Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

We are excited to welcome Maria, who started her one-year fellowship position as a Program Assistant with Oregon PSR through a collaboration with Quaker Voluntary Service in September of this year. She recently graduated from Earlham College, where she majored in Psychology and Sociology/Anthropology. Throughout her life, Maria has been involved with communities that advocate for social justice and equity. She is excited to incorporate her passion for immigrant rights and advocacy for racial and ethnic minorities into her work at Oregon PSR. Maria will be developing our 2020 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship project, assisting with the work of our Healthy Climate and Peace Programs, and representing us in a variety of community coalitions. Welcome, Maria!

Dear Oregon PSR Supporter,

This has been a year of transition, growth, and transformative partnerships for Oregon PSR. When I look back at the past year, I am proud to see how we’ve strengthened authentic partnership with communities most impacted by the injustices of climate chaos and nuclear weapons. At the same time, we’ve had more elected officials reaching out to us for our input on policy, as well as more health professionals finding a home for their activism within Oregon PSR. In the face of the overwhelming challenges of our times, I am convinced that Oregon PSR has a critical role to play in building movements for a healthy future.

As 2019 nears an end, the call for action to address climate change has never felt clearer. Worldwide, July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded. We heard the anguish of storm-battered island communities and despaired as huge sections of Brazilian rainforest — the lungs of our earth —burned at the hands of a far-right regime. Southern Oregonians and Southwest Washingtonians live with the frightening possibility of massive fracked gas projects in their communities. In response to these and other threats to our climate, tens of thousands took to the streets in September as young people throughout our region joined Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg in striking for a livable future for all.

Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility has released a fifteen-page report outlining the reasons why the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) nuclear power plant on the banks of the Columbia River in Eastern Washington must have a plan for decommissioning within the next 5 to 15 years. The CGS is a 35-year-old General Electric boiling water reactor similar to the one that melted down in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Nuclear reactors of this type have never operated for longer than 50 years, and as reactors get older, the chances rise of a failure due to wear-out as well as increased costs from maintenance needs as parts get older and require replacement and repair.

It is with great pleasure that Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility announces our twelfth annual Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship. Any 11th or 12th grade Oregon high school student may enter by submitting an original essay, poem, or narrative work (maximum 600 words) in response to the following question: "How would an effective movement for climate justice benefit immigrant communities?"

Did you know that many counties in Oregon will be having a special election on November 5th, 2019? Even though this isn’t a major election year, local ballot measures can make a big difference for public health and deserve your attention. Please register to vote or confirm/update your Oregon voter registration by midnight tonight (Tuesday, October 15th) to ensure that you receive your ballot and can make your voice heard.

Oregon PSR's Kelly Campbell (left) and Washington PSR's Carly Brook (right)

Coalition work is a vital part of PSR and PSR chapters’ efforts to connect our core work on nuclear weapons issues to broader social justice issues and social justice work in communities around the country.

PSR spoke with two key coordinators of coalition work from Oregon PSR and from Washington PSR, who each shared their insights into the importance and value of their engagement with coalitions, what they hope will result from that engagement, the specific projects they’ve worked on with coalitions, and the ways that justice forms a component of their work.

For Lluvia Merello, the decision to protest a crude oil train terminal in Northwest Portland is a simple one.

“If we do nothing, then it’s like we’re agreeing,” said Merello, who is an energy justice organizer with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “So for me personally, it’s about being able to say again and again, ‘We’re not okay with this in our community.’”

Take action today to protect the Southern Oregon coast from the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal. This huge fracked gas liquefaction and shipping terminal would dramatically alter and permanently harm people and wildlife throughout the Coos Bay area. Thankfully, Oregon has a state agency that can stop this project through the Coastal Zone Management Program, which requires Jordan Cove LNG to prove that its project is aligned with local and state laws meant to protect Oregon's Coastal Zone.

Submit a comment to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development asking them to deny the Coastal Zone Management Act certification for Jordan Cove LNG.