For Salem: 9/21/14 -- People's Climate March – Organising Guide

It's well past time for Salem to make it into the 21st-century and for the Salem city leadership to recognize and begin responding to the threat of catastrophe caused by global climate destabilization.

Peoples of the world will be rallying on Sunday, September 21, to demand real action on global climate destabilization. 

We hope to organize a rally at the eco-ball at the south end in Salem's Riverfront Park, to send a clear message to the Salem City Council that the time for business as usual is over, and that we demand leadership on action to cut carbon emissions meaningfully and prepare Salem for a post-carbon future.

Salem's City Council disgraced itself a few years back by refusing to sign the mayors climate action letter. Now, even cities like Gresham are leaving Salem in the dust, and in the heat. It's time for Salem to get past the flat-earth denialism, recognize the problem, and organize for a better future. In other words, it's time for Salem to stop clinging to the carbon-spewing, fossil fueled past to embrace a better, healthier, resilient and ecologically sensible future.

"Mayors are already fighting the impact and costs of extreme weather caused by climate change. The actions they take to protect their cities and people can and should help states meet Clean Power Plan pollution limits," said Danielle Baussan, Managing Director of Energy Policy at CAP. "Developing low-carbon energy policies underscores cities' importance to critical national goals: reduced carbon pollution, increased consumer savings, and a healthier future for everyone."

The Center for American Progress released an analysis of how cities can prepare for the carbon-pollution standards and help reduce their emissions. These include: reduce the carbon impact of municipal utilities, update building energy codes, promote distributed generation of renewable energy, consider tax credits and rebates for renewable energy and develop clean energy loan programs.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Gresham, Ore., Mayor Shane Bemis won the 2014 Mayors' Climate Protection Awards the the conference, which recognizes innovation in increasing energy efficiency and reducing GHGs.

"Mayor Goodman and Mayor Bemis are changing the energy future of their cities and the nation, showing how local innovation can offer solutions to our growing climate challenges,"said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, president of The U.S. Conference of Mayors

http://peoplesclimate.org/organising-guide/

ORGANIZING GUIDE

Whether you are a seasoned activist or a first-time organizer, here is a simple guide to get you started. Not all these steps may apply to you. There is a very simple and relatively easy way to participate in PCM. Check it out first, and you'll be on your way to planning a creative, engaging, and powerful action in your community or city!

1) Bring together a coordinating team

Bring together a core team of people with the necessary skills or expertise that you require for your action. Remember to involve partner organisations who can either be part of your core team or will be tactical allies with whom you share ideas and information.

2) Invite People to join you

Invite your friends, neighbours, and local organizations to assist in sponsoring, organizing and participating in the action. Reach out to the local church, mosque, synagogue, labour union, sports team, university, or arts cooperative that would be interested in getting involved in the issue.

3) Planning

Decide on the message, the action and the location. Ensure that you have a clear and well articulated message that you wish to communicate to your audience, whether they be media, government, partners, or community members. For the People's Climate Mobilisation specifically here is a very simple and relatively easy way to participate:

Share a group photo from an iconic site, such as a fossil fuel extraction zone, a specific fossil energy plant, areas under threat from climate change effects, or other locations connected with the climate struggle using #peoplesclimate hashtag. One common slogan that can be used (on banners, etc.) in photos is 'Action, Not Words: …..!' (add your local, national, or regional demand in dotted area at the end) or the local equivalent if it translates well into your language.

The beauty of global days of action is the variety and creativity of actions organized across the world. Common action ideas include organizing a walk or a march through your town or city, a rally with speakers and music in your central plaza, a hike, a potluck, a community discussion, or a service project. Whatever your action, be sure to think about the best photo opportunity to capture your action and everyone who attends – photos are the primary way we link up actions worldwide and tell our story.

4) Logistics

Take care of all logistical details as soon as you can, including the timing of the action, directions, transportation, bathrooms, sound system, permits for use of public spaces, sponsorships etc. if you need them.

