Applegater Winter 2017
19
OPINIONS
Behind the Green Door
Entrenched in conflict
BY CHRIS BRATT
With a new administration managing
our country, more conflicts and attempts
to dominate others seem to have erupted
around the world. The added cultural,
economic, and political struggles we face
in the news every day have brought out
increased negative emotions in many
people and destroyed much of our ability
to cooperate with our fellow humans.
I believe all this dissension is happening,
despite mankind’s so-called “higher
intelligence,” because we have chosen
to live by a hierarchical system that
gives little consideration to just and
ethical principles. It is a political system
that chooses unlimited population and
economic growth, overuse of natural
resources, and the accumulation of extreme
wealth by individuals as the dominant ideas
for living on the planet. Our health and
prosperity are stuck in a win-lose model
enforced throughout our world today.
I see many things wrong with our
present social, economic, and political
systems that may have taken us down
the wrong path. We need some major
policy changes and educational efforts
that favor a more cooperative society
rather than one with never-ending conflict
and fear. Perhaps we can develop a more
harmonious society if we followed the
more collaborative principles found in
nature’s intelligence and living systems.
But not all conflict is bad or
unproductive. Conflict can be part of a
process for positive change. For instance,
many Applegate residents and groups are
no strangers to conflict and disagreement
over management of public forestland.
Local conservationists have spent the past
four decades struggling with federal land
managers to find better ways to manage
our public forests. Their efforts have
resulted in less clear-cutting, less pesticide
use, and less eradication of old-growth
trees and other species. This long-term
work by community members and others
has caused the federal agencies to comply
with our nation’s environmental laws and
has eliminated many destructive forest
practices. Also, many of our community’s
ideas, objectives, and goals have been
incorporated into regional forest planning
and actions. This is the way conflict can
work and bring about a collective success
among all the concerned parties.
Clean Energy Jobs a
win-win solution for
Applegate residents
BY ALAN JOURNET
Win-win and no-regrets solutions rarely
come our way, but in the Clean Energy
Jobs Bill, our valley has a chance to hit
that sweet spot.
Most Applegate Valley residents know
that our temperature has been climbing
for decades (for more information, visit
www2.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/clu_rd/
nccv/viewer.asp) bringing early snowmelt
and heat waves. Less obvious is the
transition from high-elevation snowfall
to lower-elevation rainfall, resulting in
reduced snowpack and water shortages
during summer and fall. Additionally,
rainfall is occurring more often as
heavy downpours rather than light soil-
replenishing drizzle, thus stimulating
floods. Together with reducing soil
moisture, these drying patterns stimulate
wildfire risk. Furthermore, the trends will
only become more severe unless we address
their root cause: climate pollution inducing
global warming.
Oregon alone cannot solve the problem,
since our emissions are a small proportion
of national and global totals. However, we
can do our share by becoming part of the
solution rather than continuing as part of
the problem. Unless we do our share, we
cannot urge others around the nation and
the globe to help protect our beautiful
corner of paradise by doing their share.
In 2007, our legislature established
statewide voluntary goals for climate
pollution reduction, targeting a 70
percent reduction from the state’s 1990
emissions by 2050. Regrettably, Oregon’s
transportation industries and utility sectors
have not risen to the challenge of reducing
their emissions sufficiently. Thus, we’re
not on a trajectory to achieve our target;
voluntary measures have failed!
For several years, a statewide coalition
has urged the legislature to address the
issue. While they have approved studies
and addressed components of the problem,
legislation addressing the major sectors of
the economy responsible for the climate
pollution has been inadequate.
A statewide coalition of climate-
concerned Oregonians, including
legislators and representatives of the
social-environmental justice community
and labor, developed a bill that would
BORED?
Check out the new Applegate Valley Connect calendar
with events all over southwest Oregon.
applegateconnect.org
Happy Holidays to all
from the
Applegater Team.
May 2018 bring peace, joy,
and prosperity!
But today there seems to be no clear
path to collaboration or cooperation.
Regulatory changes, the extreme rigidity
of some points of view, and lack of trust
among participants are limiting our ability
to work on issues that contribute to the
greater good of all. My observations, as I
watch people, organizations, and nations
try to overcome conflict, reveal that those
with the most power (military, political,
economic, corporate, regulatory agency,
etc.) have a distinct advantage in any
collaborative decision-making process or
action. These power players have more
equipment, money, experts, and data
to present in any collaborative effort.
Unless the conflict-resolution process
recognizes and overcomes these advantages,
community concerns, beliefs, and values
will be marginalized or dismissed.
A classic example of how we repeat or
continue to be bogged down by conflict
is taking place presently in the Applegate.
Recently, the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) discarded our well-known Applegate
Adaptive Management Area Guide (AMA
Guide) with no reason. For 20 years the
AMA Guide provided many unsurpassed
public forest
and public
Chris Bratt
involvement
opportunities throughout our watershed.
After a sudden shake-up within the BLM,
we were confronted with a new region-
wide forest plan. In this new BLM forest
plan, cutting a large volume of timber is the
prime “purpose and need.” This emphasis
on the cutting of trees will certainly
compromise other species and natural
resources and undermine the public’s
ability to influence BLM decision-making.
Having abandoned what many of us
considered a good forest management plan
for a poor one, the BLM is now asking
our community “to reset the conversation
and develop a shared understanding of
the situation.” What the BLM means
is, they have some set priorities that our
community needs to understand and
work under. Once again, the collaboration
cards are stacked against us by more
powerful forces. But I have the historical
confidence that our community priorities
will counterbalance those of the BLM.
Let me know your confidence level.
Chris Bratt • 541-846-6988
meet the concerns of these communities
while also producing meaningful pollution
reductions. The result of several years of
effort, the Clean Energy Jobs Bill is a no-
regrets proposal that not only addresses an
urgent problem but also contains critical
elements that address social justice and
labor concerns and provides funds to assist
rural Oregon.
The essence of the proposal involves
capping statewide climate pollution
emissions, including emissions resulting
from electricity generated out-of-state
that is purchased by Oregon. The goal is
to be at least at 80 percent of 1990 levels
by 2050. Rather than targeting individual
polluters, the bill targets entities that
emit over 25,000 metric tons annually.
These major polluters are required to buy
allowances that will limit their permitted
pollution. Entities polluting in excess of
their allowances suffer a penalty, while
entities not using all allowances can trade
them on the open market.
The state emissions cap is lowered
annually to meet interim targets with the
expectation that the auction price will rise
and encourage polluters to reevaluate their
energy sources. The proposal is a climate
pollution cap and permitting process, not
a tax.
Since low-income Oregonians would
be most compromised by rising utility
prices, the program provides some free
allowances to utilities. These allowances are
returned to the pool for sale. Funds thus
generated are assigned to the utility to be
used to subsidize the bills of low-income
customers. These utilities must still buy
allowances to cover their pollution.
Polluters can meet a small proportion of
their emissions reduction goals by buying
offsets, though these are limited to eight
percent of emissions. Offsets comprise
investments in certified activities that
either reduce emissions (solar or wind
farms, for example) or reduce atmospheric
concentration of the pollutants (such as
forests or regenerative agriculture).
States enacting climate pollution caps
have exhibited economic growth that equals
or outpaces the economies of neighboring
states. This bill will help rural Oregon and
our state’s economy. Southern Oregon’s
representatives should support this win-
win legislation. Our representatives should
support this proposal.
Alan Journet
Applegate Valley resident and
Co-Facilitator of Southern Oregon
Climate Action Now
alan@socan.info
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