynote speaker!

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, November 10th at 6:30 PM (PST) and will be delivered via Zoom, so you can attend from anywhere that has internet access. To receive a link to the lecture, please email Peter Bergel. Also, please feel free to share this save-the-date announcement widely.

The author of Native Struggles for Land and Life and Recovering the Sacred, LaDuke is the co-founder of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous organization that provides financial and organizing support to initiatives that directly address Indigenous environmental issues.

LaDuke's current efforts to promote a just transition to a greener path are deeply rooted. In 1996 and 2000, LaDuke ran for Vice-President on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nader. More recently, she was a leader at the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests and is currently actively opposing the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota as a water protector. 

LaDuke resides on the White Earth reservation, where she farms heritage vegetables and hemp as part of Winona's Hemp and Heritage Farm, a nonprofit organization that seeks to create an Indigenous women-led economy focused on producing local food, energy, and fiber.

Peacemakers of the Year Announced

Each year, the Salem Peace Lecture Committee selects a Salem Peacemaker of the Year who is honored at the Peace Lecture. This year's recipients will be Delana and Russ Beaton, who will be honored for their decades of leadership of peace-related causes in Salem. Delana has long been a leading advocate for more deeply effective solutions for our unhoused neighbors. Russ, a retired economics professor, has been a wellspring of economically sensible proposals and activism as well as a beloved and respected shaper of many students' attitudes.

Please put this year's Salem Peace Lecture on your calendar now, and email Peter Bergel to receive a link to the event.

Oregon PSR is celebrating our 40th year of work for a more healthy, peaceful, and just world in 2021. We began from the powerful vision of our founders who sat on Dr. Karen Steingart’s living room floor and strategized about how a health message could help prevent nuclear war. Over the next forty years, our members, volunteers, and donors contributed their passion and leadership to the organization, bringing a broad public health frame to issues such as environmental justice, gun violence, and climate health, learning and growing along the way.

We hope that you will join us online on Thursday, November 18th from 6:30 until 7:30 PM (PST) in celebrating our 40th anniversary! Though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately prohibits us from safely gathering in person, we look forward to celebrating virtually with you. We will premier a new video highlighting some of our work over the last four decades, sharing stories and images from many of the longtime members and leaders who have made our 40 years of work possible.

This online event is free to join, and donations to support our work are gratefully accepted.

RSVP below to let us know that you'll plan to join us. We will follow up with you after you have RSVP'd with details for joining our online celebration in November.

We look forward to celebrating our 40 years of work with you on November 18th, and hope that you will RSVP today!