5) Spread the Word

Make a plan to reach out. Set a goal for how many people you'd like to see at the event and try to create a plan for reaching far more than that number. Ensure that you register your event. Invite and link up with partner organisation interested in your action. Talking to schools, religious groups, community meetings, putting up posters around town, sending emails through listservs, getting a public service announcement on the local radio, share on social media, send out emails, write editorials for local newspapers, get on community calendars, ask organizations to include the action information in newsletters and bulletins and put up posters all over town.

6) Create your visuals

Signs, photos, banners are key to getting the message across to passers-by and the media. If you can, host a time to paint banners and signs before your action, and invite volunteers to come. Banners and signs with the local equivalent of 'Action, Not Words: …..!' (add your local, national, or regional demand in dotted area at the end) would help link all the PCM actions together.

7) Inform the Media

It's important to contact local, state, and national media to make sure they report on PCM actions in your area. Think about what print, radio, television, and online sources you'd want to have cover your event and start getting in touch now!

8) Take Action

The months of planning culminate in this moment! Share your photos on Facebook and other social media such as Twitter and Instagram with the #peoplesclimate hashtag.  Also send it to your friends and press contacts. Have a fun and meaningful day, knowing that you're part of a global effort to create pressure to solve the climate crisis.

9) Report Back

This part is very important: As soon as your action is over, be sure to select your best photo, video footage and written stories from your action and submit them here. This will enable the communications team to deliver the strongest possible message to the media and to the world's decision-makers.

Thanks for being a part of this important movement for change!

Big Zero Editorial Board Making Things Up

You would think that the single most important thing for a major newspaper editorial board would be having some evidence to back up pronouncements about "the single most import (sic) way to help people" avoid financial troubles.

The reflexive habit among the well-to-do is to blame "financial illiteracy" because it has the nice compound effect of diverting attention away from government policies and also carries an element of blame the victims, which is always useful when trying to keep people from thinking about how our tax and regulatory policies have systematically funneled money from the bottom to the top. 

But the fact is, we're as financially literate as we've ever been, if not more so. What has changed is not the financial acumen of the bottom 99% but the rapacity of the 1% -- we have never had since the advent of the Progressive Era is such a complete rollback of democracy-enhancing policies and the concomitant takeover of the political process by the power of the 1%, which of course the Big Zero prefers not to address.

Keeping bill collectors at bay: Editorial | OregonLive.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/keeping_bill_collectors_at_bay.html

The single most import way to help people avoid unmanageable debt: education. Schools must do a better job of teaching students about financial issues. A recent international survey showed that about one-fifth of American students struggle with basic financial tasks, such as reading an invoice. Fewer than 10 percent master advanced tasks such as comprehending tax brackets or investment options – or deciphering medical bills.

Great Stuff: Videos From a Zany Food Psychologist - Pacific Standard

SmarterLunchrooms.org

http://www.psmag.com/footnotes/awesome-videos-zany-food-psychologist-ranked-87119/

Earth Ovens Workshop - Corvallis

Hey!  We are hosting a workshop with local artists and authors Kiko Denzer and Hannah Field (they wrote Build Your Own Earth Oven; Kiko has built ovens for several local businesses, including Gathering Together Farm, The Blue Goat in Amity, Fireworks Restaurant, and most recently, Queen Bee Apiaries). They will guide us in building a wood-fired EARTH OVEN and using it for cooking everything -- especially NATURALLY LEAVENED WHOLE GRAIN BREADS (you'll get starter to take home, as well as a copy of the book).  

 

DATES: Saturday and Sunday. August 16-17

 

LOCATION: 770 SW LOOKOUT DRIVE CORVALLIS, OR 97333, home of Bo and Diane - aka Diane's urban farm retreat.

 

PRICE: Because this is a local workshop for the instructors, and part of a gift exchange, we're able to offer it for only $80.

