Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

It was a good day for door knocking in Brooks, Oregon! Last month, I joined Clean Air Organizer Carina Perez in canvassing a neighborhood near the Covanta Marion incinerator. This door knocking effort is part of Oregon Physician for Social Responsibility’s Healthy Climate Program to engage people on health and air quality issues in their community.

Oregon PSR's Healthy Climate Program works towards a just transition to zero waste, and opposing the harmful and extractive systems of waste incineration. We have been active in opposing incineration of municipal and medical waste in Marion County, in opposing pyrolysis proposals in Tigard, and plasma gasification proposals in Arlington and other communities. We have also promoted expanding programs for waste prevention and reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and community education.

Greetings, my name is Jesse Gasper Jr. I am the new Membership Manager at Oregon Physician for Social Responsibility (PSR). For the last 5 years, I’ve been observing Oregon PSR from afar. My interest started when Oregon PSR asked me to sign on to a bill in the Oregon legislature to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As I learned more about the organization, I found out that Oregon PSR also focuses on Climate Change.  Aha: a green light went off, and that’s when I knew I needed to be part of this organization.  

Ballots are out and OregonPSR is excited to announce our 2022 Measure Endorsements! This midterm election Oregon has some great measures to vote for and we hope you will join us in voting for a safer, healthier and just Oregon. Oregon PSR has endorsed three measures - Measure 111 Healthcare for All Oregon, Measure 114 Gun Safety Measure, and Measure 26-228 Portland Charter Reform. Read on to learn more! 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear powerplant (ZNPP) is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and has been strategically seized by the Russian government. As more information comes forward about the state of ZNPP we learn more about the increasing risk of a nuclear meltdown, and the extreme dangers and exhaustion faced by the workers who maintain the plant. To learn more about the ZNPP please check out the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant we have created based off of information from the National branch of Physicans for Social Responsibility.

We are excited to welcome Mickey Alford (he/they) to the Oregon PSR team! Mickey is OPSR’s new Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow, and we are thrilled to have him on our team for the next 11 months. 

As the ongoing war in Ukraine reminds us, the existence of nuclear weapons remains a threat to all life on our planet. While 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons remain controlled by the US and Russia, momentum is growing for a nuclear-free future as the majority of countries in the world have come together to create the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, making nuclear weapons illegal under international law. The first meeting of State Parties of the Treaty concluded this summer, with even some NATO-member countries surprising the world by attending.

We here in the US must do our part to work for a nuclear-free future. That is why for the past 30 years, Oregon PSR has taken the lead in organizing the Portland community commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with our partners, to honor the lives lost to nuclear weapons and renewing our pledge to work for nuclear justice and create a nuclear-free future. 

Please join me in welcoming our two new staff members, Jess Gasper as the new Membership Manager and Anna Kahler as the new Communications Coordinator. 

As some of you may know these hirings are a long time coming. Our organization has grown and diversified over the years and so have the needs of the organization. In order to meet the current and future needs of Oregon PSR we decided to create two new roles. The first being the Membership Manager to help support membership growth and engagement, and fundraising. The second is a Communications Manager to enhance our ability to share our stories through social media and news media.  We are very excited for you all to meet our newest staff! 

Great news! The City of Eugene voted this week to move forward with several measures advancing the transition away from gas in homes and buildings. The motions include one directing staff to draft ordinance language to mandate that all new homes be constructed 100% electric by June 1st, 2023; a second advancing conversations to transition new commercial and industrial construction to require all electric; and a third seeks to formalize Eugene’s goal of electrifying all existing residential and commercial buildings by 2035. 

I want to extend my deep gratitude and best wishes on behalf of all of us at Oregon PSR to Sean Tenney, our Associate Director, who will be leaving our organization in mid-August as he moves on to new adventures living in Spain later this summer. Sean has contributed so much to building an effective organization during his twelve-year tenure, from improving our website and communications infrastructure to organizing annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorials to providing behind-the-scenes support for all of our programmatic work and more. Sean's sense of humor and passion for justice will be missed! 

Our deepest thanks and well-wishes to Jackie Lamars, who has been Oregon PSR’s Program Assistant through the Quaker Voluntary Service fellowship program for the past year. Jackie did a tremendous job of designing and overseeing our 2022 Greenfield Peace Scholarship, took the lead on improving our social media outreach, and supported all of our work in ways too numerous to count.