SOCAN gets candidates to focus on the climate reality

SOCAN's Federal and State Project has organized two candidate forums: October 4th for Congressional District 2 candidates, and Jackson County Board of Commissioners candidates (Positions 1 and 3) and October 18th for State Senate and House candidates…

Like the Ocean We Rise: From Oregon to Tanzania, Young People Confront Climate Change

Author: Barbara Cervone For several years now, I have followed the tidal wave of youth action around climate change, close at hand and across the globe, bringing it up in casual conversations whenever I can. Folks who know me probably aren’t…

Big Oil ‘Exaggerates’ Jobs to Stall Climate Action, New Report Alleges

Just a week after receiving similar criticism from congressional Democrats, Big Oil is once again facing allegations of misleading the public in an attempt to stall climate action and protect its bottom line. In a report published Monday,…

Western State Attorneys General Seek to Halt Capacity Expansion of GTN Pipeline

Press Release Western State Attorneys General Seek to Halt Capacity Expansion OAKLAND –  California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum…

Good News from Ken #1

Good News: France has banned flights on routes that can be done by train in less than 2 1/2 hours. A California company is offering Oregon farmers free test runs of its electric tractors. In a world-first, the supreme court of Brazil…

Iconic PNW ‘trees of life’ are dying. Scientists now know why

Nathan Gilles, Columbia Insight Eugene Register Guard, August 31 2022 heir branches drop gracefully, then curve upward to their tips. They’re conifers, yet they don’t have coarse, rough needles. Instead, they have soft, folded, scale-like…

Alarmed?

I have long argued that if you are not alarmed, you are not paying attention. By the end of the century, our natural systems, agriculture, and forests could be destroyed. This item by David Wallace Wells (nit know for bringing good news)…

Brief SOCAN Comments in support of old growth forest protection

Submitted to USFS by Alan Journet As a retired ecologist and conservation biologist, I am well aware of the recent research that has demonstrated how important old growth forests are in terms of sequestering carbon from our atmosphere. As…

Research: Rural Climate Change Opinions Are More Complicated Than You Might Think

A study showed that Indiana’s rural populations skepticism of climate change is complex. Some of it can be associated with a sense of being ignored and blamed for climate change woes. Sarah Mellotte, The Daily Yonder, August 25th 2022 People…

Starting to Think Manchin’s Side Deal is in Real Trouble

The Inflation Reduction Act was approved following a deal cut between Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and W. Virginia Senator Joe Manchin that would promote fossil fuel extraction and use.  The deal involved offering a companion bill to achieve…

SOCAN Candidate Forums Educate on Climate and Environment

Election 2022: SOCAN Candidate Forums Educate on Climate and Environment Alan Journet, SOCAN Co-Facilitator As election season approaches, we are reminded that THE most important step climate activists can take is to VOTE!  This involves…

SOCAN endorses Inflation Reduction Act

SOCAN Press Release:  August 9th 2022 SOCAN endorses Inflation Reduction Act For many years Southern Oregonians have been seeking meaningful state and federal action to address the climate crisis.  While many of us have dedicated ourselves…

Climate action group explores the claims of the hydrogen industry

Ken Dragoon and Alan Journet join Milt Radford on Jefferson Exchange, July 20, 2022 Do we really solve the problem of greenhouse gases by getting into a relationship with another gas? That's one of the issues in considering the greater…

Has the Titanic Sailed?

Reflections on the Supreme Court partisan tilt By Alan Journet - Thoughts on the Supreme Court  EPA Decision in W. Virginia vs EPA This session of the Supreme Court, announcing alarming opinions on a variety of issues, comprises majorities…

Space Tourism Poses a Significant ‘Risk to the Climate’

Phil McKenna Inside Climate News June 29, 2022 Rockets launched by billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson emit black carbon in the stratosphere, where it is 500 times worse for the climate than it is on Earth. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’…

Climate Spotlight: Our house is on fire

Barbara Cervone, Ashland.News June 14 2022 Reports of our inadequate response to the climate emergency roll in as regularly as the tides. The latest came from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), telling…

Should you use ‘renewable natural gas’?

Kathy Conway, Co-facilitator, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, Ashland.News June 30 2022 In a letter to customers, Avista makes the offer that “…you now have a new option to add renewable natural gas and lower your carbon footprint.”…

Applegate Fire, Past, Present, and Future

Alan Journet,  The Applegater, Summer edition, June 2022 Applegate Valley residents understand that wildfire risk has been increasing over recent years.  Of course, we are not alone. Before looking at trends, it's worth reflecting for a…

Climate Spotlight: Phasing out ‘natural’ gas use in Ashland city facilities

Rick Barth, May 18, 2022, Ashland.News Climate change is an environmental, financial, and social justice issue. We will continue to see significant and worsening impacts right here in Ashland with irrigation district shutdowns, fires, extreme…

Clean Fuels Program expansion

Consistent with Governor Brown's Executive Order 20-04 in March 2020, the state Department of Environmental Quality has developed an update to the targets for the state's Clean Fuels Program.  The proposed program was discussed by the Environmental…

Oregon’s PUC Draft Report on the Future of Gas

Oregon's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) declines to hold Oregon Gas Industry accountable for destroying our planet In a draft report released in April, Oregon's Public Utilities Commission failed to come to grips with the problematic gas…

Jackson Co. to discuss closing part of Bear Creek Greenway during fire season

Jenna King, KOBI-TV May 10, 2022; JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. —Jackson County leaders, discussing potentially closing areas of the Bear Creek Greenway, this fire season. County commissioners will talk about the possibility of closing county-owned,…

OREGON BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY SUES TO UNDERMINE CLIMATE ACTION

Alan Journet, May 6 2022, SOCAN.eco Oregonians deserve to know who has joined the campaign seeking to undermine the viability of our planet for future generations. If global warming and its climate change consequences continue unchecked,…

Applegate Wildfires – Past, Present, and Future

Alan Journet Ph.D. Cofacilitator, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now Residents of the Applegate Valley understand that wildfire risk in the region has been increasing over recent years. Of course, we are not alone. Before looking at trends,…