FOOD: Bring a lunch or have us prepare one for you ($10/day). We'll host a potluck supperon Saturday night if folks are interested. 

 

ACCOMMODATION: For those traveling from out of town, there are rooms available for overnight stay - $60 per night.  Please see urbanfarmretreat.com for more information.

MORE INFO: See the attached flyer, and Kiko's website and bookpage  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call!  (541 753 0762)

 

There are a limited number of spaces.  To reserve your spot,  please send full payment to :

Diane Arney

770 SW Lookout Drive

Corvallis OR 97333

The high cost of delay | Opinion | The Register-Guard

(Meanwhile, Salem and the Chamber of the 1%'s pet lapdog newspaper continue pushing a $400 to $800 million auto bridge boondoggle to promote more sprawl. Fascinating to see two cities 75 miles and maybe 60 years apart, with Salem continuing to pretend it is 1954 rather than 2014.)

http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/31937458-78/climate-emissions-report-carbon-cost.html.csp

The high cost of delay

Just one day after the Eugene City Council on Monday approved a landmark climate ordinance, the White House issued a report that underscores the importance of policymakers at the national, state and local levels acting to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. . . .

The report estimates the cost of mitigating the effects of climate change could rise by as much as 40 percent if action to reduce emissions is delayed 10 years. Such an increase would outweigh any potential savings of the delay urged by most Republicans and some Democrats, who argue that strong action now on climate change would hurt the economy and cost jobs.

Eugene's ordinance seeks to cut communitywide fossil fuel use by 50 percent by 2030, and it calls for city government operations to be entirely "carbon neutral" by 2020. It requires city officials to prepare detailed plans for achieving the emissions reductions, and mandates progress reviews and status reports. And it binds future councils and city managers to pursue the emissions-reduction goals.

By approving the ordinance, the city has committed itself to a sustained course of action to confront climate change. It has, to borrow an old Irish expression, "tossed its cap over the wall," leaving it with no legal choice but to find a way to get to the other side to retrieve it. . . .

On Monday, Eugene showed the way for other U.S. cities and local governments by turning those aspirational climate goals into law. It did so because council members understood, as the new federal report says, that postponing carbon cuts will ultimately lead to higher costs, both in terms of climate-related impacts and in more expensive emissions reductions.

The council also acted because it was the right thing to do. "Fighting climate change is one of the important and defining issues of our time," Councilor Alan Zelenka said Monday night. "Fortunately, Eugeneans get it."

Eugene Leads, Salem Lags

The longer we wait to begin, the more painful the changes will be.  

But not as painful as the costs of failing to act.  Nature bats last, and she doesn't take excuses or rationalizing; only actions count with her.

 Goals for carbon reduction become law in Eugene

The Eugene City Council voted Monday to put some teeth into previously approved goals to reduce the city's fossil fuel use and carbon emissions, seeking to cut communitywide fossil fuel use by 50 percent by 2030, compared with 2010 usage.
Eugene Register Guard, July 30

Want Clean Air and Water, Safe Food and Cars? If so, Defend Public Protections

 If You Want Clean Air and Water, Safe Food and Cars, Defend Public Protections

 "Katherine McFate, Center for Effective Government" <katherine@foreffectivegov.org>

July 30, 2014 The air we breathe. The water we drink. The food we eat. The cars we drive. Most of us don't give a second thought to the basic components of our day-to-day lives, and we just assume they're safe. And we usually can. Over the past century, America has developed a system of standards and safeguards and protected its people from a variety of public health, safety, and environmental hazards. These standards have improved our nation's quality of life and public confidence in American products and businesses. Today, we released a new study, The Benefits of Public Protections: Ten Rules That Save Lives and Protect the Environment. It examines ten proposed or adopted federal standards from agencies including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In almost all cases, the benefits of the rules, when converted to dollars and cents, outweighed their costs. Combined these ten rules: Save 10,000 American lives annually Prevent 300,000 cases of disease, illness, and injury every year Create net economic benefits of between $46 billion to $122 billion each year Rulemaking is the way our democracy balances the public's interest in safety and well-being with private industry's priority of maximizing profits. It's about ensuring that we all breathe clean air, drink clean water, eat safe food, and travel in safety. It's about improving and protecting American living standards. Check out the study on our website, then let your elected officials know how important public protections are to you, your family, and your community. Thank you for being an active, engaged citizen. Warm regards, Katherine McFate President and CEO P.S. Please consider supporting our work by making a gift to the Center for Effective Government today through our website. Your support makes a difference!

