Kitzhaber's draft energy action plan: Kudos for a good first step - but let's focus more on climate
We need a serious commitment to combating climate change from big companies and our elected officials right now. Changing out incandescent light bulbs or buying an energy efficient dishwasher is awesome and encouraged, but if our utilities and local governments continue to invest in the wrong kind of power, all of the public's efforts to help in the battle against climate change will mean very little in the long run.
By Olive Eisdorfer
Climate Solutions Intern
This week was the end of the public comment period for Oregon Governor Kitzhaber's draft 10-year Energy Action Plan. Lately, everyone in the Climate Solutions Portland office have been hard at work crafting and drafting multiple sets of comments for the governor and his team on how we can improve the plan.
I am Climate Solutions youngest intern (I just turned 16), and was eager to have input into the governor's energy plan. It's hard to be a young person and look at all of the climate change statistics and not feel a sense of urgency. It's frustrating to know that it is a very real possibility that when I grow up and have children and grandchildren of my own, they will never know what it's like to play on sandy beaches or watch flocks of Canadian Geese fly in V shapes as they head south for winter. I know that in the future climate change will affect our daily lives in ways we can never imagine.
We need a serious commitment to combating climate change from big companies and our elected officials right now. Changing out incandescent light bulbs or buying an energy efficient dishwasher is awesome and encouraged, but if our utilities and local governments continue to invest in the wrong kind of power, all of the public's efforts to help in the battle against climate change will mean very little in the long run.
In response to Governor Kitzhaber's energy plan, Climate Solutions decided to respond with some simple and key suggestions. First, we wanted to give the governor's office big kudos for drafting an energy plan that was ambitious and had goals for making Oregon a greener state. At the Energy Plan public hearings on July 20th, in Gresham, Oregon, we suggested a bigger focus on climate change and an active stance of reducing the amount of coal we consume.
As of midnight, Monday, July 31st, the comment period for the Oregon 10-year Energy Plan came to a close. Now, all we can do is wait and hope for the best. So my advice to all you concerned Oregonians is to settle down on your couch, open a bag of potato chips, take a deep breath and watch the results unfold. We will have plenty of work to do come fall. Have a good summer!
