Coastal SOCAN
Project Description
Coastal SOCAN is made up primarily of people who live on the Oregon Coast and generally focuses on issues related to the coast. Through monthly meetings, talks to local groups, letters to the editor and guest columns, and interactions with other environmental groups along the coast, we seek to educate people in Curry County on the causes, current negative effects, and projected greater negative effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
Project Leader
To join this project come to our monthly meeting, which is open to the public and is free to all attendees. For additional information please contact Bill Gorham.
Goals
- Stimulate individuals in the local community to take actions personally to reduce the impacts of climate change.
- Nurture civil conversations on the local effects of greenhouse gas emissions such as ocean acidification, localized warming of the oceans, changes to the winds affecting oxygen levels in the shallow near shore, and warmer oceans stimulating increased domoic acid production in phytoplankton.
- Engage with all ages in the discussion of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Educate individuals on the opportunities that can come from actively moving from a fossil fuel based energy system to a carbon-free energy system.
- Provide opportunities for individuals to combine their personal efforts to reduce their carbon footprint with those efforts of others through coordinated letter and email writing campaigns, directed phone campaigns, and other cooperative outreach efforts.
Connection to SOCAN Mission
As a project of SOCAN, Coastal SOCAN works closely with the team in the Rogue Valley by having representation on the SOCAN Board of Directors, cooperating in educational outreach efforts, and sharing information of interest to both coastal and inland climate activists.
Background Information
Ed Patterson contacted Alan Journet and Kathy Conway (SOCAN Co-facilitators) in the fall of 2018, roughly the time the 4th National Climate Assessment was released, to expand SOCAN’s sphere of influence to the coast. Bill Gorham joined Ed as co-facilitators, they convened a Planning Committee, and hosted Alan and Kathy for the inaugural monthly meeting in February 2019. We celebrated our first anniversary at our February 2020 meeting and have continued to engage with our constituents, largely by Zoom due to COVID-19, through monthly presentations, small group discussions, guest editorials and letters to the editor to the local papers, and other community outreach activities.