---

DONATE

Combined Federal Campaign #10201

Visit Our Affiliated Web Sites

FedSpending.org
RTK NET
Coalition for Sensible Safeguards
Our Government Matters
Charity and Security Network

Finish line photo: Scenic Shore 150

Here at LoveSalemHQ we sold "Margarita" the tandem recumbent to a father who wanted to take his daughter with blood cancer on the leukemia fundraising ride in Wisconsin. Thanks to his mechanical engineering skills, he was able to turn that huge bike into a travel model. Awesome!

> Thought you would be interested in this photo. It is the finish line of our 150 mile fund raising ride. Thanks for taking the extra effort at the sale time in selling the bike to us.
>
> Dan

We need millions for this: Grey to Green: Creating “Cool” Cities Symposium Report

This is one of the future-proofing/resiliency ideas that we should be pouring our scarce resources into, instead of into CH2M-Hill and the Sprawl Lobby's already-overflowing pockets. NOT the Bridgasaurus, in other words.

The one thing that is needed is to get the urban forestry people to start talking to OSU, and Salem Harvest and the Food Share about how we can take action NOW to make our urban forests into food forests as well. Instead of a No Place, Salem can lead in something positive for a change -- getting rid of ornamental cherry trees, planting real ones! And apples, plums, pears, and figs, and Asian pears, and walnuts. 

We need a robust partnership (public/nonprofit) spray and pruning operation that ensures that every fruit and nut tree in Salem is maintained and harvested, and that neighborhoods are given the tools and guidance to help them. 

There is this absurd idea that we need only ornamental trees, and that fruit and nut trees should be shunned in the city ... Where the most hungry people are.

This is insane. We have countless acres of good land wasted in parking strips and grassed areas already provided with water.  There's a school serving every part of the city.  Wherever there is a school, there is an opportunity for a whole engaging curriculum core based on getting kids to help monitor and care for food trees, and to connect the community to the schools, and we are sure as hell going to need the food.

Grey to Green: Creating "Cool" Cities Symposium Wrap-Up

Dallas, TX (July 21, 2014) — The cities where we live are heating up, but trees and green infrastructure can help them stay cool. In late May, the Texas Trees Foundation hosted a regional conference, Grey to Green: Creating "Cool" Cities. They've just released a wrap-up report from the symposium which featured keynote speaker Dr. Brian Stone, an expert on urban environmental planning at the Georgia Tech.

What makes a cool city? Green infrastructure, sustainable design, art, music, trails, walkability, greenways, complete streets, parks, open space, and really cool people.

Over 100 people gathered at the Dallas Museum of Art to hear keynote speaker Dr. Brian Stone, Jr., associate professor in the School of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology and author of The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live.

Other speakers included David Hitchcock of the Houston Area Research Center, Dr. Robert Haley with UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Matt Grubisich, and urban forester with Texas Trees Foundation. All addressed the urgent need to manage urban heat and the role of trees and green infrastructure.

Managing urban heat in an increasingly hot and dry climate, such as Texas, is necessary to protect public health, infrastructure, the economy and quality of life. This makes trees and green infrastructure a priority.

The symposium report, "Grey to Green: Creating Cool Cities," is available online for download at http://actrees.org/files/Events/TXTreesUrbanHeatReport.pdf.

The nature of quotes on the internet