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OSPIRG cleans up
rivers, companies
■ OSPIRG springs to action
by working to purify the
Willamette and set big
corporations straight
Bennett Lacy
for the Emerald
It’s Earth Week once again, but
what does it mean to you?
Living in Oregon, you may have
grown accustomed to doing your
part in conserving the environ
ment. But for those of you who are
new to the green state, there is a
well-known public interest organ
ization on campus where you can
get involved in anything from
cleaning up the Willamette River
to protesting companies who
damage the environment.
OSPIRG is one of several
groups that are a part of the Earth
Week Coalition at the University.
“OSPIRG is here to give stu
dents an outlet to tackle issues at a
statewide level and then bring re
sults back to campus,” says Erin
Pursell, a junior political science
major who is also OSPIRG’s chap
ter chairwoman.
Although the Oregon Student
Public Interest Research Group
has about 35 to 40 core members,
everyone is welcome and encour
aged to help out or attend meet
ings to find out what exactly OS
PIRG has to offer.
OSPIRG deals primarily with
social and environmental issues
such as the Hunger Cleanup Cam
paign where OSPIRG volunteers
visit homeless sheltefs in the Eu
gene area, cooking meals and
cleaning up the area to help out
those in need.
Another ongoing campaign is
the effort to clean up the
Willamette River. OSPIRG works
to hold companies accountable
for any pollutants they might
dump into the river.
Recently, the federal govern
ment named the Willamette one
of the most polluted rivers in the
nation. OSPIRG’s goal is to make
polluters financially responsible
for their actions, instead of plac
ing the burden on taxpayers.
Now, in time for Earth Week,
OSPIRG has another campaign in
which your support is needed.
“The Eco-Pledge is a new tactic
we have for working with compa
nies to make them more environ
mentally conscious,” Pursell said.
During Earth Week, OSPIRG will
be campaigning for signatures
from students who pledge not to
work for companies that harm the
environment.
The campaign is only six
months old, but has already seen
some success. Victories against
Ford Motor Companies and Gen
eral Motors saw both companies
resign from the Global Climate
Coalition.
“The Global Climate Coalition
is an industry-backed front group
that tries to deny concerns about
global warming,” Pursell said.
Pursell also hopes that the recent
success of the Eco-Pledge will
give OSPIRG the chance to get
more people involved.
For example, during Earth
Week you can join OSPIRG and
Eco-Pledge by pledging to not
work for BP, which has proposed
drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Also
targeted is Coca-Cola, which has
yet to make good on a promise
made nine years ago to begin us
ing recycled materials in its bot
tling operations.
“Our goal is to get 4,000 signa
tures from students by Earth Day
on April 22,” Pursell said.
Our goal is to get
4,000signatures from
students by Earth Day.
Erin Pursell
OSPRIG chapter
chairwoman
Earth Week activities through
out the week were organized by
the Earth Week Coalition. Leslie
Marcus, a member of the coali
tion, hopes that the week’s activi
ties will bring more environmen
tal awareness to students on
campus.
“The theme for Earth Week is
‘solutions,’” Marcus said. “Our
goal is to concentrate on the prob
lems the earth faces and the solu
tions that the average student can
contribute to make themselves
more eco-friendly. ”
If you already consider yourself
to be “eco-friendly,” then you
might want to take a look at what '
OSPIRG has planned for next year.
“One of our biggest campaigns
for next year is pushing President
Clinton to protect the last 4 per
cent of our National Heritage
Forests,” Pursell said.
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