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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2014)
Climate change on labor’s radar By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor It’s been 26 years since NASA sci- entist James Hansen told the U.S. Sen- ate that human use of fossil fuels is re- sponsible for an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are caus- ing global warming. It’s been 17 years since three dozen countries (but not the United States) agreed in the Kyoto Pro- tocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It’s been eight years since Al Gore re- leased the climate change documentary Inconvenient Truth. And during that time, global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has risen — from 350 parts per million to 363, 385, and this year, 400 parts per million — a level not seen in 800,000 years. On Sept. 21, as many as 400,000 people took part in People’s Climate March in New York City to demand ac- tion be taken now to slow and reverse global warming. And the big event was mirrored by 2,600 other events around the world, including a rally and march of several thousand in Portland at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. In New York City, labor unionists took up several city blocks. In Portland, the labor presence was pretty small: Just two or three banners, and not more than 20 participants. But attendees did hear from the state’s top labor union of- ficer — Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain — who made a call for unity. “There are those who want to force workers to choose between good jobs and the environment, and there are those who will support environmental change only if done as cheap as possi- ble at the expense of workers,” Cham- berlain said. “Those are false observa- tions and false choices.” Chamberlain followed, and echoed, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, who called global climate change the most serious challenge and greatest threat facing our children and our grandchil- dren: “This is not a choice between the environment and the economy. It is the simple statement that the environment is not a resource to be exploited. In fact the environment is the foundation of our economy.” But if that’s so, serious measures are going to have to be deployed. Climate change has already begun to affect the state, national, and global economy. In Oregon, California winemakers are buying up Willamette Valley vineyards, driven north by worsening drought. In- sect pests are also moving north, and dry forests have made large-scale an- nual wildfires the new normal. To address global warming, envi- ronmental groups — with labor at the table — are discussing the pros and cons of campaigning for a carbon tax in the 2015 Oregon Legislature. The Canadian province of British Colum- bia has implemented a carbon tax, while the state of California has begun a “cap-and-trade” system of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (an im- proved version of the system imple- mented in Europe). In the state of Washington, Governor Jay Inslee has formed a Carbon Emission Reduction Task Force that is studying both op- tions. Oregon legislators considered a cap-and-trade bill in 2009, but it didn’t have enough support to become law. But in 2013, a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature commissioned an in-depth study of the impacts of a car- bon tax. That report is due this Novem- ber. If Oregon legislators take up a car- bon tax proposal, it could have far-reaching local benefits as well as costs. Putting a price on carbon would stimulate conservation. And a prelimi- nary version of the report indicates that a tax of $60 per ton of carbon emission would generate as much as $2 billion a year in revenue. The Oregon Constitu- tion says any tax on motor vehicle fuel has to go for road construction and The science is in: It’s getting hotter. The only question is what to do about it. At the Sept. 21 People’s Climate March in Portland, supporters demand action while marching along Tom McCall Waterfront Park. maintenance, so any portion of a car- bon tax that affected gasoline could generate a boom in highway and road work, or even resuscitate scrapped plans for a new transit-friendly I-5 bridge over the Columbia River. 2014 Endorsements U.S. HOUSE CLARK COUNTY 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Commissioner Dist 1: B OB D INGETHAL C RAIG P RIDEMORE STATE SUPREME COURT Prosecuting Attorney: T ONY G OLIK Pos. 1 — M ARY Y U Pos. 3 — M ARY F AIRHURST Pos. 4 — C HARLES J OHNSON Pos. 9 — D EBRA S TEPHENS Public Utilities Commissioner, #3: B YRON H ANKE County Clerk: D EANNA P AULI -H AMMOND LEGISLATURE County Sherriff: 17TH DISTRICT: C HUCK A TKINS House #1: M ONICA S TONIER Superior Court Judge: 18TH DISTRICT: House #2: B ERNARD V ELJACIC House #1: M IKE B RIGGS Clark County Home Rule Charter County Treasurer: M AUREEN W INNINGHAM YES D OUG L ASHER BALLOT MEASURES 49TH DISTRICT: House #1: S HARON W YLIE House #2: J IM M OELLER Yes on Initiative 1351: Reducing class sizes so that students of all ages and backgrounds, from all parts of our state, have the opportunity to learn and succeed in uncrowded classrooms. (Paid for and authorized by the Southwest Washington Central Labor Council.) PAGE 16 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS OCTOBER 3, 2014
