Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) mourns the death of George Floyd and condemns the practices of police brutality that historically and currently target Black communities and communities of color. 

Read Oregon PSR’s letter to Governor Brown detailing our concerns and about incarcerated Oregonians during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On May 18th, 2020, nearly 100 medical professionals and public health experts sent a letter to Oregon leaders asking for wildfire resilience measures to be funded as a preventative measure to protect from smoke during the Oregon wildfire season. Early evidence shows that exposure to fine particulate matter in smoke and air pollution may greatly increase COVID-19 mortality rates. By investing in preventative measures such as wildfire education and air filtration in homes and shelters, Oregon leaders can help increase resilience to COVID-19 as the summer wildfire season intensifies.

We know that young people are vitally important in creating a better world now and for future generations. For the twelfth consecutive year, we have organized the Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship to encourage Oregon’s youth to reflect on some of the most pressing issues of our time. On Saturday, April 25th, we honored the 2020 high school student winners at our online awards ceremony. The theme of the evening was the intersection between climate justice and immigrant justice.

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

The Pacific Northwest is famous for its incredible forests, ecosystems with incredible biodiversity that also serve as an irreplaceable asset for reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fires are a natural part of forest health, yet the smoky air that results can harm human lungs. Experts agree that 2020 will likely be an intense fire season at a time when respiratory health is even more important because of COVID.

Oregon PSR is thrilled to announce the high school student winners of the 2020 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship. The winning entries were selected from among 80 submissions by high school juniors and seniors from across the state of Oregon. The student winners, who will be honored for their essays, poems, or stories, responded to the following writing prompt:

“How would an effective movement for climate justice benefit immigrant communities?”

Dear Oregon PSR Supporter,

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is affecting us all. In my work as a surgeon, I am inspired to see the collective work of everyone in the hospital. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, x-ray technicians, house cleaners, and so many more are all pulling together to care for the sick and injured despite personal risk. Health care workers are putting the needs of our communities first, despite the challenges of limited supplies of personal protective equipment and a paucity of COVID-19 tests. Our entire community is stepping up and making major sacrifices by closing businesses and staying home from work. Community members are pitching in by making masks and gowns.

The work of Oregon PSR’s Peace Program to ensure healthy communities free from the injustice of war, militarism, racism, and nuclear weapons has rarely felt more urgent. In this time of global pandemic, as our interconnectedness across the planet becomes apparent, the folly of spending exorbitant amounts of money on nuclear weapons rather than meeting basic human needs is starkly visible. Our partners at International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) have created the useful infographic above illustrating the disproportionate spending on nuclear weapons in contrast to the urgent health needs to address the pandemic.

Jordan Cove LNG protest at Oregon's state capitol in Salem (photo credit: Emma Jones)

A new year and a new decade are upon us, and already 2020 has brought a huge set of changes and challenges for our communities. A global pandemic has starkly revealed the many ways in which we are failing to care for the health and well-being of our poor and working class, unhoused neighbors, immigrant communities, and other vulnerable people. Oregon’s already short legislative session was cut even shorter by Republican walkouts, making it impossible to pass critical new laws. Yet despite these challenges, we see people coming together to take care of each other, bringing supplies and mutual aid to one another, and all the while still tackling climate change as the broad-scale public health crisis that it remains.

Since 1986, the Covanta Marion waste incinerator (pictured above behind a nearby childcare facility) has been polluting Marion County just east of I-5 and north of Salem. Municipal garbage from the County, as well as medical waste imported from other states, are fed into the incinerator, producing highly toxic air emissions and ash. In fact, the facility is so toxic that it was singled out by the Cleaner Air Oregon program as a top priority for increased scrutiny out of hundreds of facilities statewide.