Lorrie Kaplan,  Ashland Daily Tidings, December 29th 2020

Companies have been using words like “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” in their marketing since the early 1980s. Calling your products “good for the planet” became so trendy that the term “greenwashing” emerged to alert consumers that some companies were describing their products as “green” when they were anything but.

Similarly, businesses may say that “Black lives matter” and how much they cherish their employees. Are they actually doing anything to back up these statements?

An ongoing survey by Southern Oregon Climate Action Now provides a new resource for businesses to share what they’re doing to be more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. By presenting the responses online, SOCAN’s tool can help guide consumer choices, help businesses identify what more they can do, and provide a progress report for our community.

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Letter to Editor by Ken Deveney, Ashland Daily Tidings, June 30 2020

While many from the corporate world deserve congratulations for accepting climate science and acknowledging the need to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, others do not. As 350.org founder Bill McKibben argued: “The political power of the fossil fuel industry has always been the single biggest obstacle to making real progress.”

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Letter to Editor by Ted Clay,  Medford Mail Tribune,  April 21, 2020, also appearing in Eugene Register Guard,  April 22, 2020

The coronavirus crisis narrows and expands thinking: it demonstrates that major threats can quickly move from “just a theory” to actual catastrophe and reminds us of the threat of global warming and the climate crisis. Just because climate changes slowly, we shouldn’t be lulled to sleep. Many of the words used to attack medical science, such as “hoax” and “alarmist,” echo the language used to dismiss climate science.

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Letter to Editor by Kathy Conway, Medford Mail Tribune, April 1, 2020, also appearing in Eugene Register Guard March 30, 2020)

Rural Oregonians with open eyes can see that global warming is happening. We can see the warming temperatures, the reducing snowpack and the increasing risk of wildfire.

When confronted with a proposal to address the underlying cause of this problem, Republicans in the Oregon Legislature chose to walk out and sacrifice the livelihoods of rural Oregonians rather than vote either on that proposal or an array of other proposals serving Oregonians.

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